HealthCast: Recent Episodes
GovCIO Media & Research
HealthCast brings a clinical perspective to some of the most pressing issues in health IT, including electronic health record modernization, claims processing, health care delivery, medical devices, patient privacy, data management and more. Senior clinicians, administrators, project managers and other IT professionals delve into various efforts that bridge technology and health in the federal government. 213656
HealthCast, along with GovCast and CyberCast, will now be published in the GovCIO Media & Research Podcasts feed. Subscribe and listen today on the podcast platform of your choice.
Dr. W. Kimryn Rathmell is one month into her post as National Cancer Institute’s new director and is already rolling up her sleeves on initiatives impacting health outcomes of cancer patients. Dr. Rathmell discusses her priorities for the year ahead, including a renewed focus on deepening connections across agencies, communities and the nation.
She highlights how the agency fits into broader White House priorities around Cancer Moontshot. She also discusses upcoming plans for artificial intelligence and how it might boost cancer prevention as well as improve cancer screenings. Plus, she shares her story about an organization she co-founded that is near and dear to her heart.
Government is typically not one to take risks, but Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) CIO Nikolaos Ipiotis said failing and learning are key parts to tech and health innovation.
The agency, the newest one within the National Institutes of Health, aims to transform and innovate in health IT, medicine and other lanes of research that aren't easily available through traditional approaches.
Ipiotis, who joined the agency in December 2023, said in his first podcast interview that taking risks, "controlled failure" and collaboration are all keys to his IT strategy. He discusses what lies ahead for data strategy as the agency begins to collaborate with industry and set in motion major initiatives for the health community.
It’s been 15 years since the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) updated its data strategy, and now it is prioritizing innovative ways around data collection, analysis and sharing. The agency hopes these efforts will better treat those seeking mental health and substance abuse support.
SAMHSA Chief of Staff Trina Dutta, Senior Advisor Dr. Robert Baillieu and Survey Statistician Dr. Kathryn Piscopo discuss how the updated strategy will help streamline performance and procure integrated data platforms. The team also talks about how the agency is now using dashboards that are making data more usable and enhancing transparency agency-wide.
NIH is working to better manage and disseminate fair data in a timely manner for researchers, who are working to advance medical treatments and improve overall health outcomes.
Susan Gregurick, associate director for data science and director of the Office of Data Science Strategy, said the agency’s latest strategic plan includes new ways to utilize artificial intelligence by recruiting a workforce more skilled in AI as well as build out trustworthy AI models to reduce bias.
Gregurick also shares some exciting news about current and future initiatives including the RADx Tribal Data Repository, AIM-AHEAD Program and the NAIRR pilot NIH is launching in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Telehealth and mobile health technology are leading to new efficiencies and opportunities for health care. Spyros Kitsiou, associate professor and director of the mHealth Innovation Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is a trailblazer in the development and testing of mobile health technology interventions.
He discusses some of the ongoing clinical trials funded by NIH that focus on testing the efficacy of mHealth apps and wearable devices. Kitsiou also discusses the potential of these innovations in empowering patients and assisting with chronic disease management.
The National Cancer Institute's Small Business Innovation Research Program is putting scientist entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities on a path to start create businesses that will help develop technologies to accelerate cancer research and enhance the quality of life for cancer patients.
Michael Weingarten, director for the Small Business Innovation Research Development Center at NCI, highlights some of the initiatives his team is working on to support these efforts. Dr. Rukiyah Van Dross, a professor at East Carolina University, discusses how this program helped turn a dream into reality. The leaders discuss some of the key tools that are enabling this community of entrepreneurship and how that is translating to cancer care.
The White House has introduced a first-ever playbook aimed at addressing social determinants of health with directives for the departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Education, Commerce, Veterans Affairs and more.
Learn about the three key pillars in this playbook, which include efforts around data strategies and partnerships. We dive into what these mean for federal technology opportunities and solutions.
Artificial intelligence is impacting all aspects of government, including public health. The Biden-Harris administration's recent AI executive order impacts health agencies and tasks leaders with building frameworks for ensuring AI is deployed fairly, ehtically and with accuracy in health situations. Health equity remains an issue in the U.S., and leaders of health agencies are thinking of "health equity as a core design principle" of AI systems to be deployed.
GovCIO Media & Research Managing Editor Ross Gianfortune and Staff Writer/Researcher Jayla Whitfield discuss the impact of AI on health equity, the ways that leaders are treating the executive order and how health care will be affected by emerging technology.
A new initiative at the National Cancer Institute aims to create capabilities for detecting pancreatic cancer early and improving treatments for patients with mutations.
A big challenge with pancreatic cancer resides in the KRAS gene. When mutated, the gene can cause normal cells to become cancerous. A new therapy involving KRAS inhibitors and genetic testing can help patients screen for this earlier.
Dr. Christine Alewine, the NIH Lasker Scholar in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at NCI’s Center for Cancer Research, discussed this breakthrough, how new advancements can serve as an alternative treatment for chemotherapy and where AI can make an impact. Plus, she notes how other health issues such as diabetes also plays a role in screening for pancreatic cancer.
Emerging technologies are poised to greatly impact federal agencies. In health care and health research, this is unlocking tremendous opportunity for researchers advancing treatments, diagnostics and more. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences’s five-year plan outlines how AI and machine learning will address big data and translational barriers.
This plan aims to bridge the gap between scientific and operational challenges by improving engagement in the translational space as well as serve as a guide to other agencies when it comes to preparing for future health emergencies like COVID-19.
NCAYS Branch Chief of the Office of Policy, Communications and Education Dr. Meredith Temple O'Connor briefs us on this plan plus the expansion of the N3C program comprising COVID clinical data, how AI is shortening the diagnostic odyssey for rare diseases and what’s going on with its new partnership with ARPA-H.
Federal health agencies are progressing in artificial intelligence development and use to provide better patient care and counter cybersecurity threats.
We take a look at some of the developments where AI is making a difference. This includes at the Department of Health and Human Services where AI is helping tackle substance abuse and fraud.
We also dive into some of the ethical concerns that arises around the technology and recap the six key principles for responsible AI development the Department of Veterans Affairs has prioritized to combat AI bias.
Public health leaders across the public and private sectors joined GovCIO Media & Research’s Health IT Summit to discuss pressing issues in health IT like electronic health records (EHR) modernization, data interoperability and emerging technology. If you missed it, catch the highlights here.
Jayla Whitfield, Anastasia Obis, Amy Kluber and Ross Gianfortune joined GovCast to recap the event and discuss the highlights from the event.
A clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute called NCI-MATCH showed how cancer patients could benefit from genomic sequencing and is now informing future trials on precision medicine.
The NCI Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice Trial initially screened 6,000 patients and treated 1,300 of them by pairing certain medications with their specific tumors regardless of the cancer type. Future trials like ComboMATCH will now look at precision medicine to study how tumors respond to targeted treatments.
NCI Researchers Dr. Lindsay Harris and Dr. Peter O'Dwyer shared how precision oncology is expanding treatment options and increasing patients' survival rates. They also discuss the importance of clinical trials like these for progressing the fight against cancer.
Transportation is the biggest barrier to health care in the veteran community. Getting more veterans to their appointments reliably is the goal of an expanded partnership the Department of Veterans Affairs has with Uber. Launched last year at an initial 10 sites, the VHA-Uber Health Connect Initiative is now serving 60 VA medical centers in its second phase.
VHA Chief of Innovation Indra Sandal and Veterans Transportation Program Director Ben Williams return to HealthCast to brief us on the progress the program has made, plus a look at new digital tools that are helping streamline this program even more. Sandal and Williams say the program not only is helping to reduce costs, but also is supporting overall federal priorities in improving the customer experience.
They also tease a new feature coming out this month and hope to roll out the overall program enterprise-wide by May 2024.
Pediatric cancers require better treatments, and developing better treatments necessitates innovative technology that supports collaborative data sharing.
This Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, National Cancer Institute leaders Dr. Narali Shah and Dr. Christine Heske from the Center for Cancer Research break down some of the novel new therapy developments targeting b-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and other rare cancers that affect children.
