GMS Anatomy & Neurobiology Professor Uses Artificial Intelligence to Better Predict Dementia Onset
Dr. Rhoda Au, professor of anatomy & neurobiology in Graduate Medical Sciences, is part of a research team working with artificial intelligence to predict dementia onset.
The team is led by Dr. Vijaya B. Kolachalama, an assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine who is an expert on using advanced computer technology to make more informed medical diagnoses. His team has created a deep learning algorithm that can predict where a person falls on the dementia spectrum and whether a person’s memory loss is a result of dementia or another cause.
The team has been working on this technology for several years. In 2020, they found that the algorithm outperforms human experts in making Alzheimer’s diagnoses. They hope that in the future, the algorithm can make the testing and diagnostic process for dementia faster, especially in parts of the United States with limited access to memory disorder specialists.
Au is also the director of neuropsychology at the Framingham Heart Study, the country’s longest running cohort study with longitudinal analysis of cardiovascular disease.
You can read more about Au’s work on Kolachalama’s team in The Brink.