UCI Researchers Awarded NSF Grant to Develop Critical Education Model to Address Cardiovascular Health Technology and Equity

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death nationwide. Unequal care and access to care for patients with cardiovascular disease is a critical national problem. Innovative engineering approaches, wearable devices and technology-enabled data mining have unrealized promise in both advancing care and improving access and equity. To take advantage of these approaches and technologies, workforce training must be reconsidered and redesigned.

Drs. Naomi Chesler, Dylan Roby, Jason Douglas, Bernard Choi and Christine King recently received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) Integrated Biomedical Engineering Social Science Training (BEST) award in support from the Edwards Lifesciences Foundation to create a new graduate education model. The model will unite biomedical engineers, behavioral scientists and psychological scientists to develop a next generation workforce that will be able to solve problems at the intersection of cardiovascular health, technology and equity.

Through interdisciplinary workshops, courses and a summer research internship, trainees will learn to recognize, develop and use technological solutions to increase access to and equity in cardiovascular health and healthcare. The program will serve 30 to 40 students from the departments of biomedical engineering, health, society and behavior and psychological sciences with two years of funding provided to 15 doctoral students. The convergent training in biomedical engineering and social sciences and engagement with community and industry partners will prepare the trainees for careers, in which they transform practices in industry, government and academia.

Participants will receive interdisciplinary training in social determinants of health, engineering design, and best practices in collaboration and scientific mentoring. Moreover, training will include a unique immersive research internship in a community care center to ensure that those most affected by lack of access and inequities are engaged in finding solutions.

The research theme of using technology to advance cardiovascular health, healthcare and healthcare access and equity will serve as the basis for meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration. The workforce trained through this NRT program will be able to use new and existing technologies to understand the root causes of cardiovascular health disparities, develop tools and systems that improve cardiovascular health and healthcare and study the individual, local and national barriers to acceptance of novel technologies for improved cardiovascular health and healthcare.

The program will introduce participants to team science and will provide skill training at multiple stages of each trainee’s participation in the program to support continued development of team-based approaches to problem solving. The project outcomes will be a demonstrated, well-evaluated model for transformative graduate training that is effective in developing trainees with the knowledge, skills and values to collaboratively solve health inequities with technology. Finally, a science-of-collaboration study conducted throughout the NRT project will explore the dynamics and efficacy of strategies designed to promote interdisciplinary collaboration by faculty and trainees in the program.

Author: Gabrielle Comfort