Standard therapy, they said, is not working and tends to be very toxic. The researchers describe their focus on prevention — meaning early detection opportunities for cancer. Underlying these efforts in therapy development includes the technology that enables critical access to and collaboration with data. This includes the Molecular Characterization Initiative that is sharing data publicly with doctors, families and researchers to better inform them on treatments and participation in clinical trials.
Shah and Heske describe how tech is “moving the needle forward” for researchers to access high-quality specimens and pre-clinical trial models to develop new therapies and new methods to detect cancer markers early.
Modernizing government agencies has become more effective with the emergence of “as-a-service” IT delivery models, which offers a streamlined approach and better user experience to delivering IT solutions especially in the age of cloud. Enjoy this preview of our recent GovFocus panel featuring leaders from FDA, the Department of Veterans Affairs and Maximus. Watch the full panel at https://governmentciomedia.com/govfocus/service-it-delivery-models-driving-modernization
The National Cancer Institute’s Last Mile initiative is exploring new ways at getting screening tests for cervical cancer into more hands. Women who die from cervical cancer often have had limited or no access to screenings. This is just one element that has largely driven the White House’s Cancer Moonshot Program to significantly reduce the death rate from cancer over the coming years.
Dr. Vikrant Sahasrabuddhe, deputy chief of the Breast and Gynecologic Cancer Research Group and Program Director in the Division of Cancer Prevention at NCI, discusses more about how technology and research are driving the Last Mile initiative and how it is reducing health inequities by reaching women where they are with more at-home screening options. Sahasrabuddhe also highlights how advancements with tools like AI are improving diagnosing and treating cervical cancer.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the national agency dedicated to better understanding and treating disorders of the immune system, requires fast and easy access to data for things like clinical trials and genomic sequencing that are critical to developing new vaccines and treatments. Its Clinical Genomics Program is one way opened up a world of data to researchers. NIAID CIO Mike Tartakovsky highlighted several of the new technologies he has implemented to better share and protect clinical data and touted the agency’s new Biovisualization Lab that is applying virtual reality technology in biomedical research.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is putting itself in a better position to handle future health emergencies with its new data-driven Moving Forward strategy. CDC Deputy CIO Jason Bonander said the goal is make it easier for state and local partners as well as health care providers to share data in one centralized place rather than delivering the information through multiple formats and systems. Bonander highlights the role culture plays in public health decision-making and how the agency’s data efforts are addressing health equity and bridging the gaps.
The National Cancer Institute is using Cancer Grand Challenges as a way to improve the lives of cancer patients through data science and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. According to Dr. Andrew Kurtz, program director in the Center for Strategic Scientific Initiatives at NCI, AI is not only providing amazing benefits in image analysis when it comes to detecting cancer, it's also helping with gathering molecular data and other clinical information. Kurtz outlines how the global research community is proposing to address the nine new Cancer Grand Challenges and highlights a new three-dimensional tumor map that is transforming the way cancer is diagnosed and treated.
Technologists, researchers and health care providers are honing in on bias identification and mitigation as technology becomes increasingly integrated into the health care ecosystem. Members of GovCIO Media & Research’s Health Tech Equity Working Group outlined some of the most pressing biases in health care to help technologists recognize these biases in practice. Join our hosts for a sneak peek into our upcoming bias identification guide and learn how members define and defend against socioeconomic bias, overreliance on technology, data bias and more.
The Department of Veterans Affairs reset its electronic health record modernization program in April, halting all future rollouts of the system, with the exception of the James A Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, which will launch in concert with the FEHRM and DHA in March 2024. Since the reset, the agency has focused on improving the functionality and operations at five sites that currently use the new EHR. Its path forward includes a new Oracle-Cerner contract on May 16 to deliver the high-functioning, high-reliability, world-class electronic health record that veterans deserve. VA Deputy CIO of the Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office Laura Prietula discusses next steps following the reset and explains the importance of leadership throughout the large-scale implementation.
On May 16, 2023, VA announced it had reached an agreement on a modified contract with Oracle Cerner to deliver the high-functioning, high-reliability, world-class electronic health record that Veterans deserve.
The National Cancer Institute has established a third Cancer Screening Research Network that will leverage emerging technologies and develop clinical trials that could lead to earlier detection of different types of cancer. Multi-cancer detection tests are showing a great deal of promise when it comes to screening for certain cancers that could result in a more timely diagnosis and treatment which in turn reduces the number of cancer deaths. Dr. Lori Minasian, deputy director for the Division of Cancer Prevention at NCI, discusses how these tests fit into President Biden's Cancer Moonshot initiative, what the challenges around the tests are and more details about a new pilot study coming up in 2024.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights” last year, which requires agencies to responsibly develop and implement automated systems, guided by five core protections. In this exclusive GovFocus preview, federal leaders discuss how they are tackling the challenges around AI to meet mission needs in health care.
To watch the GovFocus and explore our archives, visit govciomedia.com.
GovCIO Media & Research’s Health Tech Equity Working Group held their second meeting May 11 to tackle important issues across health care, including creating more robust data standards and mitigating technology bias across agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, NIH and more. Our hosts dive into the top takeaways from the meeting and explain how industry and government can work together to deliver more equitable health care and build trust with patients.
Since the beginning of the year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has rolled out several new updates to existing interoperability frameworks, including the 21st Century Cures Act, Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) and U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) to improve standards that enable better health information exchange. National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi explains the latest with these frameworks and discusses the implications on areas like artificial intelligence, interoperability, health equity, data security and more.
The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health has leveraged cloud to create the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) — the largest repository of COVID data in the U.S. Over 70 health organizations contribute to the N3C Data Enclave, which cleans, secures and computes that data all in one place in the cloud. N3C's cloud infrastructure has also been instrumental in not only gathering data from various places but also bringing in different types of data such as mortality and viral variant data. Dr. Kenneth Gersing, director of informatics in the Division of Clinical Innovation at NCATS, talks about how emerging technologies are helping researchers define long COVID in a more standardized way and how N3C is being used in treating non-COVID related diseases as well as preparing agencies to better handle future health emergencies.
About 90% of nonmelanoma skin cancers are associated with ultraviolet radiation exposure. Sometimes prevention is straight forward: wear sunblock, stay shaded. But still, there are 1 million skin cancer diagnoses in the U.S. every year. Ultraviolet dosimeters are one of several technologies that are showing a lot of promise when it comes to preventing skin cancer. The tools collect personalized data about UV exposure and are linked to an app that allows people to enter information about their sun-protective behaviors like wearing sunscreen. Psychologist Frank Perna, program director at the National Cancer Institute (NCI)’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Behavioral Research Program, and Health Behaviors Research Branch, discusses how programs like the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program and the Classification of Laws Associated with School Students (CLASS) are helpful in tracking melanoma as well as capturing data about state policies related to sun safety and sunscreen use in schools.
Data interoperability in health IT is a persistent challenge. Creating opportunities for better data sharing can bring necessary collaboration to health researchers. But security of the data remains an important requirement to protect patients and other sensitive information. Researchers at NIST Chris Compton, Joanna DeFranco, David Ferraiolo and Joshua Roberts during the HIMSS conference in Chicago highlight how the Secure Federated Data Sharing System is breaking down walls across institutions, clinics and other organizations to enable trusted access to the data powering tomorrow’s innovations. They discuss how the system can be applicable beyond the health ecosystem to other use cases such as law enforcement.
The “end of the beginning” is around the corner for MHS GENESIS. The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, along with the Coast Guard and now National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are working together to create a single, common federal electronic health record. Bill Tinston, director of the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization (FEHRM) Office, joins Defense Healthcare Management Systems PEO Holly Joers at HIMSS in Chicago to explain the program’s latest progress, lessons learned and how they’re working together to implement best practices at future sites. Looking ahead, DOD is focusing on improving the patient experience.
Decision-making in a clinical setting needs comprehensive, accurate and real-time data. In order to better care for patients, researchers and data scientists are innovating around the technology enabling access to key data from electronic health records driving decision-making. NIH’s Sarah Warner, a data scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Section of the Critical Care Medicine Department, discusses the strategies behind the big data efforts helping clinicians understand and improve treatment for critically ill patients, better define granular data elements that make up patient care, and inform public health policy more broadly.
