Mount Sinai receives an award from Microsoft AI for Health to support the COVID computer centre.

The Mount Sinai Health System received an award from Microsoft AI for Health to support the work of a new scientific data centre dedicated to COVID-19 research. The Mount Sinai COVID Computer Centre (MSCIC) brings together leaders from entities across Mount Sinai, including the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health, the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging.

"This partnership with Microsoft provides us with cloud-based resources that will accelerate our discovery, translation and implementation of digital tools in the fight against COVID-19."said Robbie Freeman, MSN, RN, Vice President of Clinical Innovation at Mount Sinai Hospital. "Through this collaboration with AI for Health, we are leveraging the Mount Sinai Health System's expertise in providing world-class patient care and the Blue Cloud to move our CEW-enabled products from the bench to the bedside.".


The Microsoft AI for Health philanthropic grant will support the care of coronavirus patients, enabling the Centre to develop tools using artificial intelligence (AI) that improve care and evidence-based medicine for the treatment of patients with VIDOC-19. MSCIC will use Microsoft Azure cloud computing to enable researchers to access and store complex patient data from multiple sources, including electronic medical records and new research studies. MSCIC researchers said the grant will strengthen their ability to quickly translate research and methods from data science to patient care in hospitals.

"The unprecedented threat of COVID-19 allowed MSCIC to rapidly integrate data from across the health care system and address an unmet need of Mount Sinai clinicians and researchers to conduct rapid clinical informatics analysis and provide answers to critical questions that could impact how patients are treated."Patricia Savi Glowe, Senior Director of Strategy and Operations at the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health, and head of research operations for the MSCIC management team, said.

MSCIC represents expertise in health care delivery, health sciences, biomedical and digital engineering, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The centre seeks to provide Mount Sinai with Data analysis solutions to combat current and future COVID-19 threats, as well as to rapidly develop digital health products with real-time prediction and prevention capabilities that empower patients and healthcare providers to take charge of their lives and improve health and health outcomes. The Centre recently launched a study called Warrior Watch, which tracks hundreds of health care workers to monitor biometric data such as heart rate variability, sleep disturbances and physical activity, using an Apple Watch combined with regular surveys to better understand the level of stress and anxiety they face on the front lines of this crisis.


Girish Nadkarni, MD, Clinical Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health and Co-Chair of MSCIC, said the Centre's ability to capture up-to-date clinical and research data can be used to mitigate and overcome public health emergencies such as COVID-19. "Our work will help fuel research discoveries that help our patients in real time, as well as over time, as we assess the impact of COVID-19 on our healthcare workers at Mount Sinai.", he explained.

The Microsoft grant, which is awarded by the AI for Health program as part of the AI for Good initiative, enables researchers and organizations to having AI tools and capabilities to advance the health of individuals and communities around the world.


"At Microsoft, we know that technology and AI have enormous power to benefit those affected by COVID-19"said John Kahan, Director of Data Analysis and Global Head of the AI for Health Programme. "That's why it's so important to empower organizations such as Mount Sinai Health System, COVID-19 data and researchers using AI to support patients and health care professionals in these uncertain times.".

The Centre's future vision extends beyond the current pandemic," said Alexander Charney, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Genetics and Genomics, Neuroscience and Neurosurgery, and Co-Chair of MSCIC. "With the support of industry leaders such as Microsoft, we have not only improved our ability to combat COVID-19 in the immediate future, but with this infrastructure, we have opened up a whole new opportunity on how we can improve patient outcomes across the spectrum of human disease."he concluded.