Mentoring in Advanced mHealth Technologies and Machine Learning for HIV/Drug Abuse Research

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Abstract Renewal of my Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24) will allow me to continue my strong efforts directed toward successful original investigations and mentoring to generate research capacity in mobile technologies to improve health (mHealth). The impact of the initial K24 on my mentees has been striking. Since award of the initial K24, nearly two dozen of my mentees, 70% of whom are women or minorities, have been PI on NIH funded studies (under K, R, or Loan Repayment Program mechanisms). The impact the K24 on my own research has been substantial. Since 2014, I have been Principal Investigator (PI) on six federally funded awards: 1) one newly funded 4-year R01 from NIDA; 2) one R56 from NIDA; 3) one two-year R01 from NIDA; 4) one 4-year R01 from NIDA; 5) my K24 from NIDA; and 6) one newly funded 4-year DARPA research award. In addition, I received a William J Fulbright Foreign Scholarship to Malaysia. As my K24 evolved, so has my research focus. My overall research objective is to devote sufficient time to investigate use of next generation (“NextGen”) technologies, invisible biosensing, and machine learning in substance abuse and HIV research. My first research project, Virya, uses “digital phenotyping” with invisible biosensing and machine learning, to identify acute pain exacerbations in HIV+ individuals on opioids, a population at risk for problematic opioid use. The second reseach project uses mobile technologies to diagnose Covid-19 infection in HIV+ persons who inhale cannabis, itself a high-impact topic. Finally, the R01-funded MyTPill project compares the NextGen technology of unobtrusive ingestible biosensors that provide vivid, indisputable measures of medication ingestion. NextGen research discoveries become commercial products, but this process of introducing new discoveries into the healthcare economy remains deeply unfamiliar—yet increasingly important— to academic clinician-scientists. The objective of my Career Development Activities, therefore, involves learning how to navigate regulatory processes, FDA approvals, valuations, venture capital, contracts and intellectual property rights. Because of the growing importance of commercialization of research findings to the health and sustainability of academic careers, my overall mentoring objective of this K24 is to develop researchers who not only have the skills to conduct rigorous NextGen mHealth studies, but also to extend the mass of NIH-funded mHealth research into the healthcare economy. My mentoring approach incorporates several components that contributed to the success of my initial K24: dedicated funding for mentee’s early investigations; outstanding institutional support; several sources of referral of high-quality mentees; and renowned co- mentors who will help me establish a pipeline of mentees that have risen to that “cutting edge” where successful academic careers begin. This proposed K24 renewal, with its focus on NextGen technologies, invisible biosensing, and machine learning, is highly relevant to NIH’s mission because the lessons learned from this substance abuse and HIV research are directly applicable to the care of patients with common, intractable, and expensive conditions.