McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics Monthly Message - December 2023 - Monthly Message Newsletter - News - $host.map.pageTitle
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Monthly Message

Volume 14, Issue 4
December 22, 2023

Happy Holidays from
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics

Happy holidays to everyone in the McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics Community. We hope everyone enjoys a joyous holiday season. Please be safe and stay healthy as you spend time with your friends and family.

photo of McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics Happy Holidays

The university will be closed Dec. 25 - 26, 2023. Our school offices will be open on Dec. 27 - 29 with limited hours and limited staff so please email [email protected] if you need any assistance during those days. The university will also be closed on Jan. 1, 2024 with regular business hours resuming on Jan. 2, 2024.

Click here to view the Dean’s Holiday Message


McWilliams Bragging Points

Several members of our McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics Community have recently earned special recognition or contributed to the informatics community. We want to congratulate those individuals on these accomplishments.

  • Assistant Professor Angela Ross, RN, DNP was named the new DHI Program Director effective Dec. 1.
  • DHI Student Edith Ballard was recently selected as a member of the new TxHIMA Board of Directors. She will serve as Director of Education and Programs for 2024.
  • Associate Professor Juliana Brixey, PhD earned a bronze-level “Excellence in Nursing Award” from the Good Samaritan Foundation earlier this month.
  • Alan Pan, PhD student, was named the winner of the Paul C. Boyle Research award for fall 2023. His poster titled “Utilization of Pattern and Process Mining Techniques on Event Sequence Data to Enable Quality Improvement in Healthcare” won this month’s Poster Session.
photo of McWilliams PhD Student Alan Phan
Scholarship Opportunities for UTHealth Houston Students

The Student InterCouncil (SIC) is awarding $1,000 scholarships to eligible, current UTHealth Houston students. Visit the SIC scholarship opportunities webpage for more detailed information and to download application forms for each scholarship.

Applications must be submitted electronically no later than 11:59 PM CT on Sunday, Dec. 31. All applications must be submitted via Qualtrics. If you have questions, please contact Tanedra Booker in the Office of Academic Affairs and Student Success at [email protected].

Collaborative Workshop: Artificial Intelligence in Biomedicine and Healthcare

The McGovern Medical School Research Committee has launched a series of interdisciplinary professional development workshops designed to appeal to clinicians and basic scientists while promoting collaborative research interactions across the UTHealth Houston campus. On Jan. 17, 2024 the committee will discuss Artificial Intelligence in Biomedicine and Healthcare via Teams. Dean Jiajie Zhang, PhD will chair this workshop from 9:00 to 11:50 AM.

Acknowledging a growing interest in and reliance on AI and ML, this collaborative workshop will feature faculty from McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston, who are conducting cutting-edge research and applying the latest AI and ML tools and techniques in the service of UTHealth Houston and the broader scientific community. The workshop program will feature a brief overview of Medical AI and the McWilliams School, as well as presentations on large language model applications, learning health systems, imaging applications, and various other representative projects.

Note that registration is not required for this virtual event. The workshop schedule is listed below.


9:00 am – 9:20 am Jiajie Zhang, Ph.D.
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics
“Introduction to Medical AI and McWilliams School”
9:20 am– 9:35 am Xiaoqian Jiang, Ph.D.
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics
“Large Language Model Applications in Healthcare”
9:35 am – 9:40 am Discussion
9:40 am – 9:55 am Luca Giancardo, Ph.D.
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics
“Acute Stroke Imaging: Pushing the Boundaries of Existing Modalities with Machine Learning”
9:55 am – 10:00 am Discussion
10:00 am - 10:15 am Degui Zhi, Ph.D., MS
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics
“AI, Genetics, and Imaging”
10:15 am – 10:20 am Discussion
10:20 am – 10:35 am Laila Bekhet, Ph.D.
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics
“Foundation Models for Medicine: Med-BERT and Beyond”
10:35 am – 10:40 am Discussion
10:40 am – 10:55 am Yejin Kim, Ph.D.
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics
“Identifying Personalized Treatment Effects from Data”
10:55 am – 11:00 am Discussion
11:00 am – 11:15 am Hongfang Liu, Ph.D.
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics
“Informatics and AI for Learning Health Systems”
11:15 am – 11:20 am Discussion
11:20 am – 11:50 am Wrap-up and Discussion
McWilliams In The News
  • Professor Dean Sittig, PhD talked to the Association of Health Care Journalists about how to spot and report on deepfakes.
  • The $22 million gift given by D. Bradley McWilliams to support our school, which helped UTHealth Houston exceed its $500 million campaign goal, was included in Houston Business Journal's “Year In Review” series.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Upcoming Events

Jan. 10 Research Seminar presentation (presenter pending)
12 PM CT online and at 7000 Fannin Street, 6th floor (UCT E-618)
Jan. 17 Research Seminar presentation (presenter pending)
12 PM CT online and at 7000 Fannin Street, 6th floor (UCT E-618)

Visit our website for a full list of research seminar dates and access to recordings for past seminars.

Important Dates

Dec. 25-26 Holiday Break - University is closed
Dec. 27-29 Skeleton Crew Days - Staff have limited schedule
Jan. 1 New Year's Day - University is closed
Jan. 5 Last day for regular registration for spring 2024 courses
Jan. 5 Spring 2024 fee payment is due
Jan. 8-12 Late course registration is open in myUTH (fees apply)
Jan. 15 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day – University is closed