Telemedical Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The candidate has a background in engineering, medicine, and ophthalmology, and plans to extend his career into the clinical applications of communications and information technology. This proposal will support the candidate's career development through a two-phase training program. In the first phase, intensive didactic instruction through the Columbia University Department of Medical Informatics will provide background in medical informatics, computer science, biostatistics, and clinical research. A mentor who is an international authority in clinical medical informatics will supervise this work. He will provide guidance during the entire award period. The second phase will involve the design, implementation, and evaluation of a telemedical network for the remote diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) in low birth weight infants. Studies will be conducted to test an underlying hypothesis: that telemedical detection of ROP will prove to be safe, accurate, and efficient, and will provide important advantages over existing diagnostic methods with respect to speed, outcome, cost, and satisfaction. The development of a computerized infrastructure for health care has the potential to dramatically improve the delivery of medical care and research. Ophthalmology is particularly well suited for this area of investigation because it is technology-driven and visually oriented. This project will be supervised by an ophthalmology Co-Mentor who is an international authority on ROP, and a medical informatics Co-Mentor who has special expertise in telemedicine. Columbia University has a strong existing framework in medical information systems, telemedicine, and public health, which will be leveraged to complete this training and research program successfully.