Dr Thomas Doyle Simulating Big Data in Local Health Integration Networks
Dr. Thomas E. Doyle is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, an Associate Member of the School of Biomedical Engineering, and the Director of the Graduate Program in eHealth at McMaster University. He holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering Science from the University of Western Ontario. He also holds an M.E.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, a B.E.Sc in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and a BSc in Computer Science. Dr. Doyle is a Dr. Doyle is a Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario. His research areas include AI for health applications, Biomedical health informatics, Telemedicine and remote sensing, Cyber physical systems, and Liminal spaces in experiential education. Dr. Doyle teaches courses in Engineering Design, Biomedical Instrumentation, and Computer Engineering (digital logic, microprocessor systems). Dr. Doyle has experience in technology transfer with most recent research and development in the area of tissue engineering, holds a co-patent in industrial electrostatics process control, and is in process of developing devices and systems in medical training, simulation, and education. In 2017 led the design of a space medical simulator for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (Harvard, NOSM, NASA). His most recent work involves: 1) developing software systems that utilize machine learning to solve bio physiologic signal processing problems, and 2) prediction of cancer risk based upon medical imaging history.
The complexity behind the delivery of healthcare services, policy, and technology must be better understood by our graduates if they are to become leaders in the evolving domain of digital health. We propose to study Ontario’s local health integration networks (LHINs) and to develop our own micro-LHIN (µLHIN) sandbox that reflects the structure of services, policies, and technologies that our graduates will encounter. In doing this, our graduates can develop a unique skillset and insight into the workings and analytics of all aspects of healthcare delivery. The µLHIN will be accessible via an online lab portal that the McMaster eHealth Graduate Program has developed. The pedagogical efficacy of the µLHIN will be studied as a component of a proposed course in Telemedicine. While a dissemination plan is outlined, the expectation is that this tool will serve as the platform for answering many new research questions around digital health and healthcare.