News
Myneni Appointed Faculty Research Associate
May 18, 2009
It is a pleasure to announce that Sahiti Myneni has been appointed as a Faculty Research Associate in Department of Biomedical Informatics effective May 18, 2009. Sahiti graduated from Osmania University, India, with a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering and Masters in Electrical Engineering at Arizona State University, in Phoenix. Sahiti will work closely with Dr .Vimla L. Patel on research activities related to the assessment of health care technologies in critical care (including eICU) and cognitive interventions. Her previous research with Dr. Patel involved usability evaluation of biomedical information management systems.
Education:
Master of Science in Engineering (MSE), Arizona State University - 2009
Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.), Osmania University - 2007
Phone: 602-827-2539
Email: sahiti.myneni@asu.edu
Medical Education: New Territory in Research
April 21 , 2008
Decision Making and Cognition featured in Banner Health Spring Newsletter
"Trauma Services, the Surgical Residency Program, and the Simulation Education and Training Center are entering new territory in research. In collaboration with Arizona State University, a project involving cognitive complexities has been proposed. This proposal, funded by the James S. McDonnell Foundation’s award to Arizona State University, is titled, “Cognitive Complexity and Error in Critical Care.” The research team will bring together an interdisciplinary team of cognitive psychologists, critical care clinicians, simulation experts, biomedical informaticians and complex systems scientists to develop a holistic research effort dedicated to modeling of complexity and errors in medical environments." Read more... (PDF)
Reception for Dr. Susan Fitzpatrick, Vice President of the James McDonnell Foundation
April 1 , 2008
Dr. John Ferrara, Trauma Services, Banner Good Samaritan and Principal Investigator of the Banner Team on the JSFM multi-collaborative; Dr. Susan Fitzpatrick, with Dr. Vimla Patel
Sandra Johnson, Dr. William Johnson, Dr. Robert Greenes, with Dr. Vimla Patel
Medical education advances: Using a video game to improve surgeons' skills
February 07, 2008
Many major news media sources have recently reported on research in medical education methods by Kanav Kahol, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, and Marshall Smith, a surgeon at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix.
Kahol is also on the research faculty at Banner Health’s simulation education and training center, which is directed by Smith. They’ve made news by demonstrating how playing certain video games on the Nintendo Wii can help physicians improve some of the motor skills necessary to perform delicate surgery. The gaming console uses a motion-sensitive control to produce a virtual-reality experience.
Kahol and Smith found that surgeons who played the Wii game Marble Mania performed better in simulated surgery than the surgeons who did not play the game.
See some of the news reports about their work:
Wall Street Journal Health Blog
New Scientist magazine
The Arizona Republic
Video from KPHO Channel 5 News in Phoenix
Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
BBC World News (Great Britain)
WIRED news
Video: Basic Medical Sciences Seminar Series 2008
January 16, 2008
Evidence Supporting the Role of Basic Medical Science in Clinical Practice
Speaker: Vimla Patel, Ph.D.
Watch Video: Windows Media | Real Player
BMI Professor awarded prestigious grant
November 07, 2007
Biomedical Informatics (BMI) professor and vice-chair of the department, Vimla L. Patel, Ph.D., D.Sc, was recently awarded a five-year, $5 million dollar grant from the James S. McDonnell Foundation for a collaborative study on research titled, “Cognitive Complexity and Error in Critical Care.”
Patel’s research will be coordinated with medical teams from Banner Healthcare in Phoenix, University of Texas in Houston and Washington University in St. Louis. Patel will serve as the principal investigator (PI) for this project which aims to provide research that will form the basis of a more comprehensive understanding of medical error. Co-PI’S include Trevor Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., and Kanav Kahol, Ph.D., also from ASU’s Department of Biomedical Informatics.
The abstract of their proposal notes that, “Medical error is only rarely the result of the actions of a single person, and several leading error researchers have raised the importance of systemic causes of medical error. Human error will always be a factor, but recurring systemic weaknesses are amenable to intervention and correction. A productive approach to error reduction and management requires a contextual understanding of how errors tend to occur.” A key element of the proposed research is to employ the developed models of complexity and distributed cognition into suggestions of relevant intervention strategies that can both predict and prevent future error.
Patel joined BMI in 2007 as interim chair, moving from Columbia University in New York. She also serves as the director of ASU’S Center for Decision Making and Cognition.
The James S. McDonnell Foundation was established by aerospace pioneer James S. McDonnell in 1950. Founded to “improve the quality of life,” the foundation awards grants that support medical research.
Additional news reports about the grant include:
Arizona Business Journal
Medical News Today
ASU News
Banner Health News Center
Cancer Research Journal
University of Texas - Houston
Business Wire News, News Observer
Stock Market News
Digital50: Business News