Past Event: Oden Institute Seminar

The Emerging Discipline of Computational Medicine

Raimond Winslow, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Abstract

Because of the inherent complexity of biological systems, the development of computational models is necessary to achieve a quantitative understanding of their structure and function in health and disease. Computational Medicine is a discipline in which mechanistic models of disease are developed, personalized using data from individual patients, and then applied to deliver improved health care. In computational molecular medicine, statistical learning is applied to high-dimensional biomolecular data to create models that describe relationships between molecules and networks in health and disease. In computational physiological medicine, multiscale modeling links networks to cells, organs, and organ systems. In computational anatomy, mathematical approaches are used to analyze medical imagery to characterize anatomic shape and its variations in health and disease. In computational healthcare, statistical models of electronic health record data are developed. In each case, models are personalized using patient data, and then applied to improve disease diagnosis and to guide therapy. This talk will present success stories in each of these areas of computational medicine, with specific examples in the fields of cancer, diabetes, cardiology, and neurology. Challenges that must be confronted to translate these computational methods to the clinic will be discussed. Bio: Dr. Winslow is the Raj and Neera Singh Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Director of the Institute for Computational Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. His research is focused on two areas. The first is use of computational modeling to understand the molecular mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death. The second is development of informatics technologies supporting cardiovascular clinical research and that provide researchers secure, seamless access to study data and analysis tools. He is Principal Investigator of the CardioVascular Research Grid Project, an NHLBI-funded resource, with research teams at four universities, with the goal of creating a national infrastructure for sharing and analysis of cardiovascular data. He holds joints appointments in the departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and the Division of Health Care Information Sciences.