The Veterans Experience Office is developing new strategies to leverage data and technology to be the leading customer experience organization in government. The office’s Executive Director of Multi-Channel Technology Nathan Sanfilippo joined us live from HIMSS 2023 in Chicago to explain the evolution of new tools and services like the VA: Health and Benefits mobile application and upcoming voicebot pilot, which incorporates human-centered design principles to meet the veteran where they are.
We’re back for HIMSS 2023! We unpack what you can expect at this year’s conference — featuring our special guest, Rubrik Public Sector CTO Travis Rosiek.
We’re anticipating new discussions around major developments like federal electronic health record modernization, data security amid growing cybersecurity threats, new interoperability policies impacting federal agencies, tools that are enabling better data sharing in the health research community and more.
Tune in to freshen up on the latest trends as you prepare to head to Chicago for next week’s conference, and follow along with our coverage throughout the week at govciomedia.com!
Data literacy is a critical component in the digital age for enabling the workforce to harness data’s power. The Department of Veterans Affairs is leveraging a new automated training platform called the All Services Personnel and Institutional Readiness Engine (ASPIRE) to improve competencies for emerging technologies, especially AI and cyber. This interagency effort ensures the overall federal workforce is qualified and capable of meeting their missions as emerging technologies continue to scale. Anthony Boese from VA’s National Artificial Intelligence Institute (NAII), whose educational roots are in philosophy, understands the power of AI and the urgent need to get a handle on data. He explains the program’s development, progress and next steps for the federal community.
2023 will be a big year for the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program as it celebrates 50 years of using data to monitor trends and support research on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer. The SEER Program, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute, is making significant strides to decrease the burden of cancer through a suite of analytical tools that better capture data and make it more accessible to the research community. Steve Friedman, senior advisor for operations with the Surveillance Research Program in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at NCI, unpacks two new data initiatives, the Virtual Bio-Repository and the Virtual Pool Registry, that will allow researchers to collect additional clinical data and remove barriers for conducting multi-site cancer studies.
Developing trustworthy artificial intelligence is paramount in today’s health care and tech landscape. The Department of Veterans Affairs is continuing its journey to ensure AI’s integration is ethical and sound for veterans health care. Building on the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights and VA’s National AI Network, NAII Chief of Staff and Chief Innovation Officer of VA’s Long Beach Healthcare System Dr. Michael J. Kim from the agency’s AI unit explains new pilots, programs and use cases that are informing the agency’s next steps.
Join the AI@VA Community: Join Our AI Communities! (https://www.research.va.gov/naii/join.cfm ) AI Summit Series: AI Summit Series (https://www.research.va.gov/naii/brain-summit.cfm )
Before the onset of COVID-19, the Department of Veterans Affairs already had the biggest telehealth program in the nation, but the pandemic forced the agency to rapidly scale its existing capabilities to continue to deliver critical health care to veterans in a remote environment. Dr. Neil Evans joins us to discuss the progress VA has made with telehealth, how remote care offerings are closing the digital divide and the next steps in this journey.
At the end of 2022, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced more than 1 million downloads for its new “Health and Benefits” mobile app. The app provides a single platform for veterans to access health and benefits information, and VA plans to continue adding new features. VA Deputy CTO of Digital Experience Chris Johnston discusses the app development and the tools his agency used to increase access to critical services and improve customer experience.
Health equity and the Affordable Cancer Technologies Program are helping the National Cancer Institute achieve its mission of significantly lowering cancer rates around the world. NCI's Center for Global Health has adopted health equity as a core value to ensure that patients benefit from cancer research no matter their financial status as well as create opportunities for young people from low-income countries who want to pursue a career in cancer research. NCI also recently launched the second phase of the program to run until 2028. Center Director Dr. Satish Gopal said the program will commit up to $60 million to developing new tech and tools that will support global cancer control by improving cancer screenings and treatments.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is the largest integrated health care network in the United States. With new innovations such as 3D printing and programs including electronic health record modernization, the VA is identifying new ways to fund projects for health IT. Veterans Health Administration’s Executive Director of Strategic Investment Management Ian Komorowski explains how he’s facilitating funding for health IT projects and discusses the legislative impacts through the CARES Act, American Rescue Plan and more.
In part 2 of our interview with emPOWER Director Kristen Finne, she observes how she has seen the program at HHS ASPR evolve and spark conversations across government about empowering service to at-risk populations. She provides highlights about what this means for sharing data in protected environments and building capacity for solar and storage across the country in the event of an outage. Finne’s passion for helping disproportionately impacted people contributes to this framework other partners can improve upon for an all-of-government approach to emergency response.
The Department of Health and Human Services emPOWER program protects the health of at-risk Medicare beneficiaries, including 4.4 million individuals who rely upon essential health care services or electricity-dependent durable medical equipment. Director Kristen Finne explains how this critical data sharing effort delivers just-in-time information to help people respond to a disaster, as well as other tools to inform disaster preparedness.
One year ago, President Biden reignited the Cancer Moonshot initiative and set bold new goals to reduce the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years and to improve the lives of cancer patients and survivors, their caregivers and families. In an interagency effort, the White House Cancer Cabinet has brought together leaders from across government to progress priority actions on ending cancer as we know it. Dr. Danielle Carnival, White House Cancer Moonshot Coordinator, lays out those actions and the initial progress being made toward these goals.
Published in 2022, the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights provides guidance on how government and industry can work together to ensure more accountable AI. The Department of Veterans Affairs National Artificial Intelligence Institute (NAII) Director Gil Alterovitz discusses the agency's role in creating the document and next steps for ethical AI.
Join the AI@VA Community: Join Our AI Communities! (https://www.research.va.gov/naii/join.cfm) AI Summit Series: AI Summit Series (https://www.research.va.gov/naii/brain-summit.cfm)
COVID-19 catalyzed federal health IT to expand innovation around health equity, data management and improved customer experience. In 2022, federal health agencies focused on interoperability, cybersecurity, DataOps and more to ensure equitable, accessible and secure health services. Our researchers reflect on the top news and trends of 2022 including the PACT Act, electronic health records and data modernization, and how these efforts will drive momentum in 2023.
The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs — along with the U.S. Coast Guard — have worked together on the joint goal of creating a single, common federal electronic health record where patient data is fully electronic and transferable between health providers for armed forces service members and veterans. With the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration the latest to join the cross-government effort, U.S. Public Health Service Director of Aviation Medicine Joe Newcomb and FEHRM Director Bill Tinston discuss the collaboration and next steps.
New technologies are making impacts in scientific research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Artificial intelligence and machine learning take center stage when it comes to drug and addiction data. NIDA Program Director for Big Data and Computational Science Susan Wright provides an outlook for tech on helping the agency better understand data and also how data is improving overall health care system operations to better treat patients. She also highlights a program that harnesses smart phones to deliver evidence-based addiction treatment interventions.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is leading the charge in federal AI policy and progress. Director of VA's National Artificial Intelligence Institute Gil Alterovitz explains how VA is developing its National AI Network, which brings together local AI research and development into a broader collaboration, as well as the history, progress and goals of his unit.
There is a bidirectional relationship between cancer and aging. The risk of developing cancer increases as we age, and research shows that cancer and some cancer treatments can accelerate aging. However, earlier detection and targeted therapies are making a difference. Paige Green, chief of the Basic Biobehavioral and Psychological Science Branch, explains that other factors such as psychosocial wellbeing also play a role in the aging process. Green and her colleagues at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are taking a holistic approach to studying cancer and aging to help survivors lead longer, healthier lives.
The CDC’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics established in 2021 has officially kicked into gear. Dylan George, the center’s director, said his office is on a mission to increase data use in public health efforts for infectious disease threats. Now it’s eyeing new technological capacities and partnerships to further equitable applications of the data to serve all Americans.
Over the summer, the Senate confirmed Dr. Shereef Elnahal as the Department of Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Health, the first formally confirmed VHA undersecretary to serve in the role since 2017. Elnahal tells us about his career in health policy and veterans health care, his goals as VA’s chief health official and his insights on the agency’s next steps for its health care modernization and medical innovation programs.
