1/29/2021
Thirteen research projects, including one with HMNTL faculty, are sharing nearly $970,000 in funding through the Jump ARCHES research and development program.
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Thirteen research projects, including one with HMNTL faculty, are sharing nearly $970,000 in funding through the Jump ARCHES research and development program. The Jump Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation (Jump ARCHES) program is a partnership between the University of Illinois (U of I) Urbana-Champaign and its College of Medicine in Peoria and OSF HealthCare.
The program supports research involving clinicians, engineers, and social scientists to develop technologies and devices that could revolutionize medical training and health care delivery.
These projects were submitted to the Fall 2020 Jump ARCHES request for proposals which concerned six unique focus areas: digital health, social and behavioral disparities, autism, neurological sciences, COVID-19, and simulation and education. This was the first Jump ARCHES request for proposals that specifically concerned social and behavioral disparities to mitigate the impact of age, location, and social barriers in delivering quality health care to vulnerable populations. Emphasis was given to proposals that addressed racism, social justice, social and implicit biases, health equity, and access to care.
“The scope of Jump ARCHES has expanded in recent years to foster collaboration with disciplines outside of engineering and medicine, such as social sciences,” said T. Kesh Kesavadas, Ph.D., director of the Health Care Engineering Systems Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “Technology such as AI, sensors, and simulation training can integrate with and improve outcomes in other fields in innovative ways. Above all, Jump ARCHES is striving to improve people’s lives after the disastrous impact of COVID-19 on daily life,” added Kesavadas. A special request for proposals for spring 2021 is being planned with an emphasis on solutions to the unprecedented challenges faced by our society as we develop policies and procedures in a post-COVID-19 world.
Since its inception in 2014, Jump ARCHES has awarded more than $5.46 million in funding to collaborative projects between the three institutions and across many disciplines. The effort expanded opportunities with an additional major gift in 2019.
Rohit Bhargava, HMNTL professor, was on a team that received one of these grants,
A TRAINING SIMULATOR FOR CLINICAL BREAST EXAMINATION (CBE)
Investigators: Anusha Muralidharan, UIUC; Dr. Sarah de Ramirez, MD, OSF HealthCare, UICOMP; Thenkurussi Kesavadas, PhD, UIUC; Rohit Bhargava, PhD, UIUC; Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, MD, Mayo Clinic; Kimberly Michelle Bolin, National Consortium of Breast Centers
This project proposes to develop a high-fidelity training simulator to train health professionals on clinical breast examination techniques. It will also provide clinical evaluation to result in diagnosis of breast cancer at earlier stages, resulting in improved outcomes when followed with timely and appropriate treatment. The project uses current state-of-the-art technology to improve training using real-time performance analysis and mimics a realistic environment, giving medical professionals the flexibility of practicing as many times as they want in order to master the skill.
Read about all of the grants here.