School celebrates inaugural McWilliams Day on October 23

On Wednesday, October 23, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston held its inaugural McWilliams Day. The celebration recognized the transformative commitment D. Bradley “Brad” McWilliams made to the school in 2023. In gratitude for his visionary investment, the school was named D. Bradley McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics. The McWilliams Day event marked the one-year anniversary of the school’s new name being debuted with updated building signage.

To start the event, Dean Jiajie Zhang, PhD gave updates on the recent growth at McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics. Zhang noted, “Mr. McWilliams’s gift has already had a significant impact on student scholarships and professorships within our school.” Zhang also discussed the continued increase in research expenditures and the influential role the school continues to play in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. This was highlighted by a special visitor — Robot DM1. DM1 can be trained to perform a variety of routine tasks such as picking up medication bottles for patients, finding and removing obstacles on floors to prevent patient falls, and other physical tasks. With the integration of Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, DM1 will be trained to perform certain cognitive tasks as well, such as conversations with patients.

Next, three McWilliams doctoral students presented their work. PhD Candidate Morgan Foreman presented her research focused on “supporting Black pregnant women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.” PhD Student Maryam Mohtashamian shared her presentation which focuses on how AI can assist with detecting depression by way of sleep electroencephalography (EEG). Finally, DHI Candidate Aiman Alrawabdeh presented on “Translating HbA1c Lab Test Name and Results from English to Arabic for Enhanced Patient Access and Workflow Efficiency.”

D. Bradley McWilliams Chair Hongfang Liu, PhD, professor and vice president of Learning Health System at UTHealth Houston, explored the research taking place at her Center for Translational AI Excellence and Applications in Medicine (TEAM-AI). Liu highlighted the center’s R.A.C.E. mission which focuses on revolutionizing healthcare AI, advancing data science, collaborating to accelerate scientific discovery and delivery, and excel in creating the care of tomorrow.

To conclude the event, D. Bradley McWilliams spoke to the school community to express his gratitude for the celebration. To learn more about McWilliams and his gift, visit our website. You can also find photos from McWilliams Day on the school’s Flickr account.