Heroes of Innovation
“The story really starts with HeRO,” said Jonathan Swanson, MD, describing the Heart Rate Observation (HeRO) monitor that paved the way for UVA Health to become a pioneer in predictive analytics.
The device detects abnormal heart rate patterns commonly associated with sepsis in preterm infants. In the largest randomized clinical trial of very low birth weight preterm infants, the HeRO score was associated with a 40% decrease in sepsis-associated mortality. Dr. Swanson was a resident at UVA in 2002 when HeRO was in development, and the following year, it received FDA approval.
Then, there is the Continuous Monitoring of Event Trajectories (CoMET), which applies continuous monitoring and computer algorithms to provide a visual display of a patient’s risk for experiencing a serious event over a 12-hour period. Its creator, Randall J. Moorman, MD, is a cardiologist with a PhD in mathematics.
Today, innovations developed at UVA like CoMET are in use across the U.S., while HeRO is in 27 countries. How did UVA Health end up so far ahead of the curve with predictive analytics? Michael Spaeder, MD, who joined UVA Health Children’s PICU in 2015, credits pioneers like Dr. Moorman and former UVA professor Frank E. Harrell Jr., whom he calls “one of the preeminent biostatisticians in America.”
Their reputation in multiple disciplines attracted the next wave of physicianscientists like Thomas Hartka, MD (Med ’10), an emergency medicine physician who is also an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Brynne Sullivan, MD (Med ’11), whose clinical research focus includes developing and testing predictive analytics.
Dr. Sullivan is using machine learning and artificial intelligence to address the latest challenges in pediatric medicine. For example, she is researching neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome using pulse oximetry—a noninvasive way to measure the pulse rate and the saturation of oxygen in a patient’s blood—to help medical teams determine which infants require treatment and when.
“We envision a portable device that could be applied to an at-risk infant for a short period and generate an objective score to indicate the severity of opioid withdrawal,” she explained.
The goal is to initially improve short-term outcomes, such as the length of hospital stay and readmission rates, and, ultimately, perhaps, neurodevelopment.
While discoveries lead to improved patient care and outcomes, Dr. Sullivan added, they “require significant research and development before reaching the bedside. With support from funding and infrastructure, UVA Health Children’s has the ideal research team and experience to lead this work.”
Robust research programs have other benefits, such as recruiting and retaining faculty. UVA Health is a top destination for researchers seeking opportunities for interdisciplinary partnerships. Today, for example, they can reach across Grounds to the UVA School of Data Science, the first of its kind in the nation. Soon, they will have another unique resource in the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology. Projected to open in two years, the institute will promote collaborative science which, according to their website, will focus on “the research, development, commercialization, and manufacturing of new cellular, gene, and immunotherapies.”
Resources like these and a reputation as a research hub lead Dr. Swanson to predict that “UVA could easily be the bastion of predictive analytics in the field of medicine.”
Learn more about UVA Health Children’s NICU/PICU and how you can support this vital program by contacting Marianne Bowes, Associate Vice President for Health Development, at bowes@virginia.edu or 434.995.9018, or call us at 800.297.0102.