The use of telehealth has accelerated across the health care landscape, including in treating cancer. But this digital delivery model comes with pros and cons, and more research is needed to determine how to best integrate it. The National Cancer Institute (NCI)'s Robin Vanderpool, who leads health communication and informatics research, highlights the four Telehealth Research Centers of Excellence (TRACE) that aim to help understand and improve telehealth for cancer care delivery.
VA has been overseeing some of America's most compelling research into both the origins of traumatic brain injury as well as its long-term outcomes. Career research scientist Dr. Mary Jo Pugh describes how the agency is using newfound capacities in artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide better outcomes for veterans with a complex and often difficult condition.
NCI has one of the largest Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs in the United States, with $26.1 billion in economic output. NCI’s SBIR center takes a holistic approach to supporting small businesses, including businesses owned by underrepresented groups. SBIR provides mentorship, training, networks and funding opportunities for businesses that are developing transformative cancer care technologies.
With the passage of the PACT Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs is now able to offer an expanded scope of health care for veterans who have suffered health consequences due to exposure to harmful substances during their deployments. VA leaders Dr. Steven Lieberman and Dr. Patricia Hastings explain how VA is working to use these new resources to fulfill its duty to care for and serve America's veterans.
This episode includes support from Maximus.
COVID-19 created numerous workforce challenges for the health sector, including staffing shortages and burnout. Antiquated pen-and-paper processes can burden health workers and worsen patient care and health outcomes. Digitization strategies built on a firm data management foundation can help solve these problems by reducing busywork and streamlining rote tasks. This episode is sponsored by Issio Solutions.
In late August, ONC and HRSA announced a new USCDI+ collaboration to support HRSA’s Uniform Data System reporting through the UDS Modernization Initiative. The agencies are aligning the UDS with interoperability standards and transitioning to patient-level reporting requirements with USCDI and other quality reporting efforts. The initiative will help advance health equity and drive data-driven decision-making by streamlining operations and making health systems interoperable.
The term "cancer survivor" refers to any person who has had a cancer diagnosis, and this population is growing. As of January 2022, it is estimated that there are 18.1 million cancer survivors in the U.S. — approximately 5% of the population. This number is expected to increase to 26 million by 2040 due to the aging population, better detection strategies, more effective cancer treatments and improved supportive care. Dr. Emily Tonorezos, director of the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute, discusses the research her office is facilitating to help address the needs of this community.
The term "cancer survivor" refers to any person who has had a cancer diagnosis, and this population is growing. As of January 2022, it is estimated that there are 18.1 million cancer survivors in the U.S. — approximately 5% of the population. This number is expected to increase to 26 million by 2040 due to the aging population, better detection strategies, more effective cancer treatments and improved supportive care. Dr. Emily Tonorezos, director of the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute, discusses the research her office is facilitating to help address the needs of this community.
Suicide prevention is the Department of Veterans Affairs No. 1 clinical priority. The agency's Executive Director of Suicide Prevention Matthew Miller unpacks new programs and initiatives aimed at reducing veteran suicide, like VA's recently announced Mission Daybreak. He'll also discuss the technologies that are helping VA meet this critical goal.
Suicide prevention is the Department of Veterans Affairs No. 1 clinical priority. The agency's Executive Director of Suicide Prevention Matthew Miller unpacks new programs and initiatives aimed at reducing veteran suicide, like VA's recently announced Mission Daybreak. He'll also discuss the technologies that are helping VA meet this critical goal.
Cancer innovation has been a longstanding priority in the current administration. But sometimes overlooked is some of the nation's most sophisticated lung cancer research underway at the Department of Veterans Affairs. This includes applying capacities like modernized electronic health records and artificial intelligence to support groundbreaking innovation. Dr. Michael Kelley, director of the National Precision Oncology Program, and Kenute Myrie, portfolio manager at the VA Office of Research and Development, discuss how the agency is advancing understanding of cancer and improving long-term health outcomes for veterans.
Cancer innovation has been a longstanding priority in the current administration. But sometimes overlooked is some of the nation's most sophisticated lung cancer research underway at the Department of Veterans Affairs. This includes applying capacities like modernized electronic health records and artificial intelligence to support groundbreaking innovation. Dr. Michael Kelley, director of the National Precision Oncology Program, and Kenute Myrie, portfolio manager at the VA Office of Research and Development, discuss how the agency is advancing understanding of cancer and improving long-term health outcomes for veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is at the forefront of some of America's most advanced brain health research. Ahead of the VA NAII BRAIN Summit in Washington D.C., Dr. Rafael Fricks discusses how VA is applying breaking technology like artificial intelligence and machine learning to better understand and treat complex conditions ranging from brain cancer to post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is at the forefront of some of America's most advanced brain health research. Ahead of the VA NAII BRAIN Summit in Washington D.C., Dr. Rafael Fricks discusses how VA is applying breaking technology like artificial intelligence and machine learning to better understand and treat complex conditions ranging from brain cancer to post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
Pediatric cancers are considered rare diseases, which makes them more challenging to study and treat. However, efforts like the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative are helping to advance disease biology understanding and open pathways for community collaboration. In light of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, NCI experts discuss the future of precision medicine and immunotherapy.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is at the forefront of advancing America's health care and using new capacities to improve patient outcomes. Dr. Priya Joshi discusses how the agency is developing a set of rigorous clinical standards to ensure technology is adopted in a safe, effective way to improve the treatment and quality of life for veterans nationwide.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is making considerable advancements in wearable devices and remote patient monitoring to keep track of symptoms and key health metrics in near real time. VA Innovation Specialist Dr. Lindsay Riegler provides a look at how the agency is incorporating these within its broader health care program to improve treatment of chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.
In June, a study supported by the National Cancer Institute found that for people with HIV, early treatment of precancerous anal lesions caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) can cut rates of anal cancer incidence by more than half. These findings from the Anal Cancer/HSIL Outcomes Research (ANCHOR) study are creating secondary prevention options for those at risk for anal cancer who have not received the HPV vaccine. We look into the history of the study and what its work means for those at risk for anal cancer.
The Veterans Health Administration has focused much of its modernization programs on improving access to essential care. Director of the Veterans Transportation Program Ben Williams and VHA Executive Management Fellow Indra Sandal discuss the new VHA-Uber Health Connect pilot helping veterans access the care they need while significantly reducing costs from missed appointments.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has been overseeing some of America's most promising and impactful research into the treatment and management of diabetes. Dr. Leonard Pogach, a lifelong diabetes specialist at VA, highlights the agency's critical work in advancing the understanding of one of America's most commonly suffered chronic illnesses.
The Department of Veterans Affairs oversees both America's largest integrated health care network as well as some of the nation's most impactful and wide-reaching health care research projects. VA Director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center Dr. Ziyad al-Aly describes how the agency is using a large repository of health care information and expertise treating COVID-19 to oversee research into better addressing the condition's enduring symptoms long term.
The COVID-19 pandemic created ripple effects across all of health care, especially for at-risk populations like cancer patients. Early in the pandemic, the National Cancer Institute initiated a study to examine the intersection of cancer and COVID-19 diagnoses. More than two years later, we discuss with NCI Head of Breast Cancer and Melanoma Therapeutics Dr. Larissa Korde from the Clinical Investigations Branch on the status of the study, some of the preliminary findings and how it's evolved.
As America's largest integrated healthcare network, the Department of Veterans Affairs also oversees a considerable scope of advanced medical and biomedical research programs. Hear from VA Director of Data Analytics and Innovation Amanda Purnell on how the agency is making innovative use of synthetic data like creating algorithms and machine learning models to support and advance health issues for veterans, including suicide prevention, COVID-19 and more.
The Food and Drug Administration released an Enterprise Modernization Action Plan (EMAP), the next installment of the agency’s “stronger data and technology foundational approach,” which follows action plans around technology and data modernization. FDA CIO Vid Desai says the plan will accelerate operational efficiency, data use and cross-agency alignment. Desai dives into FDA’s requested fiscal year 2023 budget and what it means for continued modernization across the agency.
Immunotherapy, or the ability to use a person's own immune system to fight cancer, is rising as a promising treatment option in cancer care. In our first episode of our Cancer HealthCasts miniseries, we talk to one of the fathers of successful immunotherapy, Dr. Steven Rosenberg, about how a study he's leading is unveiling a new form of personalized immunotherapy using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes to combat metastatic breast cancer.
