Congratulations Yueh Lee, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiology in the Neuroradiology Division. He was awarded a Creativity Hubs Award from the 黑料网 Office of Vice Chancellor for Research for his project titled Advanced Medical Screening in Underserved Populations using a Transportable Nanotube Enabled Imaging System 鈥� the Carolina CONNECT (CarbON Nanotube Enabled sCreening Tomosynthesis). Dr. Lee will聽receive $325,000 to pursue this research.
Yueh Lee, School of Medicine, co-PI; Otto Zhou, College of Arts and Sciences, co-PI; Jianping Lu, College of Arts and Sciences, co-PI; Marc Niethammer, College of Arts and Sciences, co-PI; Youzuo Lin, School of Data Science and Society, co-PI; Yifei Lou, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Data Science and Society, co-PI; Huaxiu Yao, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Data Science and Society; James Sivak, School of Medicine; James Gruden, School of Medicine
Research Challenge
Health outcomes for U.S. populations living in rural areas 鈥� about 20% of all Americans 鈥� have markedly trailed behind urban populations, particularly in surviving cardiac and pulmonary diseases. Early screening for such diseases is critical to saving lives. However, a contributing factor, as identified by public reporting, is the lack of medical diagnostic imaging services in rural and underserved areas, and the life-saving interventions they enable.
Proposed Solution
The team鈥檚 goal is to develop an easily transportable system called Carolina CarbON Nanotube Enabled sCreening Tomosynthesis (CONNECT) that will enable low-cost screening at community gathering places, business, or even a patient鈥檚 home. The CONNECT system will be based on the carbon nanotube x-ray sources invented at 黑料网-Chapel Hill, combined with advanced reconstruction and automated evaluation algorithms. This combination will reduce costs and provide automated large language model report generation for immediate patient feedback after imaging.