Dr. T. Radhakrishnan's work at ELLICSR

Dr.T.Radhakrishnan is a professor in the department of Computer Science and Software and Software Engineering at Concordia University in Montreal. He has been working there for the past 36 years, and has served as the Chair of the department during 2001 to 2004. Dr. Radhakrishnan’s current areas of research interests are in ICT4D (ICT for development), Intelligent systems and Mobile computing applied to problems in medical informatics. The calendar year 2011 is my sabbatical year. “I chose to spend half of my sabbatical period working in the field of patient empowerment through patient education. Dr. Alex Jadad at the University of Toronto has invited me to spend my sabbatical period with his research group. He introduced me to the research team at ELLICSR. I am extremely inspired by the energetic and welcoming researchers at this center. I focus my research, along with the ELLICSR team, on how to integrate diverse types and sources of information needed for cancer survivors in their journey from diagnosis to the end stage” says Dr. Radhakrishnan.

There are a number of projects at ELLICSR and at PMH which focus on ‘silos’ of things: 1.OCJM or Online Cancer Journey Map, 2.eBinder that holds the organized collection of the relevant information to an individual patient; 3.EMR, 4.Councilors Notes; 5. Appointments scheduled for the patient; 6. Information resources available through web sites or digital libraries. “The integration approach we are researching is based on a small set of coordinated ‘models’. These models capture the essence of the end user (in this case the cancer survivor/care giver), information models (using XML coded tags), the disease model and the treatments given to the individual patient/cancer survivor, modeled in the form of EFS or Electronic Flow Sheet. The EFS essentially contains a two dimensionally organized time sequenced records of data. The models interact through multiple algorithms where each one caters to a well structured ‘task’ performed by one of the ‘actors’. Software implementation of the algorithm and its appropriate user interface forms an ‘App’ in an app-store. The Apps can be accessed even through a smart phone. Information needs of the end user are fulfilled by following both the ‘push’ model and the ‘pull’ model of delivery” explains Dr. Radhakrishnan.

The other half of Dr. Radhakrishnan’s sabbatical is spent in Montreal with a team that works on the use of a mobile device (tablet or smart phone) for capturing the data and accessing relevant information at the point of care by nurses working in a hospital ward. This project is financially supported by an “Engage grant” from NSERC Canada; and the collaborating Canadian company RIM has offered us its Playbook Tablets and Blackberry Torch.