PSM in Biomedical and Health Informatics Program – Internship Presentations

Students in the Professional Science Master’s in Biomedical and Health Informatics Program complete an internship that synthesizes knowledge gleaned from the program curriculum. The purpose of the internship is to expand classroom learning to include “hands-on” experience in health IT.

In this occasion Nicole Mathews and Meagan Foster will be presenting their internship projects via Zoom.

Titles and abstracts below:

Identifying Language Biomarkers for Depression and Anxiety Among Trauma Patients

Presenter: Nicole Mathews

Abstract: The Advancing Understanding of RecOvery afteR traumA (AURORA) Study is a five-year research project designed to improve long term evaluation and treatment of trauma induced mental health sequelae. This longitudinal study collects and analyzes a variety of data (e.g., self-report, neurocognitive, physiologic, digital phenotyping, psychophysical, neuroimaging, and genomic assessments) to identify development of adverse posttraumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae (APNS) in the first year after a trauma experience.  Dr. Lisa Vizer, Assistant Research Professor in the School of Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill, my mentor, examines APNS development using mobile keyboard data. During my internship, I learned how to process and compare large data sets using Python and Excel, overcome challenges in calculating formulas and writing code, how research grant processes and methodologies take place, how informatics can be integrated into a research study, how to work with privacy restrictions, and how to turn data into meaningful knowledge.

Dr. Vizer is an investigator in the AURORA study who is analyzing language use data from up to 5,000 participants recruited from emergency departments after a trauma experience. Trauma experiences include car accidents, physical assault, sexual assault, and other experiences. Adverse posttraumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae (APNS) include “posttraumatic stress, postconcussion syndrome, depression, and regional or widespread pain” (McLean et.al, 2020). Due to the traditional assumptions about APNS, symptoms are often generalized into the broad diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder rather than being individually identified and translated into specific conditions correlated to brain function. The absence of a dynamic diagnostic classification system has led to a reduced “discovery of pathophysiologic mechanisms, biobehavioral markers, risk prediction tools, and preventive/treatment interventions” (McLean et. al., 2002).

Eligible participants will have completed a patient encounter in an emergency department, but not be formally admitted to a hospital. Analysis of data from the AURORA study also aims to benefit veterans who experience trauma resulting in APNS and related mental health conditions. Trauma patients who participate in the study following a trauma incident agree to install a mobile application on their phones to track anything typed into the keyboard of their device during the following year. Analyzing the language data from the AURORA study will help researchers identify biobehavioral markers for APNS. In combination with other data, participants’ mobile device keyboard data is currently being used to develop and evaluate “predictive and diagnostic biomarkers” as well as clinical interventions for trauma patients (AURORA Study, 2020).

Leveraging User Stories for Agile Transformation: A Value-Driven Approach to Requirements Gathering

Presenter: Meagan Foster

Abstract: On the shoulders of the digital revolution, we now find ourselves in a fourth industrial revolution denoted by the transformation of the physical and digital world of humans. Technology companies across all industries are now, more than ever, prompted to identify what their customers value and deliver that value to the market, faster. Traditional approaches to requirements gathering and product development contradict the mindset needed to achieve such a moving target, demonstrating the need for teams to adopt more flexible and light-weight methods to take products quickly and effectively from ideation to adoption.

User stories are requirement artifacts that offer agile teams a lean, conversational, and value-driven approach to eliciting and documenting user requirements. Teams looking to embark on agile transformation and adopt agile frameworks, like Scrum, can leverage the benefits of user stories to achieve the agility needed to deliver value to their customers, early and often.