DEPARTMENT NEWS
Assistant Professors Oguzhan Alagoz and Beth Burnside (radiology) along with PhD candidate Jagpreet Chhatwal developed a computer model for better predicting cancer based on mammography findings. The team published its breakthrough in the April issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. The news appeared on yahoo.com, medicalnewstoday.com, sciencerelay.com, sciencedaily.com, Eureka! Science News, HULIQ, and many more outlets around the world.
A report titled “Decision Support for Pandemic Planning for the State of Wisconsin” by Professor Vicki Bier garnered the attention of numerous media outlets nationwide after the outbreak of H1N1 (swine flu) virus this spring. The report was published by the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) in June 2008 and was cited by the Washington Post, MSN, Yahoo, the Wisconsin State Journal, and numerous other local newspapers and television news stations.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has approved $5.3 million to continue funding for Project HealthDesign, an initiative designed to create a new generation of personal health record (PHR) systems led by Lillian S. Moehlman-Bascom Professor and Chair Patricia Brennan. The grant, which brings total project funding to approximately $10 million, will support a program that engages four to six grantee teams to demonstrate how to improve people’s heath by enabling them to record, interpret, and act on health information that emerges in the course of their daily living. An important component of the new project will be to demonstrate how these observations of daily living can be integrated into the clinical practice workflow, assisting patients and the clinicians to best manage chronic illness.
Professors Pascale Carayon, Dave Gustafson, Ben-Tzion Karsh, Doug Wiegmann and Assistant Scientist Todd Molfenter have been funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for their proposal “Midwest Mountain Veterans Engineering Resource Center.” VA hospitals are coming together to form multi-operational systems engineering schools known as Veterans Engineering Resource Centers (VERC). The proposal from ISyE faculty will create the Midwest Mountain (MWM) VERC. The goal of VERCs is to create the healthcare work places of the future by recognizing the complexity of transformational improvement with a shared vision of facilitating innovative solutions.
Associate Professor Ben-Tzion Karsh has been elected a fellow of the UW Teaching Academy. Fellows represent faculty, academic staff, and outreach instructors who have demonstrated excellence in teaching and a commitment to improving the quality of teaching and learning across campus. The goal of the Teaching Academy is to promote effective teaching and learning here and nationally by encouraging innovation, experimentation and dialogue among faculty, instructional staff and teachers of the future. Karsh teaches several courses in human factors, occupational safety and ergonomics.
Professor Robert Radwin (also biomedical engineering and orthopedics and rehabilitation) has been elected fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). The AIHA has more than 10,000 members dedicated to health and safety in the workplace community and environment from industry worldwide. Only five percent of AIHA members can be selected for the fellow award, which is given to people who have made significant contributions to the field. Radwin is recognized for his research in occupational biomechanics and ergonomics on musculo-skeletal disorders in the workplace.
On March 31, WISC-TV news featured the UW-Madison Trace Center and its director, Professor Gregg Vanderheiden (also biomedical engineering). The segment focused on technology developed at the Trace Center to increase accessibility for people with disabilities, such as features included in automated post office kiosks and electronic voting machines and computer applications such as StickyKeys and others.
