Computer Scientist Speaks the Language of Medicine

They are also exploring several other areas of this research, including developing simpler, less expensive upper-body extremity prosthetics; extending the ultrasound-based control methods to lower-limb prostheses; and training people to use the prosthetics using video games. Sikdar has applied for patents on the work and is looking for ways to commercialize it if the latest research proves successful.

Eventually, these developments may help not only amputees in the United States, but also those around the world. “Knowing that this technology can potentially help real people keeps us all highly motivated,” he says.

––Nanci Hellmich

ACADEMIC PARTNERS

Computer Scientist Speaks the Language of Medicine

Mason Engineering professor Özlem Uzuner speaks three languages—English, French, and Turkish—but it’s her fourth language that could help save lives.

Uzuner is an expert in natural language processing, a feld of computer science that involves turning human language into coded form. She is working on algorithms that translate physicians’ narratives about their patients into data that can be analyzed to fnd better treatments.

“The algorithm’s aim is to get the computer to understand human language the way we do,” says Uzuner, who joined Mason Engineering’s Department of Information Sciences and Technology last year. “Once we achieve a certain level of performance, we can give the algorithm all of our narrative text data, and it codifes everything for us.”

Özlem Uzuner, associate professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology, is an expert on natural language processing. Uzuner and other researchers, including her collaborators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), are developing natural language processing methods to fnd insights into the unexplained deterioration of patients’ health, adverse prescription drug reactions, and problems with combinations of medications.

They are also extending their methods to help fgure out which patients are best suited for specifc clinical trials to test new therapeutic treatments.

Uzuner’s other recent work involved using computer methods to remove private information from patients’ records—such as names, ages, addresses, and insurance details—so the remaining health information can be used by medical researchers who study different diseases and treatments.

“Those who could not study the data before because of privacy concerns now can, which means science moves forward faster,” she says.

This is a feld where computer science meets medicine, and it’s the perfect career path for Cyprus-born Uzuner, who comes from a family of medical doctors. “I want to help patients get the treatment they need and get it faster,” Uzuner says.

—Nanci Hellmich

ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS

Our students and faculty form robotics and artifcial intelligence teams to develop the next steps in robot/human technology.

Jeffrey Counts (center) from Mason Facilities Management and seniors Alex Walters and Kristin Lewis inspect a storm drain on the Fairfax Campus with a custom-made robot called Thunder Rat.

Photo by Evan Cantwell