UIC Applied Health Sciences
MAGAZIN E
Code meets meets cadaver <body>
A new anatomy app is reshaping dissection through code, 3D scans and student-driven design.
SUMME R 202 5 New clinic offers coordinated, wholeperson health care from one accessible location.
A children's book collection is reshaping the narrative around disability. Margret Amatayakul's legacy gift supports innovation across health disciplines.
MESS AGE FROM THE DEAN
Tomorrow’s most powerful solutions will be born where disciplines meet and boundaries disappear.
As we approach the end of 2025 — navigating a rapidly changing landscape in higher education and beyond — I’m reminded of what it has taken for the College of Applied Health Sciences to thrive this year. It’s not only the brilliance and dedication of our faculty, students and staff. It’s our willingness to collaborate in ways that cross boundaries, challenge assumptions and create something greater than the sum of our parts.
Some of our most exciting partnerships are featured in these pages. Kinesiology faculty and students teamed up with the Chicago Blackhawks to prepare elite athletes for the season ahead. Our BVIS program joined the UIC College of Nursing and Little Company of Mary Medical Center to produce animated videos that inspire empathy between hospital staff and patients. And alumna Margret Amatayakul’s record-setting gift will spark new collaborations across UIC colleges to address persistent health challenges.
But collaborations at AHS extend beyond our most proximal colleagues and neighbors. We know the real breakthroughs happen when we reach across disciplines, dismantle silos and work in ways that defy conventional boundaries.
The Lifespan Disability Clinic is a model for what this looks like in action. Providers and students from AHS, together with partners across UI Health, are coordinating services for clients with disabilities across a spectrum of specialties — primary care, physical therapy, mental health, nutrition and more — in one centralized location in Gage Park.
We also see the power of collaboration in student-mentor partnerships like the Disability Library at Lurie Children’s Hospital, created by occupational therapy alumni Kevin Durney and Allison Antman, which brings academic expertise into direct service for the communities it’s meant to benefit.
And in the wider arena, our faculty are joining forces with researchers nationwide to defend science and advocate for policies that safeguard both health education and health outcomes.
If we are honest with ourselves, we know that no single person or group holds all the answers. The most transformative ideas emerge when we are willing to listen, to stretch beyond what is comfortable and to innovate together. That is the example our faculty and students are setting — and the future we are preparing our graduates to lead.
Carlos J. Crespo Dean and professor College of Applied Health Sciences
UIC Applied Health Sciences Magazine
Summer 2025
EDIT OR
Erika Chávez
Director of marketing and communications
DESIGN
Heidi Schlehlein
Webmaster and graphic designer
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Jon Asplund, Antonie Boessenkool, Jenna Kurtzweil, Rob Mitchum, Emily Parenti-Lopez and UIC News contributors
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
UIC Creative and Digital Services, UIC Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications
©2025 University of Illinois Chicago. All rights reserved. Published by the Office of the Dean, UIC College of Applied Health Sciences, 808 S. Wood St., 169 CMET, Chicago, IL 60612-7305.
Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor, the college or university.
Telephone (312) 996-6695
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E-mail eachavez@uic.edu Website ahs.uic.edu
You might notice abbreviations throughout this issue. They correlate to academic units and programs in the College of Applied Health Sciences.
AT Athletic Training
BHI Biomedical and Health Informatics
BHIS Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences
BVIS Biomedical Visualization
DHD Department of Disability and Human Development
DIS Disability Studies
EP Exercise Physiology
HI Health Informatics
HIM Health Information Management
KINES Kinesiology
KN Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition
MLS Medical Laboratory Sciences
NUT Nutrition
OT Department of Occupational Therapy
PT Department of Physical Therapy
RS Rehabilitation Sciences
UIC Applied Health Sciences
MAGAZIN E
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Features
A new model of care
The UI Health Lifespan Disability Clinic offers coordinated, whole-person health care from one accessible location 11
Code meets cadaver
A new anatomy app is reshaping dissection through code, 3D scans and student-driven design 14 On the cover: Illustration by Heidi Schlehlein ’10 MS BVIS
Beyond the bookshelf
A children's book collection is reshaping the narrative around disability — in health care settings and beyond 18
Notebook
Donor-driven discovery
Margret Amatayakul's legacy gift supports innovation across health disciplines 22
New joint BHIS
KN faculty, students
AHS faculty stand work with Chicago 3 degree program 8 up for science 10 Blackhawks
AHS alumni, students and faculty participate in the 24 2025 CAIDF Hackathon
NOTEB OOK AHS News and Notes
Biomedical visualization alumni and faculty help address $18 billion problem for hospitals
A collaboration between UIC College of Nursing, UIC College of Applied Health Sciences and Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park is encouraging empathy to address a growing number of negative interactions between some patients and nursing staff.
BRIDGeS (Building Resourceful Interactions Despite Grief and Stress) utilized findings from a 2022 community health needs assessment to create short, animated videos depicting stressors that can lead to workplace incivility and cause nurse burnout, which has worsened due to staffing shortages, documentation burden and increased violence in hospitals.
Carolyn Dickens, a clinical assistant professor at UIC College of Nursing, and Eileen Knightly, vice president and chief nursing officer at LCMMC, are co-principal investigators on the grant funded by the Community Health Advocacy program. Faculty and alumni from AHS include Leah Lebowicz ’12 MS BVIS, clinical associate professor and biomedical visualization program director, and alumni Leah Balsan ’24 MS BVIS and Susie Hammons ’24 MS BVIS
One way to address tense exchanges between patients and providers, Knightly said, is encouraging empathy. The first set of videos depict a tense exchange between a nurse, a patient and the patient's daughter from two perspectives. From the daughter’s perspective, the nurse came into her dad’s hospital room after a day full of anxiety and stress and heaved a heavy sigh, as if her family’s case were an inconvenience. From the nurse’s per-
spective, the patient reacted unfairly to a brief sign of exhaustion after a chaotic morning treating patients.
It's human nature, Knightly said, to meet hostility with hostility, “but that's the complete wrong answer,” she said. “So how do we remind people?”
The BRIDGeS team began by examining provider-patient interactions, then engaged Lebowicz and BVIS to illustrate both sides of the dynamic. Alumni Balsan and Hammons created the animated storyboards based on interview data.
Dickens said the videos, which feature sound effects but no words, are meant to draw people into the situation more effectively than “two-dimensional signs asking people to be respectful.”
