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Tuesday, 26 Mar, 2024
Project on AI tool to match cancer patients with relevant clinical trials awarded $50,000 at Duke-NUS’ annual innovation challenge
- The annual programme fosters innovative mindsets in our future doctors, aligning with Duke-NUS's vision of transforming medicine and improving lives to empower breakthroughs in healthcare.
- The award will support further development of the winning team’s idea to transform it into reality.
SINGAPORE, 26 MARCH 2024 – A team of healthcare professionals has received a $50,000 award to transform their idea for an Artificial Intelligence-powered tool that can match cancer patients with the relevant clinical trials, into reality. They were taking part in the Duke-NUS Health Innovator Programme, a nine-month, first-of-its-kind fellowship in Singapore that assembles a multi-disciplinary team to solve healthcare problems while being guided by industry mentors. As well as guiding the teams all the way from idea to prototypes of their inventions, the Programme aims to instil an innovator mindset in students to enrich the local healthcare ecosystem with a diversity of talents.
Team OncoPATH’s project aims to improve clinical trial accessibility and simplify referrals for local and regional cancer patients to the clinical trial team. The platform, OncoPATH, uses a Large Language Model to match cancer patients to suitable trials. Prospective patients are matched according to the information entered in a short questionnaire (i.e. diagnosis, stage of cancer, mutational profile and sites of disease). Interested patients can forward their details to register for the matched trial(s), and a formal consultation will be arranged at the respective healthcare institution.
Chua Shi Ling, Clinical Research Coordinator at the National Cancer Centre Singapore, said:
“Our automated trial-matching platform has the potential to improve recruitment, reducing trial duration and overall costs. We hope this will provide a comprehensive and efficient approach to enhance recruitment processes towards impactful cancer research.”
Team OncoPATH receiving the award. From left: Assistant Professor Rena Dharmawan, Duke-NUS Medical School; Viviana Oo Shiyun Fequira, National Cancer Centre Singapore; Prof Thomas Coffman, Dean, Duke-NUS Medical School; Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information & Ministry of Health; Chua Shi Ling, National Cancer Centre Singapore; and team mentor, Dr Huren Sivaraj, CEO & Co-founder, Oncoshot.
This year, which marks the second edition of the Duke-NUS Health Innovator Programme, saw five competing teams addressing clinical needs in the fields of “oncology and primary health”. Each team brought together a mix of talents from the healthcare, engineering and business administration sectors, including students from Duke-NUS Medical School, NUS College of Design and Engineering, NUS Business School, as well as professionals from SingHealth and industry mentors.
Assistant Professor Rena Dharmawan, who conceptualised and runs the programme, said:
“Given our ageing population, the first line of care in the community is becoming more important, including the role of polyclinics and general practitioners in early diagnosis, basic medical treatment, preventive healthcare and education. We must look beyond healthcare to address increasingly complex needs, for instance, in improving cancer screening practices as well as better management of chronic conditions.” Asst Prof Dharmawan is also Assistant Dean for Innovation Education and Ecosystem Development at Duke-NUS and Consultant in the Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology at Singapore General Hospital and National Cancer Centre Singapore.
Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information & Ministry of Health, speaking with Team OncoPATH.
This year’s Duke-NUS Health Innovator Programme curriculum took 15 participants through four phases—Discovery, Design, Develop and Dazzle—during which they identified problems that patients face and designed solutions for them. The last phase culminated in an event, Dazzle Day, where participants presented their innovations in an intense pitching session to a panel of judges. Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information & Ministry of Health graced the event as the Guest-of-Honour.
The judges, which included leaders from academia, the government and industry, evaluated the teams’ proposals based on considerations such as clinical need, commercial potential and technical feasibility. The winning team was then presented with the $50,000 award to develop their technology further and continue the push to commercialise their product.
The other four projects presented were: an improved colorectal cancer screening kit, a self-test colposcopy device for cervical cancer screening, an improved blood glucose monitoring app for people with diabetes, as well as an AI health companion that provides personalised cancer screening advice.
Christopher Laing, Vice-Dean, Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Duke-NUS, said:
“Innovation is at the heart of Duke-NUS’ approach to medical education. The Duke-NUS Health Innovator Programme equips our students with the capabilities to apply their drive and creativity to tackle unmet healthcare challenges in new ways. It teaches them to be part of an innovation team, working closely with practising doctors and industry mentors. The Programme instils in them the spirit of entrepreneurship, helping them transform their ideas into real-world impact that improves patient health and well-being.”
Next, all the teams will be seeking more funding to develop their innovations, while being guided by clinical and industry mentors.
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