Last year we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the National Cancer Act with the NCA Miniseries, but there's still so much to discuss in the field of cancer research. This new miniseries explores how NCI is pushing the ball forward in the fight against cancer. We'll dive into news and program highlights in the cancer space, and dig deeper into how NCI is collaborating with partners to enable new technologies and cutting-edge research. Tune in next week for the first episode interview with NCI Surgery Branch Chief Dr. Steven Rosenberg.
Drug-involved overdose rates and deaths have been increasing at alarming rates across the country, and a majority of those deaths have been attributed to opioids in recent years. Amid the growing crisis, the National Institutes of Health started the Helping to End Addiction Long-Term Initiative (HEAL) to study and address the opioid epidemic. HEAL Director Dr. Rebecca Baker discusses the strides NIH has taken to help advance science for pain management, barriers for substance use disorder treatment and other critical pieces to addressing opioid misuse and addiction.
The Department of Veterans Affairs maintains one of the most comprehensive benefits and healthcare services of any institution in the United States. Hear from VA digital services expert John Rahaghi on how the agency is further integrating its various services through the integrated Login.gov portal, and how these developments fit within VA's broader customer experience strategy.
Adm. Rachel Levine is Assistant Secretary for Health, coordinating public health efforts at the federal level. Levine discusses challenges and lessons learned from the pandemic, as well as how she is approaching other public health challenges like mental health, the opioid epidemic and more. We'll also see how innovation, intersectional health, telehealth and other approaches are key for addressing these challenges.
As America's largest civilian agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs manages one of the country's most substantial Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) programs to provide federal documents to the public upon request. Hear from VA FOIA Director Michael Sarich on how the agency is using new capacities like process automation to expedite the FOIA process and release documents more quickly and efficiently.
Any IT modernization strategy is most successful when it incorporates human-centered design principles. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, this ensures the veteran is at the center of its products and services. Samara Strauss, VA Product Manager at the U.S. Digital Service, discusses how her team is contributing to VA's enterprise effort to provide veterans with world-class customer service and guidance through their VA experience, focusing on the modernization of va.gov and other innovative digital services.
Senior researchers Melissa Harris and Kate Macri break down the outcomes and observations from our latest virtual event, Infrastructure: Health IT. Topics include harnessing and harmonizing data, cloud infrastructure development, and priorities at various health agencies. Featured perspectives include leadership from NIH, CMS and more.
The Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Healthcare Equity is using the agency's increasingly sophisticated data interoperability and analytics capacities to better address key areas of health care disparity. Executive Director of the Office of Health Equity Dr. Ernest Moy breaks down how VA is leveraging its increasingly modernized health IT system to identify and bridge critical care gaps and improve delivery across both geographic and demographic lines.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has begun a process of automating the verification of health claims, bringing together newfound collaboration between both its benefits administration and health network. Hear from VA Director of Benefit Automation Paul Shute on how the agency is merging its prior work integrating service records with a new program of using medical data to ensure veterans receive the benefits they deserve.
Upon the start of the pandemic, the Army's Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) rallied with the rest of federal health to address COVID-19. TATRC stood up the National Emergency Tele-Critical Care Network (NETCCN) to offer critical care-trained clinicians' expertise via telehealth to areas struggling with COVID-19 outbreaks. NETCCN started as a project, but federal health agencies are looking to stand it up as a program to reuse the model and capabilities for future health emergencies.
The single, common federal electronic health record (EHR) is reshaping how agencies deliver health care. Holly Joers, DHMS Program Executive Officer, outlines critical success factors in implementing the federal EHR and explains how her team will continue to build upon successes to ultimately enhance patient care.
Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have turned to health IT, from electronic medical records to telehealth, to aid providers and patients in the care setting. Our guests bring their modernization story to HealthCast and detail how these technologies have served as a boon for their medical center, especially amid COVID-19.
ONC has been at work setting up the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, establishing information-blocking requirements, iterating on the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability and standardizing FHIR-based APIs. This groundwork is coming together to empower patients to use their health data and uplift the power of electronic health records. National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi is joining HealthCast from the 2022 HIMSS conference to tell us more.
VHA’s Innovation ecosystem is using human-centered design as the backbone of its "Reimagining Veteran Health care" project, which aims to design solutions that address critical changes in customer and employee needs and expectations following the onset of COVID-19. Brynn Cole, director of design and storytelling at VHA's Innovation Ecosystem, explains how this approach conduces more effective health solutions and builds trust with veterans.
Synthetic data has a lot of value in health research applications. One benefit to it is that it enables decision-making without compromising on patient privacy. The Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding its use to improve veteran health. Amanda Purnell, VA’s data analytics and innovation director, breaks down the Arches data program where users can readily access usable, original and derived synthetic data to improve care for veterans.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented new opportunities and challenges when it comes to care and access for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Neil Evans and Leonie Heyworth discuss how they've worked together to expand health offerings, increase access to telehealth, and leverage lessons learned to combat future crises.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted critical supply chain challenges as health agencies like the Food and Drug Administration faced new, unforeseen demands. Dr. Heather Agler joins us from HIMSS 2022 to discuss how FDA investigated data and developed new methods to better inform stockpiling strategies for critical supplies like ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPE) and more, as well as share her thoughts on what comes next in health IT.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has been undertaking a comprehensive overhaul of its electronic health records system, representing the largest EHR modernization program ever implemented across an American health care system. Newly appointed Executive Director of the VA Electronic Health Records Integration Office Dr. Terry Adirim discusses the agency's new EHR management structure, the lessons learned from EHR implementation thus far, and how these will be applied in streamlining the program going forward.
The director of FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health was elevated to chief digital health officer of global strategy and innovation. Bakul Patel discusses how he is tackling the office's newest priorities around promoting a diverse workforce, agility and health equity — all in the evolving medical device landscape that is incorporating more automation and software for all consumers.
Precision medicine has been a growing avenue for treating patients based on their individual needs and conditions, but what if we could apply those principles to nutrition? NIH is exploring these questions with its new Nutrition for Precision Health program. The program will recruit 10,000 NIH All of Us participants and leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to explore how to drive tailored nutritional health.
The number of women veterans has tripled in the past 20 years, creating a need to provide care for women veterans and also enhance how the Department of Veterans Affairs serves them. Chief Officer for Women's Health Dr. Patricia Hayes, a psychologist by training, has made a career out of serving women. She brought more inclusive language to VA and instituted programs expanding how VA cares for women. Plus, Director of Women's Reproductive Health Dr. Amanda Johnson, an OB-GYN, has improved how VA serves women veterans in rural areas. Hayes and Johnson discuss how clinicians are modernizing workflows and systems to account for health equity.
The National Library of Medicine has long served as the stewards of a vast repository of medical research data. Lately, NLM has ramped up its digital services around COVID-19 data to provide genomic mapping, literature and clinical trial information for the virus. The agency's National Center for Biotechnology Information Acting Director Dr. Steve Sherry shares how this data is informing the public health response around COVID-19 and its future.
The National Library of Medicine has long served as the stewards of a vast repository of medical research data. Lately, NLM has ramped up its digital services around COVID-19 data to provide genomic mapping, literature and clinical trial information for the virus. The agency's Center for Biotechnology Information Acting Director Dr. Steve Sherry shares how this data is informing the public health response around COVID-19 and its future.
Amid COVID-19 and the ever-changing technology landscape, the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Coast Guard are continuing on their journey to a single, common electronic health record for the nation’s servicemembers and veterans. Bill Tinston joins us to recap efforts in 2021 and explain how the agencies will leverage lessons learned to continue on their successes in 2022.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute CIO Alastair Thomson returns to HealthCast to discuss updates on the new BioData Catalyst program — an open-data cloud platform where researchers can access and bring their own data in to advance research. Since the platform has gone live, Thomson shares how it is making a difference in biomedical research.
