In collaboration with the Duke Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carolyn Glass, MD PhD and Jadee Neff MD PhD were selected to receive the 2021-2022 Duke-Coulter Translational Grant to study the use of machine learning in hematologic and potentially vascular (blood clotting) disorders. Dr. Glass is a cardiovascular pathologist with experience in treating hypercoagulable disorders as a previously trained vascular surgeon. Dr. Neff is a hematopathologist with expertise in morphologic assessment of blood cells using peripheral blood smears. Together, they will team up with Dr. Roarke Horstmeyer, Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering, to apply machine learning tools to accurately diagnose blood diseases using both supervised and unsupervised methods. Drs. Horstmeyer, Glass and Neff also received the grant in 2019-2020 to investigate artificial intelligence tools in bloodborne infectious diseases such as malaria.
Each year, the Duke-Coulter Translational Grant typically awards three to five grants totaling $700,000/year and is evaluated on scientific merit, potential impact on healthcare, experience of investigators, potential for commercialization or translation to patient care, and potential for successfully obtaining further grant support.
The Duke-Coulter award was established in honor of Wallace H. Coulter (1913-1998) who was recognized as one of the most influential inventors of the 20th century. As an electrical engineer, he invented the Coulter Counter which made possible the complete blood count, one of the most requested and useful diagnostic tests in medicine.