Links and QR codes to videos are included in patient folders and shared with nurse leadership throughout the UI Health and OSF HealthCare systems. Knightly and Dickens would eventually like to expand the project to other hospitals. The issue of nurse burnout and incivility is a growing and expensive concern around the country, affecting hospital budgets and, most importantly, the quality of care.
New joint BHIS degree program
Beginning in Fall 2025, UIC will offer a new joint degree program in health information management and health informatics. Completing this five-year program will earn students a bachelor’s degree in health information management (BSHIM) and a master’s in health informatics (MSHI).
This streamlined degree pathway equips students with both management and technical skills, producing leaders who can oversee complex systems and utilize technology that drives health care innovation.
“This joint BSHIM/MSHI program reflects our commitment to preparing students for the evolving demands of the health care industry,” said Felecia Williams ’99 BS HIM, clinical assistant professor and HIM undergraduate program director. “By completing both degrees in just five years, students gain critical skills in health data management, information governance and health informatics — positioning them for advanced roles in a rapidly changing digital health landscape.”
Recent changes to the MSHI admission process created new possibilities for interdisciplinary study beginning at the undergraduate level. BSHIM students with a GPA of 3.4 or higher will be able to apply for continued study on the MSHI track the year before their anticipated graduation
“The change a few years ago to remove the three-year work experience requirement for admission has opened the door for high-performing undergraduate students to seamlessly transition into the MSHI program,” said Laura Mills, clinical assistant professor and associate director of the health informatics programs. “Creating this seamless joint degree pathway maintains academic momentum and saves students time and money.”
The five-year students will receive their bachelor’s degrees at the end of year four. Students will also be eligible to sit for the Registered Health Information Administrator exam, a certification from the American Health Information Management Association, immediately upon completion of the BSHIM degree requirements. BSHIM courses may be completed on campus or online, while MSHI courses are fully remote
“[The program] allows students to earn their RHIA credential and a master’s degree in a time- and cost-efficient manner, giving them a competitive edge in the workforce,” said Williams, an RHIA herself.
“It’s a forward-thinking option for students eager to gain advanced skills and enter the workforce well-prepared and ahead of schedule,” said Mills.
Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar, OT professor, is a guest editor of the American Journal of Community Psychology’s special issue exploring how culturally grounded, participatory and community-based approaches affirm migrant dignity, expand access to opportunity and foster community resilience. The issue offers a roadmap for researchers, practitioners and policymakers co-creating inclusive, dignified and equitable systems. It also calls for community psychologists to reject neutrality and engage in scholarship and practices that advance migrant justice.
Read the issue.
go.uic.edu/AdvancingRights
AHS faculty shape national standards in exercise
Faculty members from the Department of Physical Therapy and the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition have contributed to the newly released 12th edition of the ACSM Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription
Published by the American College of Sports Medicine, the text is regarded as the definitive reference for health professionals prescribing exercise to healthy individuals and those with chronic disease. The guidelines play a central role in shaping health science curricula and guiding best practices in clinical and fitness settings around the world.
Cemal Ozemek, a clinical exercise physiologist and clinical associate professor in the PT department, was senior editor on the new edition, bringing expertise in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, exercise testing and chronic disease management. His leadership helped guide the integration of new evidence in the 12th edition, including updates to the resistance training and behavioral counseling sections and the addition of new sections: on sex differences, transgender and gender-diverse individuals; chronic fatigue syndrome; postural orthostatic syndrome; spontaneous coronary artery dissection; fatty liver disease and pediatric cardiac rehabilitation.
Contributors from AHS include PT clinical assistant professor Joel Hardwick ’23 DCEP, KN professor Robert Motl and PT
clinical assistant professor Rich Severin ’22 PhD RS. Along with Ozemek, their contributions to the guidelines help exercise and health professionals stay informed as they see individuals seeking healthier, more active lives.
Hardwick, who was both a content reviewer and contributing author, created online teaching resources and an appendix on common medications encountered by exercise professionals.
Motl’s research and contributions to the guidelines focus on physical activity interventions in people with neurological diseases, particularly multiple sclerosis.
Severin, who studies cardiopulmonary diseases, wrote the newly added section on respiratory muscle testing and training.
In an interview for the March/April issue of ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, Ozemek discussed how he hopes health professionals integrate the updated information.
“I really hope they can take a moment to appreciate the advancements made in our field since the last edition,” Ozemek said. “I think many of us lose sight of investigators and practitioners’ impactful scientific contributions in expanding our knowledge base. Paying attention to those details and applying them in practice ultimately benefits the individuals we serve.”
Tanvi Bhatt named 2024-25 Distinguished Researcher of the Year
Tanvi Bhatt
Tanvi Bhatt, PT professor and director of the Cognitive Motor Balance Rehabilitation Lab, was named a Distinguished Researcher of the Year in the area of Clinical Sciences for the 2024-2025 term.
Selected by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Office of Technology Management, only five UIC faculty members received this honor. The award recognizes scholars who advance knowledge and demonstrate outstanding achievements in their fields.
Bhatt’s research explores alternative cognitive and motor therapies. In late 2024, she was awarded two major grants,
exceeding $1.5 million and $3 million, from the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Institute on Aging. The first grant supports a three-year study on functional balance interventions for people with multiple sclerosis, a condition that affects approximately 1 million adults in the U.S. The second studies task-specific balance training to reduce the risk of falls among aging adults.
“Both of these studies aim to develop interventions that can be implemented in clinical or community settings,” said Bhatt, “emphasizing functional, real-world relevance and enhancing participants' everyday lives.”
“Patient-centered research is at a crossroads and there is a need for leaders in this space to emerge,” said Ross Arena, PT department head. “Dr. Bhatt is certainly a leader. Her research informs patient care and improves treatment strategies in real time. She is extremely innovative and will continue to have an international impact for years to come.”
DPT student wins bronze at Pan-American Wrestling Championship
Ricardo Salinas, a DPT student, won a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling for Puerto Rico at the U23 Pan-American Wrestling Championships in April.
Salinas got his start in wrestling at a young age; his father was a high school coach and exposed him to the sport early.
“The wrestling room was my day care,” Salinas said.
Salinas has continued pursuing the sport ever since and through every stage of his life. He has stacked achievements even while working toward his doctorate, and looking forward, he hopes to qualify for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He is training for the Junior Pan American Games in Paraguay in August, a major multi-sport event held every four years.