Following a recent cybersecurity executive order, agencies face new requirements to ensure they are protected against the evolving cyber threat landscape. Kevin Fu, acting director of medical device cybersecurity at FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, dives into how the agency is developing new guidance and playbooks to guide organizations through medical device development and emphasizes the importance of threat modeling and software bills of material to combat potential vulnerabilities.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has expanded the scope of its remote and rural care program in order to provide critical services to veterans who might not otherwise be able to reach VA clinics. The Mobile Prosthetic and Orthotic Care program with Program Manager Danny Abrahamson and Program Coordinator Eli Kaufman has quickly turned into one of the most promising and impactful services within the VA's Office of Rural Health. The original pilot has expanded into a nationwide service that provides life-changing prosthetics care to veterans from the comfort of their own homes.
This past fall, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and other partners launched the Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium in an effort to leverage adeno-associated viruses as vectors to treat rare diseases. The initiative seeks to streamline research to clinical use, driving efficiencies into the traditional research and development process. FDA leader Peter Marks and NIH's P.J. Brooks discuss the consortium's work and how it aims to help people with rare diseases.
Veterans Affairs has one of the nation's most comprehensive traumatic brain injury research programs and care networks, including a multi-tiered care model designed to provide full support to veterans with TBI, especially when transitioning out of the military. Dr. Joel Scholten, national director of the Veterans Affairs Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service, discusses how VA is overseeing pioneering research into the often complex condition and how technology is impacting diagnosis and treatments for the condition.
Throughout 2021, HealthCast has highlighted the National Cancer Act's 50th anniversary through a miniseries of episodes with its leadership. Dec. 23 marks the official anniversary, so we wrap up the miniseries with a finale episode with NCI Principal Deputy Director Dr. Doug Lowy to reflect on the meaning of the act, the dedication of people working for and with NCI, as well as what remains on the horizon for NCI and its partners.
The National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) and Cancer Information Service (CIS) collaborate to provide valued data and other cancer information to researchers, patients and the public. This includes developing statistical models for software and engaging with the public on smoking cessation through instant messaging, for example. The last episode in this miniseries commemorating the National Cancer Act’s 50th anniversary talks to leaders Dr. Lynne Penberthy and Candace Maynard from the programs.
The Veterans Health Administration has begun exploring capabilities of 5G capacities within its health care network to power innovations that are advancing surgical prep and patient care. Dr. Tom Osborne, director of the Veterans Affairs National Center for Collaborative Healthcare Innovation, discusses how VA is using 5G to explore new capacities like augmented reality that are pushing the horizons of health care modernization.
NIH conducts critical research across all fields of medicine and has been a key player in steering the nation throughout COVID-19. Behind this important work is a network of IT infrastructure, data-driven capabilities, security and dedicated personnel who have supported NIH before and during the pandemic. Its Center for IT drives these NIH-wide operations, as Deputy Director Stacie Alboum breaks down how COVID-19 has impacted those activities and priorities.
When the National Cancer Act passed in 1971, Congress required NCI to form designated cancer centers to help fight the war on cancer. 50 years later, NCI has designated 71 cancer centers that are driving cutting-edge research and service to their nearby communities. In the seventh episode of our National Cancer Act miniseries, we dive into the history and work of these cancer centers.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has been using its 3D printing network to support innovative health care initiatives across the country. Hear from Nikki Beitenman, 3D printing specialist at the Charleston, VA medical center, on how the agency is using these capacities to help patients recover from unusual forms of hearing loss.
This sixth episode commemorating the National Cancer Act 50th anniversary highlights how developments in technology and innovation have accelerated cancer research and helped usher in new diagnostics and treatments. National Cancer Institute leaders discuss the importance of leveraging data for research, how technology is enabling immunotherapy and precision medicine, what tech is on the horizon and how you can help introduce new ideas to the cancer research space.
The Department of Veterans Affairs' Innovation Ecosystem has been responsible for some of the agency's most promising health IT research, including using virtual reality platforms for both mental and physical health care. VA Innovation Specialist Caitlin Rawlins discusses how the technology is being used to help patients recover from PTSD and other anxiety-related conditions, as well as manage chronic pain.
In mid-September, FDA launched its new Office of Digital Transformation, which combines multiple technology portfolios like data, cybersecurity and IT to drive a unified approach to modernization. Vid Desai, the agency's recently appointed CIO and head of this new office, dives into how his role has evolved since joining FDA in 2019 and addresses the primary obstacles the new office will look to tackle moving into 2022.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has built one of America’s most comprehensive clinical healthcare data review projects with its Evidence Synthesis Program (ESP). Hear from ESP co-founder Dr. Mark Helfand on how the program has been instrumental in advancing treatment for a range of conditions, and has recently taken a forefront role in helping clinicians nationwide better manage COVID-19 emergency care and save lives amidst the pandemic.
As we continue our National Cancer Act 50th anniversary commemoration miniseries, we focus this episode on childhood cancer. The early fight against childhood cancer helped spur support for the National Cancer Act, and in the decades since NCI has been working to understand the unique conditions, challenges and treatments for childhood cancer.
COVID-19 has brought new challenges, including the direct public health response as well as secondary shakeups across the government, medical and socioeconomic landscapes. To keep the pandemic response from devolving, the Government Accountability Office has been providing oversight and working with agencies to ensure that COVID-19 and other public health challenges are handled as properly as possible. Its Health Care Director Mary Denigan-Macauley discusses what it's like to oversee federal health activities during a pandemic and how she's overcoming associated challenges.
The Food and Drug Administration is ramping up technology adoption, and prioritizing AI and data strategies to ensure safety of new interventions and medical devices, improve workflows and ultimately deliver on its public health mission. Arunan Skandarajah, an FDA Presidential Innovation Fellow who believes in the power of equitable digital tools, discusses how he is innovating FDA's regulatory processes to drive greater efficiencies.
This fourth episode in our miniseries commemorating the National Cancer Act's 50th anniversary highlights the progress the National Cancer Institute has made in cancer prevention. We talk to leaders in NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention about avoidance, screening and treatments, and vaccinations, and how precision medicine is impacting further research.
With a new data strategy, Department of Veterans Affairs Chief Data Officer Kshemendra Paul outlines the critical role data will have in some of the agency's largest efforts like electronic health record modernization, COVID and more. This means ensuring data is standardized and integrated across the agency to improve health care, evidence-based decisions and equity.
The Veterans Health Administration's Innovation Ecosystem (VHA IE) serves as a hub for novel ideas and health technology development. Four technology and data leaders within the group unpack how they are using a collaborative approach to create well-rounded solutions that keep veterans' needs at the forefront of the development process.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is supporting research conducted within its National Artificial Intelligence Institute (NAII) through collaborative tech sprints that use curated data sets to explore new predictive health care and diagnostic methods. Rafael Fricks, the lead coordinator of the NAII tech sprints, discusses how these projects are coordinated and their application to conditions ranging from kidney disease to PTSD treatment.
Learn more about the NAII at VA’s website (https://www.research.va.gov/naii/) and sign up for the VA’s AI newsletter (https://www.research.va.gov/naii/join.cfm) to stay informed of future tech sprints.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented the Veterans Health Administration with new challenges, such as communication tactics and health care delivery. Leaders across VHA rapidly scaled up technology development and delivery, as well as created new programs, to stay connected with veterans. The heads of the offices of Patient Advocacy and Healthcare Technology Management break down focus areas throughout the pandemic and priorities moving forward.
The Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program (MVP) is using genomic information submitted by American veterans to conduct research on a wide array of physical and mental health conditions. Hear from Associate Director of Cohort Relations Jennifer Deen and Associate Director of Scientific Programs Jennifer Moser on how VA is using this critical research to improve patient outcomes and expanding its roster of genomic information to better care for underserved populations.
In this third episode celebrating the National Cancer Act's 50th anniversary, guests from the National Cancer Institute discuss health disparities with cancer. We delve into the gaps that various underserved communities face in their ability to access cancer care and participate in clinical trials and research, as well as how NCI has worked over the past half century to bridge that gap.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is applying ongoing work in large-scale data analysis to improve both mental and physical health for veterans, including treatment for traumatic brain injury and more. VA Artificial Intelligence Director Gil Alterovitz, who leads the agency's National Artificial Intelligence Institute, discusses the ongoing innovations in this space, impacts to approaches in genomics and policies, plus the agency's support in COVID-19 response.
Upon the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, testing was limited in number and capability. But now, testing is faster and more accessible and ubiquitous. RADx, a federal health-ran initiative to improve testing, is the program behind how we got to where we are. We talk to experts behind RADx about the technologies behind improvements in testing, challenges in testing underserved populations and the future of at-home testing.
