Life at the iHub – October 2022

In the month of October, the Brigham Digital Innovation (iHub) attended some conferences and events in Boston and across the United States focused on innovation and early exploration of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies. 

Virtual Reality and Healthcare Technology Transfer Conference at Virginia Commonwealth University



Dr. Mark Zhang, Medical Director at the Brigham Digital Innovation Hub (iHub) and Associate Chief Medical Information Officer, Brigham and Women’s Hospital attended and presented at the inaugural Virtual Reality and Healthcare Technology Transfer Conference in Richmond, Virginia. At this two-day conference, Dr. Zhang was able to hear from other health systems and hospitals also interested in early explorations in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality, as well as share some perspectives on potentials in medicine and education. 

Netherlands Innovation Network: Emerging Technologies in Healthcare

Members from the iHub also attended the Emerging Technologies in Healthcare event hosted by the Netherlands Innovation Network in Boston. A dozen innovators from the Netherlands participated in a two-day event held at the Philips North America headquarters in Cambridge, MA. iHub facilitated discussions and helped to provide guidance for the participants. 

McGraw Opioid Innovator Awards Shark Tank



The iHub team attended the fourth annual Shark Tank hosted by the Program in Opioid and Pain Innovation. The event showcased Brigham and Women's Hospital researchers, scientists and innovators addressing challenges in opioid use disorder and chronic pain through novel research and innovations. The team was able to support and help some of this year’s finalists with its pitches. Congratulations to this year’s winners.

CDX



In early October, members of the iHub attended the CDX Accelerate Health + Wellness conference hosted by Techonomy and KPMG in Boston Seaport. Industry experts and academia leaders presented on how technology can improve healthcare, touching on topics including virtual reality, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence. Dr. Mark Zhang spoke on a panel about how virtual therapeutics will revolutionize medicine. Colleagues from across Mass General Brigham also presented on topics from accelerating innovation to health equity.

Microsoft partners with Meta to bring Teams, Office, Windows, and Xbox to VR

(The Verge)

The Teams experience the new Quest Pro and Quest 2 headsets will even include Microsoft adapting Meta’s avatar system for Teams and Teams getting support within Meta’s own Horizon Workrooms. “People will be able to join a Teams meeting directly from Workrooms,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the event. “We think that this cross-device, cross-screen experience will be the foundation of the virtual office of the future.”

Instacart Launches Instacart Health, a Sweeping New Initiative to Deliver the Ingredients for Healthier Living

(PR Newswire)

Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, announced Instacart Health, a sweeping new initiative designed to deliver the ingredients for healthier living. Through new products, strategic partnerships, cutting-edge research, and policy advocacy commitments, Instacart Health is built to help increase nutrition security, make healthy choices easier for consumers, and expand the role that food can play in improving health outcomes. 

2022 Discover Brigham

Tuesday, November 1, 2022: 12:00PM – 2:35PM

Organized by the Brigham Research Institute since 2012, Discover Brigham showcases cutting-edge science, features our exemplary investigators, and allows research to shine bright on this exciting and much anticipated day each year. Join us this year for the in-person Discover Brigham event, including multiple poster sessions with over 100 presenters. Basic, translational, and clinical research posters from departments and divisions across Brigham and Women's Hospital will be featured.

Biomedical Informatics Entrepreneurs Salon: Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe

Tuesday, November 11, 2022: 5:00PM – 6:0PM

The Biomedical Informatics Entrepreneurs Salon (BIES), which the department cohosts with Harvard University's Office of Technology Development, meets regularly to promote entrepreneurship at the convergence of biology, medicine, and computing. In addition to hearing industry leaders speak, participants will have the chance to look for collaborators, employees, advisors, customers, or investors.

BIES is open to everyone. Tickets are free but limited, and registration is required.

HLTH

Sunday, November 13 – Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Taking place on an open show floor, the four day event will convene the entire healthcare ecosystem, connecting and developing relationships that truly move the needle. We are breaking down silos to unite all participants within one holistic environment. Join us for an event unlike any you have seen and be part of a movement pushing boundaries in the healthcare industry.

Mass General Brigham Speaker Series: Building A Best-In-Class Virtual Care Framework

Saturday, May 7 2022 – Friday, January 13 2023

Mass General Brigham’s Virtual Care Speaker Series, led by our industry's most widely regarded stakeholders, thought leaders and policy experts, will feature a deep-dive into the evolving virtual care landscape and dig into how to build and optimize virtual care programs as a permanent modality in care delivery. Dynamic panels will lead in-depth discussions about advancing the reach of virtual and hybrid patient care at a critical time for hospitals and health care.

MGB Data Science Office Launches Service for Obtaining Radiologic Imaging Studies for Research

Accepting Requests on Rolling Basis

Looking for imaging studies for research? The Enterprise Medical Imaging team within the Data Science Office recently launched the Medical Imaging Data As A Service (MIDAS) that enable MGB investigators to obtain radiologic imaging studies for research purposes. The first product available under MIDAS is the Defined Exam Retrieval Service. Using this service, researchers can specify a list of imaging studies, up to 1,000 per request, to be retrieved from clinical imaging archives and stored in a temporary location that has security and access control based on IRB permissions.

Guidance for Sharing Model Code and Data as a Requirement for Publication

As AI/ML research continues to expand, there are increasing privacy concerns stemming from the publication or dissemination of model code, hyperparameters, weights, and training datasets. At the same time, in an effort to advance the field, ensure scientific reproducibility, and embrace open science, many journals and granting agencies are requiring machine learning model code with or without associated data to be shared as a requirement for publication. This document provides guidance for researchers as they consider when to publish and what elements to share as part of a discrete individual research project (i.e. not part of an on-going open source activity).