Fall 2024

USD Receives $6.5 Million to Establish South Dakota Biomedical Computation Collaborative

Medical school and computer science faculty members at the University of South Dakota have received a $6.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education that will bolster innovative medical education and biomedical sciences using computation and artificial intelligence (AI) leading to improved clinical practice and patient care for South Dakotans.

A partnership of disciplines, including medicine, computer science, and humanities–ethics in particular—will work together to build a network for medical and clinical education and an academic platform that integrates computation and AI with cutting-edge technologies and humanities. The initiative is an allied partnership of USD, Sanford School of Medicine, and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, called the Biomedical Computation Collaborative.

“To maintain South Dakota’s high clinical standards, lead in innovative biomedical sciences, and expand local business opportunities, an investment in biomedical computation and AI is essential,” explained William Mayhan, Ph.D., dean of the Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences at the USD Sanford School of Medicine and director of the collaborative. “We aim to establish a regional consortium to integrate and improve resources in biomedical computation and AI for institutions and health care systems in South Dakota and beyond.” 

The initiative will engage undergraduate, graduate and medical students by establishing a central biomedical computation network that integrates relevant toolkits, materials and resources. “This grant money will help establish joint graduate programs and fellowships and will recruit new faculty and computation specialists, while also creating a core facility for biomedical computation and AI,” explained William C.W. Chen, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor at the Sanford School of Medicine and principal investigator of the project. “Additionally, a regional consortium to enhance collaboration with world-leading institutions such as Harvard and MIT will ensure that we successfully cultivate the next generation of biomedical and clinical scientists and drive excellence in medical education and biomedical sciences.”

“This project will create a multifaceted framework of resources which all students can benefit from,” added Mayhan. “For example, we will create a biomedical computation course, establish a graduate program in computer science that specializes in biomedical computing, and facilitate AI-based disease modeling, simulation and prediction in future clinical practice.”

The $6.5 million in congressionally directed spending was secured by South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds and is funded through the Department of Education. In addition, the South Dakota Board of Regents provided approximately $750,000 in seed funding to USD to support biomedical computation research and development. Over time, more computational and AI tools for biomedical science and medical and clinic education components will be developed and implemented, allowing health care professionals to take advantage of these resources.

KC Santosh, Ph.D., chair of USD’s Department of Computer Science and a co-principal investigator of the project, said, “Computational and AI tools are not for computer science or computer scientists. They are for solving complex problems, and AI is a new frontier which computational and AI tools will make a huge difference. Computation, AI and data science are essential for strengthening South Dakota’s health care workforce and clinical services. This project will not only advance student careers but also revolutionize the health care system. We are thrilled to begin building an elite hub that will attract new interdisciplinary faculty, academic scientists, and students and trainees, better preparing them for future health care challenges.”

The $1.5 million subaward of this grant at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is led by Jeffrey S. McGough, Ph.D., head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a co-principal investigator of the project.

“This collaboration has the potential to improve health care for everyone in the state,” McGough said. “It uniquely brings together experts in ways not available before and opens up new avenues of research. By assisting researchers, students and health care providers, we can make important advances in medicine and more effectively communicate these advances to everyone involved in health care.”  

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Source (USD News): https://www.usd.edu/the-south-dakotan/usd-receives-6-5-million-to-establish-south-dakota-biomedical-computation-collaborative