As a DPT student, Salinas is making connections in training that give him a technical edge.
“I’ve learned a lot about the joints, muscles and movement patterns, and that’s helped me connect the dots with wrestling techniques,” Salinas said. “I can visualize things better now — like how a certain grip affects a joint or how to move more efficiently — and that’s made a big difference both in how I train and how I recover.”
Salinas also sees a link between the goals he sets in wrestling and the goals he sets for his PT career.
“For me, it’s not so much about hitting some specific milestone; it’s about the opportunity the goal gives me to get better at something I love,” Salinas said.
“With PT school, the goal is to earn my doctorate, but to get there, I get to keep learning about how the human body works and how to help people move better. It’s the same mindset I bring to wrestling: keep showing up, keep learning, keep improving and keep doing what I love doing.”
Ricardo Salinas (left).
CDC funds programming for young women with breast cancer in Chicago
A project supporting young women in Chicago living with breast cancer has received $2 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Led by UIC College of Medicine’s Tamara Hamlish and co–primary investigator Elizabeth Papautsk y, BHIS assistant professor, the five-year grant will fund the efforts of Young And A Survivor (YAAS!) as they continue to build a multisector network supporting women diagnosed with breast cancer before age 45. This is the second round of funding for YAAS!, which Hamlish began in 2019. The organization collaborates with other cancer networks, community groups and clinical partners, including OT department head Susa n Magasi ’02 MS OT, ’06 PhD DS.
“I’m grateful and humbled to join this impactful project and to have the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Hamlish,” said Papautsky. “We both share a passion to serve breast cancer patients and survivors by facilitating access to services, designing and disseminating resources and promoting overall health and wellness, with continuous evaluation of the impact of these efforts.”
The program connects young women with a history of breast cancer with resources to address specific challenges, such as fer-
tility preservation, psychosocial support, career navigation and sexual health. YAAS! also builds connections between patients and community organizations.
“Young breast cancer patients, survivors and their families have needs that may be different from older women,” said Papautsky.
“Through tailored events and resources, YAAS! helps connect young women to services that are otherwise difficult to find.”
The program also trains community health workers and patient navigators to support this population. A 14-week telehealth training program for community-based navigators, the Breast Cancer Survivorship Navigator Virtual Learning Collaborative, is offered four times per year in English and Spanish. Additional skill-building workshops for community leaders and patient advocates run throughout the year.
YAAS! focuses specifically on women in Chicago, with an emphasis on communities with limited access to resources and information. Women with breast cancer in these Chicago communities experience worse overall health and a greater risk of mortality, according to Hamlish and Papautsky. YAAS! programming addresses social drivers of health and barriers to care.
“Given the historical and demographic health differences around breast cancer in the Chicago area, there is a lot of work to do.”
Winning visuals
Madison Taylor ’ 25 MS BVIS won first place for her work “ Bacteriophages as an Alternative to Antibiotics” in the Moving Image category, and Alex Dimeff ’ 25 MS BVIS received an Honorable Mention for their work “Dendritic Cell and T Cell Interaction” in the Still Image category of the 2025 UIC Image of Research competition. The annual competition showcases the breadth and diversity of research at UIC. The winning entries are chosen by a multidisciplinary jury and exhibited in an online gallery.
View all the winning entries. indigo.uic.edu/ior
Madison Taylor Alex Dimeff
Karrie Hamstra-Wright wins a fourth Silver Circle Award
Kinesiology clinical professor Karrie Hamstra-Wright ’99 MS KN invites students to fall in love with their subject.
“For us as kinesiologists, the subject is the wonder of the human body,” Hamstra-Wright said. “If I can cultivate an atmosphere where students can be gripped by how awe-inspiring our bodies are, I trust that it will ignite a desire to learn — and learn more deeply.”
At AHS commencement on May 9, Hamstra-Wright was presented with the Silver Circle Award for Excellence in Teaching. This recognition, given annually since 1996 to one faculty member from each of UIC’s colleges, is awarded by the graduating seniors. Hamstra-Wright has won the award four times since 2008.
dents hands-on learning and research experience. She also co-created the Resilient Athlete Program to help injured athletes recover both physically and mentally.
She’s noticed that her students are becoming more interested in this integrated approach too.
“There are seeds of a richer understanding of how research and clinical practice work together,” Hamstra-Wright said. “I have seen critical thinking, concept integration and application improve when students connect how the scientific process makes them better clinicians and how being clinicians makes them better at the scientific process.”
Beyond the coursework, grades and degree preparation, Hamstra-Wright is proud to instill in her students a desire to excel and make a difference.
“I have had the privilege of seeing the tremendous impact of Dr. Hamstra-Wright on student learning for a number of years,” said David Marquez, KN department head. “The combination of her background, intelligence, creativity and genuine care for the students is an example we all could follow.”
In every element of her work, Hamstra-Wright encourages connection and integration — between mind and body, research and clinical practice. She established the ASPIRE lab (Applied Sports Psychology and Injury Research and Education) alongside KINES clinical professor John Coumbe-Lilley, offering stu-
“I have interacted with quite a few alumni this year, having the high honor of learning from them while calling them by their titles versus the other way around!”
Hamstra-Wright has also been gratified to witness this year’s undergraduate research and teaching assistants develop a passion for promoting health on and off campus.
“I have many specific goals,” Hamstra-Wright said, “but as long as they lead back to being a part of cultivating these things in our students, I’ll be on the right track.”
OT and PT programs earn top ranks from U.S. News
U.S. News & World Report ranks AHS’ graduate degree programs in occupational therapy and physical therapy among the best in the nation. The publication’s 2025 list of best graduate schools, released April 8, ranks OT third and PT 33rd in the United States.
The entry-level and post-professional doctoral programs in occupational therapy — sharing a third place rank with Colorado State, the University of Pittsburgh and Washington University in St. Louis — have achieved a higher rank than any other graduate program at UIC.
“We are honored to, once again, be recognized among the top occupational therapy programs in the United States,” said OT department head Susan Magasi ’02 MS OT, ’06 PhD DS. “This
recognition reflects the dedication of our students, alumni, staff and faculty. It is a testament to the strength of UIC OT’s Scholarship of Practice, which brings together research excellence, innovative teaching, meaningful community and clinical engagement and a deep commitment to student success."
The physical therapy doctoral program shares its spot in the top 50 with Arcadia University, the University of WisconsinMadison and Virginia Commonwealth University.
