April 3, 2025

Dr. Lei Fan, Assistant Professor in the Marquette-MCW Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Fan Flow Integrated Research Laboratory (F²IRL), has been awarded a $100,000 research grant as part of the Paving ROADS (Research Opportunities and Approaches to Data Science) Seed Fund Program through the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute (NMDSI). The Paving ROADS Seed Fund is a competitive program that supports innovative, cross-disciplinary research that leverages data science to address pressing challenges in health and technology. Dr. Fan's initiative is expected to have a significant impact on patient-specific treatment strategies, reducing complications and healthcare costs associated with LVAD therapy. 

Dr. Fan’s project, “Physics-informed and Machine Learning-accelerated Digital Twin Risk Prediction for Left Ventricular Assist Device”, will utilize advanced deep learning (DL) techniques to improve patient outcomes for those receiving Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs). LVADs are critical for patients with end-stage heart failure, yet a significant percentage of patients, up to 34%, experience post-implantation right heart failure. This project aims to develop a machine learning-accelerated digital twin model that can predict which patients are at risk, helping clinicians make more informed decisions and improving overall patient care. 

The Fan Flow Integrated Research Laboratory executes cutting-edge, multidimensional research in the broad areas of computational and experimental bioengineering, with an emphasis on integrating real-world data and computational models, as well as physiological and disease processes from multiple branches of human biology. In this project, Dr. Fan and the F²IRL will collaborate with Dr. Jake Luo, Associate Professor of Health Informatics & Informatics, with an affiliate professorship of computer science, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

 

Learn more about Dr. Lei Fan

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