Research and discovery are a key part of Dell Medical School’s mission — and of The University of Texas at Austin’s vision of becoming the world’s highest-impact public research university.
Meet below our two Mulva Faculty involved in this critical mission: David Paydarfar and Audrey Brumback or read about the eight pairs of collaborators leading interdisciplinary teams to better health outcomes for Central Texas and beyond here.
Meet Your “Digital Twin.” They Might Save Your Life.
David Paydarfar, M.D., & Michael Sacks, Ph.D.
With advanced computational modeling that uses clinical data collected directly from the patient, “digital twins” will be able to pinpoint exactly how — and when — to treat neurovascular disease.
A person can live for years with an aneurysm (a bulging in a blood vessel), never knowing if — or when — it will fatally rupture. But by using patient data to construct what’s known as a “digital twin,” clinician-scientists will be able to predict not only when a person’s aneurysm may burst, but how they’ll respond to treatment.
It’s the focus of David Paydarfar, M.D., chair of Dell Med’s Department of Neurology and director of the Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences, and Michael Sacks, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UT’s Cockrell School of Engineering. Much like hurricane forecasting technology relies on thousands of observed hurricanes, Paydarfar and Sacks’ team is working to build a massive database of patient data to accurately model future outcomes.
“This builds on the idea that no two people are identical,” Paydarfar says. “Let’s take a patient we’ll call Mr. Smith: So you have his age, his gender, sex, risk factors, blood pressure and so forth; all that demographic and medical data has to be paired with this computational tour de force to determine the chance that Mr. Smith will have this rupture in the next day, in the next week, in the next month, in the next year — or at all.”
From Abstract Models to Personalized Medicine
Until now, standard modeling techniques have relied on theoretical data rather than real clinical data taken from the individual patient in question.
“So what’s the difference between a digital twin model and a conventional model? It really boils down to the ability to make it ‘updatable’ and be able to utilize it in the hospital or clinic,” says Sacks, who directs the James T. Willerson Center for Cardiovascular Modeling and Simulation at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences. “Being able to use additional data that becomes available — imaging or physiological or genetic data, for example — to update and improve the model is key.”
A critical part of Paydarfar and Sacks’ work to this point has involved bringing in experts in MRI technology to produce crystal-clear, 3D “movies” of the blood vessels pulsating with each heartbeat. They provide the needed detail for accurate forecasting.
“UT really has the potential to be a unique site for these kinds of breakthroughs,” Paydarfar says. “In a project and team like this, you have an interventional vascular neurologist, a computational neurologist, a clinician and computational physicist, and an applied biomedical engineer all collaborating. That sort of team is very hard to replicate. We just have an enormous opportunity here with that depth and breadth of knowledge.”
UT Partnerships
- Cockrell School of Engineering
- Dell Medical School
- The Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences
External Partnerships
- UCLA
- University of Washington
Autism: Lost in Translation No More.
Audrey Brumback, M.D., Ph.D., & Sandy Magaña, Ph.D.
For Spanish-speaking families, autism diagnoses are often difficult to attain, leading to crucial delays in care.
With Austin ready to serve as the proving ground for profound impact, a new tool may soon change that.
Autism among Latina/o/x and Spanish-speaking children is underdiagnosed. One reason? Existing diagnostic tools used in the U.S. don’t work when merely translated to Spanish, deepening disparities in access and care: A delayed diagnosis means less valuable time spent accessing key services for improving kids’ wellbeing.
Looking beyond borders for systemic improvements in autism diagnosis are Sandy Magaña, Ph.D., a professor of autism and neurodevelopmental disabilities at the UT Steve Hicks School of Social Work, and Audrey Brumback, M.D., Ph.D., a physician-scientist specializing in child neurology at Dell Med.
“When ‘gold standard’ assessments are simply translated into Spanish word for word, cultural nuance is lost,” Magaña says. “Even when Spanish-speaking families have access to these tools, the quality isn’t good compared to what it would be for their English-speaking counterparts. The translations don’t elicit the same information. Examples given in English might not at all resonate in Spanish — even the way questions are asked matters.” National Institutes of Health-funded research led by Magaña even found that the discordance can influence reporting of symptoms.
Now, through a pilot study funded by the American Academy of Neurology, Magaña and Brumback are taking what they know about existing U.S. measures and seeing how a successful tool used in Mexico compares.
Importing Innovation
There, researchers created an open-source, Spanish-based assessment that culturally adapts the traditional tests used in English. The result? A shorter diagnostic that helps patients and families more accurately report symptoms of autism. Validated in a large study across Central and South America, more clinicians have been able to administer the assessment, increasing access to diagnosis.
Brumback, who is fluent in Spanish and has a patient population half composed of Spanish speakers, sees enormous potential for autism outcomes in Austin and beyond.
“With positive results, the implications are big,” Brumback says. “General practitioners and neurologists without autism specialization will be able to facilitate the exam, broadening access to an entire population. They’ll be able to follow established interviews and scoring proven to work, growing comfort and confidence in making diagnoses. The easier you make the assessment, the easier and quicker kids can access services, therapies and early intervention programs — all of which directly impact their development in life and understanding of communication and behavior.”
Partnerships
- Dell Medical School
- Steve Hicks School of Social Work