SAMHSA is the federal agency leading public health efforts to advance behavioral and mental health across the country, aiming to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness in the United States. As Mental Health Awareness Month ended, we closed out the month by chatting with the acting head of SAMHSA to see how they've been supporting communities' mental health throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
As the oldest American medical school and the only HBCU to have been chartered by Congress, Howard University's College of Medicine is innovating in medical technology and working with industry and government partners to foster more equitable, accessible and improved health care. This episode in our HBCU spotlight series talks to Associate Dean Michael Crawford who highlights the role Howard and other HBCUs have in medical research and innovation.
This mental health awareness month, Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, returns to HealthCast to discuss the latest research and understanding of public mental health and substance abuse initiatives. This includes the importance of early detection, targeting underserved populations and removing the stigma on seeking help.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. HealthCast is bringing you episodes to honor top mental health efforts across the federal government from a leadership perspective. The National Institute of Mental Health's Director Dr. Joshua Gordon discusses the work the leading federal agency for research on mental health disorders is doing to combat mental health issues and possibly prevent them in the future.
In our second episode of our National Cancer Act 50th Anniversary miniseries, we examine the field of cancer research and diagnostics. National Cancer Institute Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnostics Associate Director Dr. Meg Mooney and Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis Director Dr. James Doroshow explain the history of this technology, as well as how legislation got treatment and diagnostics to where it is today.
The COVID-19 pandemic created demand for a rapid vaccination program without precedence in American history. It also placed considerable responsibility on federal agencies, particularly the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides full-scale health care to over 9 million enrolled veterans nationwide. Deputy Chief Consultant for Preventive Medicine Dr. Sophia Califano breaks down how VA met this challenge, the communication strategies at play, as well as how the agency served the population outside of its health system.
With people of minority background and those with obesity and diabetes most at risk for severe cases of COVID-19, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases is leading in the research behind why that is. Director Dr. Griffin Rodgers, who contributed to the first effective therapy for sickle cell anemia, updates HealthCast on the institute's work to lessen the effects of COVID-19 on its research community, as well as other top research and data initiatives at the institution.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death for African Americans, and there are a number of environmental and genetic factors behind it. The Jackson Heart Study has been ongoing for over 20 years to understand why, and we talk to one of its principal investigators at Tougaloo College, Dr. Wendy White, to understand how it's helping build trust between the U.S. medical establishment and African American communities.
There are many racial disparities in American medical research and health care, but HBCUs play a critical role in bridging those divides. Dr. Cynthia Warrick, president of Stillman College, and also a pharmacist and health services researcher by trade, highlights how her academic institution is uplifting students and faculty to expand biomedical programs and research impacting the public health care sector.
50 years ago, President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act into law. But what was the state of cancer in America like before the act, and how has the fight against cancer generally changed since the act passed? We spoke with NCI Director Dr. Ned Sharpless to talk about the work NCI has done since the passage of the act as the first part of our six-part miniseries this year in commemoration of the National Cancer Act's 50th Anniversary. Stay tuned for the rest of the series, which will release bimonthly throughout the rest of the year.
Peek into HealthCast's special six-episode series with the National Cancer Institute to honor the 50th anniversary of the National Cancer Act. This introductory episode includes an overview of the legislation’s impact from NCI Director Dr. Ned Sharpless. Episodes will release bimonthly and will include perspectives from health and research officials from NCI and beyond.
The isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for all Americans, no less so for veterans seeking treatment for mental health and PTSD recovery. Hear from Dr. Christina Armstrong, clinical psychologist at the VA Office of Connected Care, on how the agency has worked to increase the availability and access to remote counseling and mental telehealth over the past year.
This special three-part episode recognizes Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Researchers from the National Eating Disorders Association and National Institute of Mental Health are pioneering treatments for mental illnesses and eating disorders to uplift underrepresented affected communities and personalize care. This includes demystifying the diseases, identifying future opportunities with data analysis and wearable technologies, and discussing recent advancements amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 vaccine is here, and people are seeking to get it. Fraudsters are taking advantage of this moment and are scamming people into fake vaccination signups, pilfering money and identity information. HHS OIG Special Agent in Charge Nenette Day tells us about how her organization is navigating upticks in fraud and how to protect yourself from it.
The Defense Innovation Unit connects industry and the Defense Department, acting as an acquisition accelerator of innovation and commercial technology to military customers. DIU Human Systems Portfolio Director Christian Whitchurch shares some of his projects in the medical and COVID-19 spaces and how his relationship with industry and DOD customers is unique for innovating new ways of looking at procurement in the federal space.
Eli Kaufman from the the Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Medical Center founded the agency's Mobile OPS program, which is designed to bring in-home prosthetics care to veterans who might face challenges visiting a VA medical center. Kaufman reflects on the impact of being able to visit a veteran at their home, and the exceptional benefits for patient outcomes and satisfaction when providers are able to create highly specialized prosthetics.
At the intersection of health and technology, Indian Health Service Chief Health Informatics Officer Susy Postal provides a look into the health modernization underway at the agency. Faced with disproportionate health issues and support, and a comparatively lower budget than other health agencies, IHS is tackling tech improvements that can address these disparities.
Behrouz Shabestari, acting director of NIH NIBIB's Division of Health Informatics Technologies, details how the center is researching innovative applications in biotechnologies and the impact of AI in health care. Shabestari describes how these methods, including imaging tech, also have contributed to tackling COVID-19 detection and treatment.
Kevin Patel, winner of the VHA Innovation Ecosystem Challenge America COVID-19 Maker Challenge series, and Allison Amrhein, director of operations for the VHA Innovators Network, discuss a new telehealth prototype and how the Innovation Ecosystem is expanding the horizons of telehealth at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Mannan Dasti, CIO at the National Institute of Mental Health, discusses how the agency is focused on the holistic view of technology. He describes the importance that apps work together and for data to be shared across multiple systems in order for the scientific community to make complete decisions. The public and health professionals can address and tackle the stigma around mental health issues by promoting technical benefits.
The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for regulating certain digital health software and devices, like those many of us wear daily. Bakul Patel, the first director of FDA's new Digital Health Center of Excellence, talks about how the FDA is looking to advance regulatory policies, collaborate with stakeholders, and ensure digital health technologies are safe and effective for the public.
The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research office has a vital role in the decision-making that regulates medicines. Senior Business Informatics Officer Justin Scott describes how the agency is using digital intelligence tools like ABBYY and automation to modernize the agency's 30 years of archives and support researchers monitoring public health.
With recent news about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, the Department of Health and Human Services is still focused on managing the ongoing threat of the pandemic. The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response's Joe Hamel explains how his office is fortifying medical supply manufacturing and distribution for soon-to-be COVID-19 vaccines, as well as how innovative tech is supporting other public health challenges amplified by the pandemic.
The Defense Healthcare Management System Program Executive Office (DHMS) has been deploying the Military Health System’s new electronic health record, MHS GENESIS. DHMS Acting Program Executive Officer Holly Joers discusses in this episode updates to the deployment, including the inclusion of the U.S. Coast Guard to the EHR, as well as how the Joint Health Information Exchange and more recent CommonWell Health Alliance partnerships are creating greater patient information interoperability between the agencies and their provider partners.
The National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, part of the NIH, is leading COVID-19 clinical trial efforts through a large-scale network, called the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN). Dr. Jim Kublin, the executive director of operation programs for CoVPN, shares more about this government-funded clinical trials network for COVID-19, the importance of diversity in research, and how tech is rapidly advancing these efforts.
Dr. Emily Tonorezos, the director of the office of cancer survivorship at the National Cancer Institute, joins us for this episode to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of cancer patients, as well as ways technology is being used to support cancer care delivery and mental health services.
If there's anything federal technologists can learn from RPA, it's that although it has widespread applicability in many different areas, there are commonalities in overcoming its challenges from which health care leaders can learn. Hear from health and defense leaders on how RPA is enabling mission success.
Jonathan Weiner, founding director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Population Health IT (CPHIT), discusses the application of big data to safeguard public health and manage care during the COVID-19 pandemic — including his work on the Population Health Segmentation Framework and the ongoing development of the JHU ACG System.