“The DPT program continues to be well regarded and highly ranked nationally,” said Ross Arena, head of PT. “This speaks to our continued excellence in education, scholarship, community outreach and patient care.”
Karrie Hamstra-Wright
AHS faculty stand up for science
Several AHS faculty members joined hundreds of researchers and concerned citizens in Federal Plaza March 7 for a Sta nd Up for Science rally. Events were held nationwide calling on policymakers to defend scientific discovery, retain public access to information and protect investigators.
Timothy Koh, KN professor, has assumed a leadership role in this fight. He has spent more than 15 years studying wound healing in people with diabetes, most recently on a grant from the National Institutes of Health that ran its course in February. Preparations for the renewal of this grant were underway as early as fall 2024. After receiving positive feedback about its continuation, Koh was notified in the spring that the meeting to decide on funding was canceled. No reason for the cancellation was provided.
concerning is the pressure some feel to self-censor based on vague guidance to avoid topics related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
All communications from federal health agencies were held under an administrative freeze, leaving researchers in the dark. Between the communication freeze and deep funding cuts — NIH allocates $1.2 billion to Illinois universities and hospitals alone — the scientific community was eager to put up some resistance
Koh spoke at the Chicago Stand Up for Science rally, participated in a news conference led by UIC United Faculty in February and has shared his story widely.
“It’s breathtaking to think they’re not funding new grants for anything — cancer, heart disease, diabetes — all the major health problems in the U.S.,” Koh said.
He explained that removing financial support also creates immediate consequences, hampering disease containment efforts, for example, or disrupting the research economy by limiting jobs and harming suppliers.
Beyond funding issues, researchers are concerned about political interventions into scientific studies. According to Koh, more
After the February news conference outside Student Center West, Koh was contacted by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin’s office. In a speech supporting NIH on the Senate floor, Durbin mentioned Koh by name and emphasized the importance of research like his.
Koh continued the momentum at the Stand Up for Science rally. According to KN professor and associate head Giamila Fantuzzi, who also attended, the quick-response rally was a heartening display.
“I was impressed by the energy and motivation,” Fantuzzi said. “Scientists and researchers are not famous for direct action, but the current situation is touching us directly and I am glad to see people reacting.”
Koh also finds himself assuming new responsibilities in the face of these challenges.
“Like most scientists, I was just driven by the discovery,” said Koh. “There wasn’t a lot of emphasis on science advocacy. But if people are willing to listen, I’m willing to talk about the way I see these problems.”
Giamila Fantuzzi (left), U.S. Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin (center) and Timothy Koh (right) at the Stand Up For Science rally in Chicago.
Photo: Tina Lam
John Coumbe-Lilley recognized for service to UIC Athletics
Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition clinical professor John Coumbe-Lilley was recognized by UIC Athletics for serving as interim director of intercollegiate athletics in fall 2024. Presented with a framed jersey, signed basketball and words of gratitude from current director of athletics Andrea Williams, Coumbe-Lilley was formally acknowledged at a surprise gathering at Flames Athletic Center for shepherding the program through a moment of transition.
“It was a lot of commitment; a lot of decisions had to be made on behalf of the university,” said Coumbe-Lilley. “I had so much help from the chancellor’s office and everyone in athletics. We
were able to achieve a lot of goals and prepare a positive pathway for Andrea and of course for our student athletes.”
Once his interim post had run its course, Coumbe-Lilley handed over the reins to the program and dove back into his regular faculty work. There was never any formal goodbye, and he supported the program from a distance throughout the remainder of 2024 and into 2025. When Williams asked Coumbe-Lilley to join her for a coffee in the spring, he didn’t suspect anything more than a social catch-up.
“When Andrea brought me over to FAC, I was absolutely shocked. It really meant something big to be acknowledged like that.”
Under Coumbe-Lilley's leadership, UIC Athletics was set up for continued success, but he credits his accomplishments to the collaborative spirit within the program.
“If you do anything good in life, it's typically done with other people.”
Science sparks
Watch Kirsten Straughan, KN clinical assistant professor, outline the basics of nutrition and how to build a healthy, budget-friendly lifestyle, and Krista Varady, KN professor, break down time-restricted eating for healthy weight loss as part of the UIC Science Sparks video series.
Watch the video. today.uic.edu/science-sparks
John Coumbe-Lilley
KN faculty, students work with Chicago Blackhawks
The Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition recently collaborated with the Chicago Blackhawks to assist athletes during the team’s summer development camp.
Brian Blackburn, KN clinical associate professor, along with KN graduate students Alyssa McIntosh and Jack Burns, conducted performance assessments at Fifth Third Arena, which houses the Blackhawks’ practice rink and strength and conditioning facilities.
In the lead-up to this year’s development camp, the Blackhawks called on their long-standing relationship with UIC, connecting with KN through clinical associate professor Joshua Miller. Blackburn was brought in to lead the collaboration and recruited students to assist, giving them a chance to apply their skills with elite professional athletes.
Blackburn, McIntosh and Burns conducted physiological assessments, focusing on determining maximal oxygen consumption (VO₂ max) under physical stress. The students were responsible for operating the VO₂ max testing station, where they used protocols designed to quickly fatigue the athletes while collecting data on their cardiovascular fitness.
“Although our master’s program primarily focuses on pathophysiology, we make a strong effort to show students how fundamental physiological principles apply not only in disease states but also in high-performance environments like elite sports,” said Blackburn.
“Beyond the technical skills, this experience helps students build professional networks and gain practical exposure that could be highly valuable for future careers.”
The group received several compliments from members of the Blackhawks organization, including from leadership of the team’s performance department. Blackburn and his
students were asked to return in September to support the team’s preseason development camp.
“This partnership helps the Blackhawks achieve critical performance insights into their athletes’ cardiovascular fitness, which informs training decisions, recovery strategies and overall player development,” said Blackburn. “For our students, it bridges the gap between academic knowledge and real-world application in elite sports settings.”
Chicago Blackhawks player participates
Photo: Chicago Blackhawks
DPT student Vanessa Nutakor ’21 MS KINES guides patient through activity to improve dynamic balance.
For people with disabilities, accessing timely, coordinated health care can be a challenge, especially when appointments require multiple specialists in multiple locations. The Lifespan Disability Clinic addresses these obstacles by providing whole-person care in a single, fully accessible location in Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood.
Each client's care is led by a physician and supported by a collaborative team of social workers, community health workers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, nutritionists, counselors and other providers available in-house under one roof.
