Mar 14, 2016

Bridging the Medical/Technology Divide

Education, Faculty & Staff, Students
Students in computer lab.
By

Liam Mitchell

Students in computer lab.

Picture two groups, both eager to work together towards a shared goal, but speaking two different languages and with no translators in sight.

This has been the challenge for physicians and tech developers, who have been trying to collaborate on creative technology solutions to improve our healthcare system. 

“You have physicians, who understand what they need, but not how the technology works or how to harness it,” explains Professor Marcus Law, Director of Preclerkship Renewal and Academic Innovation at U of T’s Faculty of Medicine. “On the other side, you have programmers and developers who understand the technology, but not how it can be applied in clinical settings.”

To bridge the divide, Law created a new course for first- and second-year medical students to give them the knowledge needed to talk tech with developers. The course, called Computing for Medicine, launched in late February and received an overwhelming response from students. The 61 students who enrolled have a range of experience with computer programming, with some having little-to-none and others having gained experience through high school or university courses.

Roland S. Xu, a second-year MD student, chose to enroll in the course despite no previous computer training.

“During our medical training, we study the language of medicine to learn how to communicate with members of the medical field and with our patients,” says Xu. But with the accelerated progress in science and technology, it is becoming more and more evident that doctors need to be able to communicate with machines as well.  From your friendly neighborhood family doctor interacting with their Electronic Medical Record to the clinician scientists who are trying to make sense of ‘big data,’ being able to program will allow us to develop more efficient and accurate methods of data analysis. This will hopefully translate into better care for the patient.”

The course, which runs over 14 months, starts with a boot camp in the foundations of coding to bring all students to the same level. That’s followed by further coding exercises and seminars on how this knowledge can be applied. Students also have the options of completing a summer research project where they can find their own tech solution to a current challenge in healthcare.  

“What’s important about this course isn’t just the skills development. It’s teaching students to think in a structured and logical way. That can be applied in a lot of different settings, beyond technology development,” says Law. “Coding is already being taught in middle school. We need to ensure today’s students are as prepared to harness technology as the generations that will follow them.”

Professor Trevor Young, Dean of Medicine, says the course is made possible by the cross-disciplinary collaboration that is encouraged at U of T. “The Department of Computer Science has been a critical partner in the development and delivery of this new course. I am very thankful for the support from the chair of computer science, Professor Ravin Balakrishnan, as well as Professors Michelle Wahl Craig and Michael Guerzhoy, who are helping us deliver it.”

Xu is currently immersed in the programming boot camp, which he likens to learning a sport.

“Understanding the theory isn't all that difficult, but just like with sports, it takes time and practice to get better,” he says.

He intends to apply his new knowledge to research and data mining.

“The field of basic-science research is changing and the data sets we obtain from our experiments is growing exponentially in size. I want to not only explore new ways to analyze data but also new ways to present the data to facilitate knowledge translation.”