In this episode, Dr. Ryan Vega, executive director of the Veterans Health Administration Innovation Ecosystem (IE), discusses how the IE has been critical for advancing health care and biomedical advances within Veterans Affairs. Vega also discusses the upcoming VA Innovation Experience forum, a digital summit that brings together some of the most promising ideas developed within the IE this year.
Check out this event recap episode on our Oct. 1 Digital Health Modernization virtual event to learn more about what agencies are doing to share data, expand access to health services, and improve patient care with digital health.
To streamline patient access to care during the pandemic, the Department of Veterans Affairs developed a COVID-19 screening tool. Its creators, Presidential Innovation Fellow Dr. Kaeli Yuen and Digital Service Expert Patrick Bateman, outline the motivations behind creating the application, as well as how the VA’s recent digital modernization push allowed for rapid programming and deployment of a product designed to safeguard the health of both veterans and VA caregivers.
In this episode, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute CIO Alastair Thomson explains how his agency is advancing international research related to COVID-19 with an expansive cloud-based ecosystem, called BioData Catalyst. Thomson also touches on how AI can improve patient health outcomes, the importance of diversity in research, agency funding opportunities and partnerships, and more.
Dr. Amy Abernethy, the principal deputy commissioner and acting CIO of the Food and Drug Administration, discusses the FDA’s plans to update its data strategy and technology to move with the speed of scientific advancement. She also explains the importance of leveraging innovative technology like AI and blockchain, migrating to the cloud, and public-private partnerships supporting the agency's COVID-19 response efforts.
If you missed the House Oversight and VA Digital Modernization event this month, catch up with these highlights as federal leaders discuss the tech successes behind the agency's telehealth, electronic health records, customer experience and more during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
September is Suicide Prevention Month, and while suicide rates have increased significantly in recent decades and has become one of the leading causes of death in America, the transgender and nonbinary communities are especially at risk for suicidal ideation and attempts. We spoke to Bri Barnett, Director of Development and Interim Director of Communications at Trans Lifeline, a non-profit trans suicide prevention hotline and trans microgrants resource center. They discussed causes behind trans suicide, online resources that support trans people, and how allies can uplift the trans community.
Defense Health's Joint Trauma System built and maintained the Defense Department's Trauma Registry, updating it with data on various trauma injuries and informing best practices across the military health system. Recently, the JTS built out a COVID-19 registry, and we spoke with JTS Chief Col. Stacy Shackelford and Deputy Chief Dr. Mary Ann Spott to learn more about how they scaled to build a COVID-19 registry and how they extrapolate analyses from the data within the registry.
Veterans Affairs Innovation Ecosystem's entrepreneur-in-residence Danielle Krakora details how the division is supporting the agency's wider COVID-19 response. Krakora has served across VA to elevate the patient experience through technology.
We gathered leading health researchers, data analysts, and AI experts from across the federal government to see how they’re using AI for biomedical research and contributing to the pandemic response. Throughout these conversations, officials highlighted that as nice as it is to pedestal the potential of AI technologies, you can’t get there without getting a handle on your data first. Here are the highlights from the Aug. 13 event featuring speakers from NIH, DHA, DARPA and more. Check out the full event coverage at https://governmentciomedia.com/event/artificial-intelligence-new-horizons-medicine
In this episode, NCI’s Center for Global Health Director Satish Gopal discusses how the agency is leading cancer control research, innovative technology efforts and collaborative networks to ensure cancer services are accessible, effective and affordable.
Dr. Ken Wiley and Dr. Robb Rowley from NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute provide an overview of the agency's eMERGE Network, a national network of medical institutions and clinical sites advancing genomic medicine. The federated network is using large-scale data analytics and informatics on patient DNA and their electronic medical records to improve health outcomes for those with common diseases, such as cancer and heart disease. In this interview, they discuss the importance of diversity in clinical research, FHIR APIs and interoperability standards, security and patient privacy, cloud-based platforms, natural language processing and more.
Dr. Paul Jacobsen details how the National Cancer Institute is using evidence-based research around health care delivery services to improve cancer care. He also discusses the main challenges and opportunities for telehealth, including HIPAA and provider reimbursement policies, regional disparities in broadband internet access, and effectively utilizing remote patient monitoring devices for improved health outcomes.
With a career beginning at the NIH National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases in 2003, CIO Mike Tartakovsky said the desire to share knowledge and collaborate among researchers, federal agencies and private partners is higher now than he’s ever seen before. Tartakovsky discusses various biomedical resources and technological efforts the agency has launched to help researchers access and share COVID-19 and infectious disease data during this time.
Dr. Joshua Denny has been part of the NIH All of Us research program since its beginning, dedicating his work to improving patient care through the advancement of precision medicine. Since All of Us aims to collect and study health data from at least a million people in the U.S. to advance precision medicine, Denny discusses the role of electronic health records, how the program protects participant privacy and, most recently, how the program is pivoting efforts to make discoveries about COVID-19.
We’re joined by Veterans Affairs Assistant Under Secretary for Health Support Services Deb Kramer and Executive Director at the VA Office of Procurement and Logistics Andrew Centineo to discuss the agency’s restructuring of its medical supply chain to meet the abrupt demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the broader shift to an enterprise-level model and the application of data analytics to predicting and preventing the shortage of vital medical equipment.
Dr. Renee Wegrzyn oversees a variety of programs within DARPA’s Biological Technology Office, but her “Detect It with Gene Editing Technologies,” or DIGET, program has captured recent attention for its potential in tracking COVID-19 and other pathogenic threats. In this episode, Wegrzyn explains the background and science behind the program, how it can aid in the national response to COVID-19 and other future threats, as well as how programs like this can succeed while safeguarding people’s privacy and information.
Dr. Meg Mooney helps coordinate cancer clinical trial networks across the country and internationally, as well as organizes initiatives related to innovative cancer treatment reviews and precision medicine. In this episode, Mooney discusses a new clinical trial study the National Cancer Institute launched for cancer patients with COVID-19 as well as the work being done in drug discovery and development during this time.
Data-sharing efforts at HHS aim to bring increased collaboration among its subagencies and centers. Sanjay Koyani has been working on these efforts to help agencies be more aware of the common tools to accomplish public health missions in areas like the opioid crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and more.
Nick Weber leads the NIH's initiative to bring cloud-computing tools to researchers. He discusses cloud's benefits for engaging researchers to collaborate and share valuable data in a secure environment. Part of this effort includes the STRIDES Initiative, which incorporates public-private partnerships to streamline data use.
Dr. Adam Haim from NIH's National Institute of Mental Health discusses digital mental health interventions, research on mobile health applications, and the accelerated adoption of telehealth by patients and providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the third part of a series in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month.
In part 2 of our series exploring mental health during the coronavirus pandemic, Kelly Blasko, a clinical psychologist and mobile health clinical integration lead for the Defense Health Agency Connected Health branch, discusses developments on apps to provide mental health tools for military health beneficiaries and how they’re helping users through the pandemic.
World-renowned psychiatrist Dr. Nora Volkow discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted those suffering from substance-abuse disorder and drug-related illness, as well as the roles that telehealth and innovative treatment methods play during this time. This is the first part of a series in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month.
In cancer research, technology that advances data sharing and management is crucial for bringing together the health research community to inform innovation in health care. Proteomics Program Director Chris Kinsinger provides a look at how systems are advancing efforts in proteomics for cancer research, with a look into his office's data commons and how it's helping bring data types together to help researchers solve problems at NIH.
Susan Gregurick leads the implementation of the NIH's Strategic Plan for Data Science and was instrumental in creating this office in 2018. Our conversation with her uncovers more about the agency's storage and data-computing capabilities and what this means for the health science community at large.
GovernmentCIO's chief medical information officer provides insight, as a former nurse and military officer during the SARS pandemic, the current state of health IT amid the national coronavirus response and what other contractors or the public at large should know about it.
Insights from NIH Principal Deputy Director Dr. Lawrence Tabak include promising opportunities in using artificial intelligence across government to improve health care. As the research agency explores the technology, we also address efforts across government like at the Department of Veterans Affairs and Defense Health Agency.