The clinic is a one-stop shop for people with disabilities, who might otherwise have to trek across the city to meet
A ne w model of care
The UI Health Lifespan Disability Clinic offers coordinated, whole-person health care from one accessible location on Chicago’s Southwest Side.
with different care teams or manage uncoordinated schedules. Appointments are intentionally longer to accommodate the complexity of each person’s needs and to ensure no concernis rushed or overlooked.
“Patients have very broad needs, and we all know that you need an interprofessional model of care,” said Mary Keeh n , AHS associate dean for clinical affairs and assistant vice chancellor for interprofessional practice and education at UIC.
“A physician and a social worker, while both always involved, can’t attempt to meet all of the needs without additional partnerships. People need more hands on deck and more time.”
Photo: Steven Karl Metzer/UIC
The Lifespan clinic took shape in 2019 through the collaborative vision of Dr. Kristi Kirschner, clinical professor in medical education, Dr. Rachel Caskey, professor and head of the Department of Medicine, and Keehn. The clinic launched in 2022 at 2600 South Michigan Avenue, a UI Health physician group space, but shortly after, a $15 million grant from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services was secured to develop a new site at 55th and Pulaski. AHS played a significant role in advocating for disability-inclusive spaces at the new facility, such as larger offices for wheelchairs and care partners. By the summer of 2024, the new clinic opened its doors, creating a home base for disabled clients.
Care that grows with you
One of the clinic’s defining features is its commitment to providing care for people of all ages. The Lifespan clinic caters especially to those who have aged out of pediatric programs centralized in large hospitals. Around age 21, disabled patients frequently lose access to coordinated care and must navigate health systems on their own. Lifespan bridges that gap.
The clinic offers these individuals support they won't find in a standard primary care office. Occupational and physical therapy services, including specialized care from Gillian McLean, neurological rehabilitation specialist and visiting clinical instructor, are integrated. Susan Kahan, a DHD Family Clinic
counselor, offers behavioral health services, and Shayn a Oshit a , KN clinical professor, assists with disability-specific dietary needs.
The Lifespan team personalizes its offerings to each client and also makes a point to include families or support networks.
Kahan explained how some people come in with caregivers who have their own health needs. The Lifespan clinic believes that strengthening support teams is an important part of caring for people with disabilities, so there’s an effort made to see caregivers — whether it’s for physical therapy, a counseling appointment or another service — at a time that aligns with the original client’s schedule.
“You can show up with any disability,” Kahan said, “and while you’re here, bring the family; we’ll see them too.”
The clinic’s bilingual social work staff removes another barrier to individualized care, allowing direct contact between patients and providers without unfamiliar intermediaries sitting in on appointments to interpret.
Lifespan also offers a seating clinic — an increasingly rare service for clients who aren’t patients at large hospitals. Led by Lori Peculis, physical therapist and assistive technology specialist, the clinic facilitates monthly evaluations for assistive mobility devices, complete with demo chairs and cushions for clients to try. The clinic also streamlines the difficult process of obtaining insurance coverage for these devices, getting paperwork cycled through in-house doctors, which decreases hang-ups and wait times.
Above: Megan McCray, OT clinical instructor and certified hand therapist, assesses a patient's finger mobility.
Photo: Erika
Chávez
Yolanda Manrique (left) and Susan Kahan (right) discuss client cases.
“It really doesn't exist elsewhere in Illinois,” Keehn said about Lifespan’s comprehensive service model.
Funding is the biggest obstacle. A significant portion of disabled clients rely on Medicaid, which typically doesn't pay out enough to secure 360-degree care for people with disabilities, even in states like Illinois with relatively expansive coverage. That’s where grant support is essential.
Competence and confidence
For Dr. Erin Hickey, assistant professor of clinical medicine and the clinic’s medical director, securing first-rate care for people with disabilities hinges on the clinicians, who need specific training to meet specialized needs. In 2023, she was awarded $2.4 million from the Health Resources and Services Administration to develop a curriculum on disability-inclusive care for an interprofessional audience, making the Lifespan clinic a training ground for future providers.
Students in UIC's medical program, along with students across AHS, are cycling through the Lifespan clinic to receive a hands-on education. The goal is to instill both competence and confidence in clinicians treating people with disabilities.
“Most of the students are really passionate about providing good care for patients with disabilities, even if they're not planning to make it their fulltime role,” Keehn said. “If they're interacting with patients with disabilities, they want to do it well.”
One crucial confidence-builder for clinicians is having access to knowledgeable peers and good communication with a client’s various providers. To provide quality care for people with disabilities, providers must grasp a complex set of medical circumstances, which can be achieved a lot more effectively when a group of specialists work cases collaboratively. Weekly interdisciplinary meetings between providers ensure coordinated care on a case-by-case basis.
Kahan believes these weekly communications are just as valuable to the providers as they are for the clients. Working closely with clinicians specializing in physical disabilities has improved her behavioral health practice.
“I feel I’m a good contributor in those meetings,” Kahan said, “but I learn just as much as I contribute.”
The clinic is looking to improve communications with patients as well. Lifespan is currently assessing how to provide telehealth options to reach patients that can't make it to the facility at 55th and Pulaski.
The Lifespan Disability Clinic is shaping the future of disability health care, improving patients’ outcomes and fostering providers’ growth.
“It's the most exciting thing I've been a part of since joining UIC,” Kahan said. “There's so much value in it.”
leg strength.
Gillian McLean (left) assists patient with sit-to-stands to promote functional
Photos: Steven Karl Metzer/UIC
A new anatomy app is reshaping dissection through code, 3D scans and student-driven design.
For centuries, cadaver dissection has been the gold standard in anatomy education, offering students a firsthand look at the intricacies of the human body. But what if they could take that experience with them, wherever they go?
Now, a team of UIC faculty, instructors and students led by Tomer Kanan, KN clinical assistant professor, has built a modern tool for studying human anatomy. DOCTOR, a free web application, uses three-dimensional scans of real cadavers and medical models to bring the anatomy lab to laptops, tablets and smartphones.
With a swipe of their finger, students can twirl images of a real heart, brain or lungs. Voice commands help them find specific structures; a tap plays the correct pronunciation. And whether in the classroom or at home, they can add drawings and notes to prepare for upcoming dissections and exams.
