Research Projects
Artificial Intelligence, mHealth and Big Data in Medicine

Objective and Significance:

Upon completion of the project, students should be able to:

1. Create a software system that used artificial intelligence (AI) to support clinical decision making
2. Evaluate the technical and clinical validity of an AI-based medical software system
3. Discuss the potential benefits and risks of using AI-based software in clinical practice

Research Plan and Methodology:

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now gaining increasing prevalence in almost all disciplines of modern medical practice. Using big data, including medical imaging data, free text from clinical notes, data from electronic health record, data from social media, and genomic data, we can now develop highly accurate AI-based prediction systems that can support clinical decision making. In this project, a student in this project will develop a software prototype of a new AI-based decision support system in one of the following areas

• automated radiological image analysis
• mobile-enabled activity and heart rate tracking
• clinical free text analysis
• visualisation of large biomedical data using virtual reality
• medical genomics

In addition to software design and development, the student will conduct evaluation of the prototype software to provide evidence that the AI-based system has achieve a suitable level of technical and clinical validity. An ideal candidate for this project will have experience with computer programming. Training will be provided. This project will involve collaboration with appropriate computational and clinical experts.

Professor JWK Ho, School of Biomedical Sciences

Professor Ho is an Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He completed his BSc (Hon 1, Medal) and PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Sydney, and undertook postdoctoral training at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining HKU, Professor Ho was the Head of Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine Laboratory at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, in Sydney Australia. His research focuses on developing and applying cutting-edge computational methods for single cell RNA-seq analysis, metagenomics, and digital health. Professor Ho has over 100 publications, including first or senior papers in leading journals such as Nature, Genome Biology, Nucleic Acids Research and Science Signaling. Professor Ho is also currently the Academic Lead of the Bioinformatics Core of the Centre for PanorOmic Sciences (CPOS) at HKU. He is an Executive Editor of the journal Biophysical Reviews.

Biography
jwkho@hku.hk

For more information or to express interest for this project, please email the supervisor or the specified contact point in the project description.  Interested candidates are advised to enclose with your email:

1. your CV,
2. a brief description of your research interest and experience, and
3. two reference letters (not required for HKUMed UG students seeking MRes[Med]/URIS projects).

Information on the research programme, funding support and admission documentations could be referenced online at the Research Postgraduate Admissions website. General admission enquiries should be directed to rpgmed@hku.hk.

HKUMed MBBS students interested in the Master of Research in Medicine (MRes[Med]) programme may visit the programme website for more information.  

HKUMed UG students interested in the Undergraduate Research Internship Scheme (URIS) may visit the scheme’s website for more information.