Nucleate PGH Bio-Hack
Jules Udahemuka, MonitorMed AI founder and first place winner of Nucleate PGH Bio-Hack (photo provided by Nucleate Pittsburgh)
Nucleate PGH Bio-Hack, the Pittsburgh region’s premier biotechnology and life sciences competition, was held at Bakery Square’s “AI Avenue” on October 25-27.
Jules Udahemuka, founder of MonitorMed AI, took home the Patient Safety Technology Challenge first prize award of $1,500 in cash. MonitorMed AI quantifies the uncertainty that is inherent in predictions made by FDA-approved medical imaging AI systems by harnessing Monte Carlo dropout. Additionally, MontiorMed AI leverages these insights to “continuously monitor the AI model's performance in real-world clinical settings.” Notification of anomalies enables healthcare teams to be aware of potential issues and make more informed decisions, thereby leading to improved patient outcomes.
Udahemuka said that his mother’s own experience with misdiagnoses “really highlighted the critical importance of patient safety and the need for innovative solutions. Watching her navigate the healthcare system, it just inspired me to explore ways technology could be leveraged to improve outcomes and restore that trust.” Given his AI background, he was really interested in leveraging probabilistic approaches to increase transparency and reliability in complex machine learning models. He identified a dearth of companies focused on applying such approaches to build tailored solutions within the healthcare industry that assist healthcare professionals in responsibly deploying and maintaining AI technologies. MonitorMed AI offers “a non-intrusive way to continuously monitor the reliability of medical AI models,” which ensures “these powerful tools are used safely and effectively, ultimately protecting patients like my mother.” As an example of MonitorMed AI’s clinical application, Udahemuka stated, “a radiologist reviewing a cancer screening should be able to immediately see if the model is highly confident in its findings or if there's a significant degree of ambiguity.” Udahemuka’s focus is now to turn this proof-of-concept into a robust, production-ready solution.
RehaMove and a team from Duquesne University tied as the second prize winners of the Patient Safety Technology Challenge. Each of the two teams won a $500 cash prize. RehaMove team members include Luigi Borda, Nikhil Verma, Harrison Leon, Lucy Liang, and Arianna Damiani. The Duquesne University team is comprised of biomedical engineering students and includes Riley Davis, Alexis Mulroy, Teresa Steffens, and Norah Delaney. They worked on JP Drain technology to improve post-surgical care via an automated system, reducing both time and labor involved in monitoring surgical drain fluid output volumes.
Thomas Tam, Co-Director of Events at Nucleate Pittsburgh, said he is “thrilled to call JHF our partner and our friends in the Pittsburgh ecosystem. With JHF's trust and support, BioHack lived up to our dream of creating the best problem-driven Biotech and HealthTech hackathon. It is simply magic to see our 200 trainees, with mentorships from JHF's interdisciplinary experts, work hard in teams to innovate in Patient Safety and beyond!"
Carolyn Byrnes, MPH, CPH, Policy Director at the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, facilitating a workshop on Patient Safety to Nucleate PGH Bio-Hack participants (photo provided by Nucleate Pittsburgh)
Carolyn Byrnes, MPH, CPH, Policy Director at JHF, led the Patient Safety 101 workshop, introducing participants to patient safety, the scope of the problem in the United States, and the need for technological innovation to improve the healthcare system and prevent harm. Byrnes also provided an overview of the five leading causes of harm (medication, patient care, infection, procedures/surgery, and diagnostic), along with patient stories to provide real-world examples. Participants in the hackathon needed to address one of the categories of harm to qualify for the prize offered.
RehaMove team member, Arianna Damiani, was inspired by a friend’s personal experience with medical error, as well as the Patient Safety workshop. She said the Patient Safety workshop helped her team understand the many issues associated with patient safety, which inspired them to focus on centering the patient in “creating a technology to make sure the patient can do rehab independently and in a safe way thanks to the use of real time sensors.”
