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We are amongst the 12 successful applicants that have been awarded a "Seed Money" grant, amounting to ZMW 25,000.00, by the Directorate of Research and Graduate Studies (DRGS) at The University of Zambia (UNZA). We have partnered with Radiologists at The University Teaching Hospitals (UTHs) to explore how Enterprise Medical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be leveraged to streamline medical imaging workflows.
Proposed Project Summary
The Republic of Zambia presently has only five (5) trained radiologists against a population of 17 million [1]. Our research aims to leverage enterprise medical imaging and AI techniques to implement efficient and effective medical imaging workflows, in order to demonstrate the potential of enterprise imaging in addressing the grand challenges associated with medical imaging in Zambia. While enterprise medical imaging and machine learning techniques, applied to computer vision, encompass a broad spectrum of concepts, the "Seed Money" grant will primarily be used to conduct baseline studies, as part of a situation analysis exercise that is aimed at understanding the medical imaging landscape in Zambia. In addition, prototype AI models will be implemented in order to demonstrate the feasibility of using AI during medical imaging diagnosis. The principal investigators of this project are Dr. Lighton Phiri---a Lecturer and Researcher at UNZA---and Dr. Ernest Obbie Zulu---a Researcher in the Department of Radiology at the UTH Adult Hospital.
About DRGS Seed Money Grants
In line with the UNZA mission regarding research, DRGS reserves a limited amount of funds to be used as seed money to jump-start new research activities in the University. A key criterion in the assessment is the possibility of expanding the proposed research to attract external funds.
Bibliography
[1] Bwanga, O., Mulenga, J., & Chanda, E. (2019). Need for image reporting by radiographers in Zambia. Medical Journal of Zambia, 46(3), 215-220. URL: https://www.ajol.info/index.php/mjz/article/view/192397