“Our goal was to create the best product for our students,” said Alejandro Carrillo ’20 BS RS, ’22 MS OT, KN adjunct instructor and member of the DOCTOR team.
Unveiled in late 2024, DOCTOR fills the gap between the static, idealized illustrations of anatomy textbooks and the expensive, proprietary technologies used to teach the subject in schools. It’s still a work in progress; the team continues to build new features and conduct more dissections and scans.
“The DOCTOR app is different from other software, because we are using the same resources that we have in the classroom,” said Kanan. “It’s not illustration; it’s the real thing. And what students see in the classroom — that’s exactly what they have on the app.”
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Anatomy at your fingertips
The inspiration for the app was Kanan’s experience running one of UIC’s largest classes. Each year, more than 700 undergraduates — many planning on careers as doctors, nurses, therapists or other health professionals — take his anatomy and physiology course.
The course is taught in a dry lab, where students learn from intricate plastic models of organs and other structures, and a wet lab, where students do dissection. Photography is not permitted in the wet lab, so students often use their phones to photograph the dry-lab models from multiple angles and create study guides for future exams.
“We found that students learn best when they own the material,” Kanan said.
“We started to think, what can we do to take what we have in the classroom and give students the ability to control how they want to look at things?”
That led Kanan to envision a library of interactive, threedimensional images in an app. He teamed up with Balaji
The DOCTOR app team holding model organs from the anatomy and physiology dry lab.
Photo: Martin Hernandez/UIC
Kashyap Vellaluru, a graduate of the UIC MS in Computer Science program, and they both started learning photogrammetry, the process of scanning and creating 3D images.
Photogrammetry requires hundreds of photographs, methodically taken at precise intervals around an object.
“You have to know exactly what picture you’re taking from which angle, and you always have to keep in mind the three or four previous images that you took,” Vellaluru said. “It was really physically demanding.”
After capturing the images, Vellaluru led the design, development and deployment of the DOCTOR app, implementing advanced interactive features such as custom labeling and voice recognition. More features are on the horizon.
“Whatever you’ve seen so far, it’s nothing compared to what is about to come,” Kanan said.
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Dissecting the impossible Acquiring the organs to scan is no small task. Fortunately, the DOCTOR team has several skilled dissectors, both practicing health professionals and students.
Mirza Baig, Brenda Garcia ’23 BS KINES, Anel Hurtado and Raegan Meyers are former anatomy and physiology students who have stayed involved as dissectors after finishing the course. Each said their experience in Kanan’s class made them want to continue learning anatomy, and they leapt at the opportunity to work on the DOCTOR project team.
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“You’re not going to find a group of people that are all so passionate about anatomy, about teaching it and making it accessible,” Hurtado said.
In addition to designing an apparatus to position cadavers during scans, the students are dissecting the body’s musculature. That work needs to take place between classes, which makes for some unusual text conversations.
“We have a group chat,” Baig said. “We’re like, ‘Hey, do you guys want to hang out and dissect together?’”
For the more complex dissections, Kanan turns to laboratory instructors Carrillo and Victoria Peterson. Carrillo, an occupational therapist, and Peterson, a chiropractor, have clinical experience but also enjoy the teaching and practice of dissection.
“Once you get started, it’s like a really big puzzle,” Peterson said. “There’s not always instructions or a map to follow.”
The two tackled Kanan’s biggest challenge so far: a brain with the eyes and spinal cord attached, including the nerves radiating from the organs. The dissection took six months of nights and weekends to complete. But its 3D
scan illustrates the ambition of the app, showing complex anatomic structures on an interactive platform.
“I think it’s a great resource, and I really wish I had it when I was in anatomy two years ago,” Baig said.
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The dead teach the living, again
A decal on a wall of the UIC anatomy and physiology lab spells out a Latin phrase: “Mortui Vivos Docent,” or “The dead teach the living.” That philosophy has motivated human dissection for thousands of years.
But the ancients didn’t have the technology on the other side of the UIC lab: two big flatscreen TVs. Standing on either side of a TV displaying a 3D image of the human brain, Carrillo and Peterson rotate the organ and quiz students on its structures. When a student answers, the instructors can zoom in on the corresponding area, allowing for easy comparison between the screen and the real brain on their dissection table.
The DOCTOR app didn’t take long to become an integral part of UIC’s anatomy classes. When the team introduced it to students in the fall 2024 semester, they got a round of applause. Instructors immediately saw students using the app during class. The audio features are especially helpful, they said, as students struggle with the technical, Latinbased terms for many anatomical structures.
After presenting the app at UIC’s Spark Talks in November 2024, Kanan heard from other UIC colleges about using the app in their graduate programs as well. The app is currently available to anyone with a UIC or University of Illinois System account, and he is working with the Office of Technology Management on licensing it to more universities.
“A lot of times, I know that students know the answer, but some of them are hesitant if they don’t think that they’re going to pronounce it correctly,” Peterson said. “I think it gives students confidence to be able to speak up in class and reinforce their learning that way.”
But Kanan stressed that he will only allow the app to be used by others if they agree to his price for students: free.
“For future clinicians, for people involved with anything regarding the human body, we want to make sure that we give them the best tools to succeed,” Kanan said. “And what better way to do that than to create something that’s never been done, and better yet, to make it free.”
Student dissectors Anel Hurtado and Raegan Meyers use the DOCTOR app in the anatomy lab.
The DOCTOR app interface.
Photo: Martin Hernandez/UIC
be y o nd be y o nd the e bookshelf f
Rooted in UIC’s occupational therapy values, a children’s book collection is reshaping the narrative around disability — in health care settings and beyond.
At the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Outpatient Center in Lincoln Park, kids with disabilities are inspired to harness their strengths from the moment they enter the waiting room. A cart carrying 70 children’s books featuring disabled characters — the “Disabilit y Library ” offers stories that reflect their lives and highlight their abilities.
Kevin Durney ’16 MS OT, ’24 P-OTD, an occupational therapist at Lurie Children’s since 2016 and the library’s primary creator, shaped the book collection with authentic stories about the lived experience of disability, emphasizing what disabled kids can do, not what they can’t.
“We wanted to curate a collection that recognizes disabled people as causal agents in their own lives,” Durney said.
The library was created in collaboration with Allison Antman ’25 E-OTD who was placed at Lurie Children’s to fulfill her fieldwork requirement. Antman won a Bea Wade Award for Clinical Excellence for her efforts on the Disability Library, which was presented to her at the UIC Department of Occupational Therapy’s Bridge to Capstone ceremony in January 2025.
