Cornell University professor gets $3M to deploy three mHealth systems

Cornell University professor gets $3M to deploy three mHealth systems

David Erickson, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University, will be receiving $3 million from National Science Foundation grant over five years to deploy three mHealth systems: a Stress-Phone for long term stress management, a Nutri-Phone for nutritional awareness, and a Hema-Phone for monitoring viral loading in HIV positive patients.

The Nutri-Phone and Hema-Phone will be reading test strips, while the Stress-Phone will rely on the phone’s microphone to measure stress levels in the user’s voice.After these three are deployed, the researchers will study how people use them with an eye to eliminating any roadblocks to adoption. The hope is that using mobile technology they can get people to change their behavior.

For instance, Erickson said that almost everyone is deficient in vitamin D, but most people don’t think about it and they could use their phone to see how deficient they are; they might be more likely to take a supplement, or get more sun.

The program — which is dubbed PHeNoM for Public Health, Nanotechnology and Mobility — will be built on research Erickson started with the help of a seed grant from Cornell’s David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. That project produced a smartphone camera accessory and an accompanying app that measure cholesterol levels in a drop of blood in minutes. The application uses the phone’s camera to read paper test strips that turn different colors depending on the amount of cholesterol in the blood. In a similar fashion, the Nutri-Phone and Hema-Phone will be reading test strips, while the Stress-Phone will rely on the phone’s microphone to measure stress levels in the user’s voice.

Under the deal, Erickson will head a multidisciplinary team of investigators from Cornell, Cornell NYC Tech, Cornell Weill Medical College, the University of Maryland and the University of California Los Angeles.

[Via: Deccan Chronicle]