Siemens Names Scientist as Inventor of the Year

Klaus Kleinfeld recently presented an "Inventor of the Year” award to R. Bharat Rao, Ph.D., senior director, Engineering Research Development, Computer-Aided Diagnosis and Therapy Group, Siemens Medical Solutions (Erlangen, Germany).

Dr. Rao was recognized for his pioneering work in developing an automated data collection and analysis tool known as REMIND (Reliable Extraction and Meaningful Inference from Nonstructured Data), which enables caregivers to utilize disparate healthcare information to personalize patient care plans and enhance patient outcomes.

"Much of the data in the healthcare system is not in a format that can be readily accessed or applied at the point of care,” said Dr. Rao. "For example, key clinical information is stored as written text in patient records, discharge summaries, progress notes, and radiology reports.”

Without requiring any manual entry or change in workflow, REMIND integrates patient information with medical data and current treatment guidelines. Through an advanced algorithm, REMIND then assesses the information and extracts key pieces of data that will help clinicians make more informed treatment decisions. The information can be used for alerts, case management, and adherence to treatment guidelines. Dr. Rao's goal is to organize the huge amount of diagnostic images, patient records, best practices, and treatment outcomes to help customize care. According to Dr. Rao, REMIND will provide ways to review years of data to find patterns of treatment, as well as identify individuals eligible for clinical trials.

"We've come to accept that other aspects of our lives, such as the cars we drive or the airplanes we travel in, will have some elements controlled by computers, but it is much harder to accept that computers can assist doctors so that they can provide better, more accurate care,” explained Dr. Rao.




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