“I thought [the library] was a fantastic idea that would fill a huge need,” Antman said.
Planning for the library began in fall 2024, inspired by a feature section on disability that Durney encountered at Three Avenues Bookshop in Lakeview. The idea quickly became a mentored collaboration between Durney and Antman.
The pair spent weeks reading, rating and discussing children’s books — more than 100 titles in total. They developed a 0-5 rating scale to identify strength-based representations of disability, and books that scored 4 or higher were added to the collection. Disabled characters must be depicted with agency and autonomy, for example, not included to receive pity or be saved. Disability could
not be presented as a problem to be solved in any of the books, and characters must be defined by more than their disability.
A SYSTEM-LEVEL APPROACH
Though the library creates a meaningful experience for individual patients, it’s also intended to shift broader attitudes about disability. Since beginning his practice of occupational therapy in 2016, Durney has increasingly focused on what he calls “systems change.”
“Over time, I recognized that efforts at the individual level, resulting from my direct interactions with kids and families, were limited by dominant societal attitudes that devalue disability,” Durney said.
“The aim of the Disability Library is to use children’s literature to push back against societal tropes that result in inequitable treatment of disabled people.”
While Antman was at Lurie Children’s, Durney instilled in her the value of a systems-change perspective too.
“Kevin introduced me to the idea of a top-down approach,” Antman said, “targeting the environment or occupation itself to find just the right opportunity to fit the needs of a child and their family.”
That perspective is deeply embedded in UIC’s occupational therapy program, where students are trained to move beyond one-on-one remediation and consider social, cultural and systemic barriers to participation.
“A lot of people think about occupational therapy as individual remediation of disabilities inside a person,” said Joy Hammel , OT professor and director of graduate studies, “but we believe it goes way beyond that.”
Hammel explained that the OT department follows a “community-engaged scholarship of practice model.” In addition to learning how to deliver services informed by the latest research, OT students must be embedded in a
community where their practice can be transformed by patient feedback and societal realities.
At UIC, engagement with the community means engagement with Chicago and all of its diverse populations. Many of the communities with which OT students partner for their fieldwork or capstone projects are under- resourced, minoritized or disabled. These collaborations help students become effective, culturally responsive clinicians after graduation.
Across the department, faculty members and dedicated student researchers are embedding their projects in Chicago communities. Associate professor Mansha Mirza ’04 MS OT, ’10 PhD DIS and her students are working to aid refugees and asylum seekers with disabilities . Elizabeth Peterson and her students are assisting community-dwelling older adults, most of whom are Black, with fall prevention methods they might not otherwise receive. Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar is working with students on numerous projects that tailor occupational therapy interventions to different cultural communities.
“UIC OT is known for that,” said Hammel. “I think we’re really well respected for putting community engagement front and center, one of the key components of our vision.”
As a P-OTD student and a practicing occupational therapist, Durney has engaged peers in the disabled
Key project partners on the Disability Library (from left to right): Three Avenues Bookshop owners Tim Wurman and Jordan Felkey, Kevin Durney, Allison Antman.
Photo: Janice Terry/Lurie Children's
community to develop his practice and fill in knowledge gaps. He collaborated with Helen Rottier ’20 MS DHD, ’25 PhD DIS, a researcher, disability advocate and autistic person, on a study aimed at increasing social participation among autistic people.
“It is refreshing to hear from a clinician who wants to understand the experiences of disabled people from their own perspective,” Rottier said. “I shared thoughts on how clinicians represent disability or autism to children and families and their role in interrupting ableist ideas from circulating.”
Disability-specific training — in collaboration with peers from the UIC Department of Disability and Human Development — is one reason UIC’s OT program is ranked among the best in the nation . Many members of the OT faculty have joint appointments within DHD, which facilitates this collaboration. According to Hammel, very few other OT programs have such a close relationship with a robust disability studies program that teaches disability rights, history, pride and community-building.
It’s not always easy, as a clinician, to seek out transformative learning experiences outside the walls of your classroom or practice. But mentoring from the community you serve, especially when working with disabled populations, is key to effective occupational therapy.
“You need to be disrupted,” said Hammel. “Health care professionals sometimes need to hear uncomfortable things about where their services fall short, but once you get challenged, the door opens.”
MIRRORS , WINDOWS A ND DOORS
For Durney and Antman, applying knowledge gained from the communities they serve has benefited many disabled kids in Chicago. Circulating positive stories of disability helps young people form an identity that celebrates their differences
Durney explained that books in the collection were selected to function as mirrors, windows and doors: reflections of kids’ experiences, new views of similarities between themselves and the characters and portals into a world of new possibilities. These stories have a powerful influence on children who are just starting to develop ideas about their disabilities in relation to the world around them.
In her work with Durney and in her own scholarly practice, Rottier often refers to her own childhood experience to illustrate the importance of developing a disabled identity.
“While adults around me avoided labeling me with a disability to ‘protect’ me, kids who are different know they are different,” Rottier
said. “It is useful for disabled kids to have the language. Learning I was disabled as a young adult was a huge relief! ”
Kids with disabilities — especially in medical settings — should be encouraged to view their disabilities as sites of strength, not hindrances. The patients using the Disabilit y Library at Lurie Children’s believe it’s doing just that.
“It has been exciting to see how enthusiastically the Disability Library has been embraced by kids and families,” said Durney.
“The most rewarding moments have come from watching the expressions of surprise and excitement when kids recognize aspects of themselves in the books — possibly for the first time.”
Durney was recently reading “A Day with No Words” by Tiffany Hammond with a boy who excitedly pulled a speech-generating assistive device out of his backpack when he saw the child in the story using a similar tool.
“We were both then able to use the device to make connections to the story,” Durney said.
Projects like the Disability Library reciprocally impact health care professionals, too. Being in relationship with disabled communities has the potential to transform occupational therapists and their practices.
“Participating in this project has shown me what good can come if you follow your passions and how fun it is to work when the work aligns with your values,” said Antman.
Durney hopes the library inspires other occupational therapists, especially those studying at UIC, to aim high when trying to effect change for disabled people.
“While it’s overwhelming to imagine addressing deeply ingrained social and cultural barriers, a UIC education provides invaluable tools to identify, analyze and address factors that constrain what a person can do or who they can be.”
Watch Fox 32's video coverage of the Disability Library: go.uic.edu/DisabilityLibrary.
