Dr. Bankier Awarded DIGI Grant

Alexander Bankier, MD, PhD and his team have been awarded one of the inaugural Digital Health Insights Grants (DIGI Grant). They have been approved to receive funding in the amount of $35,000 for calendar year 2023. 

Project Title: AI-based Population Screening for Pulmonary Emphysema Using CT.

Its purpose is to identify patients with pulmonary emphysema who undergo thoracic CT for reasons other than COPD. The idea is that a diagnosis in these patients can be established before they become clinically symptomatic and can be treated at an earlier stage of disease, with better outcomes.

Digital Health Insights Grant (DIGI Grant)

This program offered by UMass Memorial Health’s Center for Digital Health Solutions (CDHS) will provide grant awards to health care providers to support novel approaches to the use of digital health technologies that have a positive impact on quality, efficiency, patient and/or provider engagement, health equity, or financial outcomes.

The goal of this grant award is to support our health care providers and foster innovation in digital health across UMass Memorial Health.

ELIGIBILITY

• The project lead(s) must be a provider member of UMass Memorial Medical Group.
• Preference will be given to: 
  • Early-career faculty (with support of a senior faculty mentor) without a history of significant prior funding. 
  • Proposals that seek to address major health system and/or group priorities, including improving flow/reducing length of stay, operating room utilization and promoting quality of care.
  • Proposals that include interventions/solutions that have the potential to readily be translated to improve outcomes. 
  • Proposals that hold promise for immediate and sustained impact for improving quality, efficiency, health equity, patient satisfaction or provider satisfaction.