The AHS Annual Fund
Donating to the AHS Annual Fund means you’re giving with full confidence — allowing the college to use the funds when and where they are most needed. Unrestricted gifts provide the college’s leadership with the ability to address urgent financial concerns in a timely matter.
Donations to the annual fund support
• student scholarships and awards
• student-, faculty- and staff-led initiatives
• improvements to academic and clinical facilities
• groundbreaking research and scholarship
When you donate to the AHS Annual Fund, you are demonstrating your belief in the college’s mission and its people.
Donor-driven discovery
Margret Amatayakul's legacy gift supports innovation across health disciplines.
Margret Amatayakul
’70 BS HIM knows the power of looking at health care through a different lens. After losing a cousin to leukemia, she was drawn to the field. With guidance from her advisor, she found her path at the intersection of health care, business and technology. That path led to a distinguished career in health information management.
A former UIC faculty member and founder of Margret\A Consulting, Amatayakul has long championed
interdisciplinary collaboration as a key to advancing care. Through the largest gift in the history of the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences, she’s invested in that vision
Her donation funds new partnerships across UIC colleges, with the goal of breaking down silos and sparking innovation that improves health outcomes.
“We could be doing things much better in health care if we just took the time to look at things differently,” Amatayakul said.
Her gift reflects a deep commitment to improving patient care and preparing the next generation of health leaders through education that’s collaborative, accessible and future-focused.
The recipients of this year’s collaborative research awards embody that spirit. They’re working across disciplines, bringing fresh ideas to persistent health challenges. Learn more about their work on the following page.
Photo: Jenny Fontaine/UIC
InLife: Individualized lifestyle change for every aging brain
David Marquez, KN professor and department head
Examine how intervention-related changes in health behavior impact cognitive outcomes across diverse groups of older adults by harmonizing existing participant data from large randomized controlled trials by purchasing an ActiLife 7 license.
UIC Health and Wellness Academy
Lindsay Strieter, PT clinical instructor
Purchase Fitbits for Altus Academy students participating in the UIC Health and Wellness Academy to track their daily physical activity. The data obtained will be used to track changes in physical activity patterns and optimize physical activity outcomes.
CLEFT FEED: Insights
on providers’ feeding practices and interventions for infants with orofacial clefts
Joyce Chau, DHD speech language pathologist
Address feeding practices and techniques recommended for babies with orofacial cleft conditions by creating a comprehensive manuscript that guides providers with the best practices regarding feeding babies with orofacial clefts.
Bed space activism scholarship
Akemi Nishida, DHD associate professor
Examine how world change is happening from the practice of using one's bed as a site of resistance and social critique by centering the analysis of bed space activism
Susan Magasi, OT professor and department head
Organize a falls prevention fair in partnership with Project H.O.O.D. to benefit senior citizens who reside in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. UIC OT Falls Prevention Fair
a video from the fair. go.uic.edu/2025OTFallsFair
Utilizing simulation-enhanced interprofessional education to identify differences in healthcare students' collaborative practice behaviors: A mixed method study
Beth Marks, DHD research associate professor
Explain the impact of Simulation Enhanced Interprofessional Education on health care students' self-reported collaborative practice behaviors, their perceptions of utilizing CPBs when caring for underserved populations and the differences among professions within interprofessional teams.
Post-stroke fatigability pilot study
Andrew Sawers, KN associate professor
Identify novel associations between plasma lipidomic and oxidative stress biomarkers, and post-stroke impairments in fatigability to determine if the biomarkers can predict future levels of gait-induced fatigability.
Critical issues in older Latino adult health: Building bridges across clinical, research and community spaces
David Camacho, DHD assistant professor
Provide academic, clinical and community efforts to support knowledge dissemination and participation in health care research, supporting current and future student interests in gerontological health care via a series of presentations and events.
PE OPLE AHS Alumni Highlights
Editor’s note: in this issue of UIC Applied Health Sciences Magazine, we feature AHS alumni, students and faculty who participated in the 2025 CAIDF Hackathon.
Over the last weekend in May, web developers, designers, computer scientists, informaticians and health care professionals joined forces for a hackathon hosted by Creating AI-Enabled All-Health Team Data Fabric (CAIDF).
Funded by UIC’s first grant from the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, CAIDF uses artificial intelligence to unlock hidden health data that can improve patient care and enable scientific discoveries. Investigators on the CAIDF team include BHIS professor Andrew Boyd (co-principal investigator and hackathon organizer), PT professor Tanvi Bhatt, PT and BVIS clinical assistant professor Sam Bond ’16 MS BVIS and OT and RS professor Mary Khetani
The CAIDF hackathon gathered a multidisciplinary group of 97 students and professionals at the Crowne Plaza Chicago West Loop. Small teams competed to develop innovative proposals for patient care based on the data provided: 100,000 anonymized health records from neonatal intensive care patients or patients injured by falling.
AHS students, alumni and faculty were part of several teams that excelled in the competition. Sam Kobel, a second-year BVIS student, was on the first place team. She presented an algorithm that scanned patient histories for key terms that indicate fall risk. An aspiring animator, Kobel said the hackathon opened her eyes to new connections between creative visualization and patient care.
Photos: Adam Biba/UIC
Sam Kobel (middle) and teammates.
Keaton Mullins (far right) and teammates.
BHIS assistant professor Mohan Zalake and Saraina Adam ’18 MS BVIS were members of the teams that tied for second place. Zalake's team used NICU data to algorithmically predict necrotizing enterocolitis, an intestinal perforation that is dangerous to premature infants
“Our different backgrounds and skills helped us identify attractive, novel solutions that wouldn’t have been possible in a lab,” he said.
Keaton Mullins ’22 MS BVIS, a member of a team that tied for third, joined the hackathon to gain a new perspective on his career in medical illustration. His project used the American Hospital Association’s
4M model to condense and present patient data from multiple providers.
“I was excited to learn more about the use of (large language models) and how to adapt that data into a cohesive visual solution,” Mullins said. “The ideas for health integration hold incredible potential.”
Boyd said all 20 teams offered inventive, data-driven ideas to improve patient outcomes.
“The hackathon’s impact is the lasting paradigm change of the individuals who attended and the future research trajectories,” Boyd said. “We have shown the value of hidden data, and now researchers around the world can explore the potential impacts.”
Mohan Zalake (far right) and teammates.
Saraina Adam (far right) and teammates.
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