Get to know CMU’s Center for Machine Learning and Health

 The Center for Machine Learning and Health (CMLH) is one of two R&D centers operating under the umbrella of the Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance (PHDA) formed by UPMC Enterprises, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Pittsburgh in 2015. The mission of the CMLH is to fund innovative, transformative research and development in all aspects of digital healthcare with the goal of generating commercial systems and tools for improving the quality, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of healthcare.

What does the CMLH do?

The CMLH provides funding for research projects which enable interdisciplinary digital solutions to address unmet needs in healthcare. Our projects reach across all schools and departments at Carnegie Mellon. Technology from computer science, biology, engineering, policy, operations, design, behavioral/social sciences, and the arts are all examples of the drivers and components of novel science that are the broad focus of the Center. The CMLH provides services that support the investigators throughout the entire process, from proposal development through post-funding project support.

In addition to the Center’s research projects, 45 graduate students have been awarded one-year fellowships by UPMC Enterprises through the CMLH, including nine in the group for 2021. The Fellowships in Digital Health provide one year of full support for a Carnegie Mellon graduate student pursuing cutting-edge research that advances digital health, broadly defined.

How does the CMLH support the PHDA?

The CMLH collaborates with our partners at UPMC Enterprises and the Center for Commercial Applications of Healthcare Data (the CCA) at the University of Pittsburgh to support research projects for compelling science that will create value for stakeholders including patients and caregivers, providers, payers, and healthcare institutions. Our investigative teams are encouraged to incorporate researchers and/or clinical collaborators from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC to create partnerships to support the transition of the technology from the lab to the clinical    environment.

What we are looking forward to in 2022 for the PHDA

The CMLH is looking forward new and exciting opportunities in 2022. We are working with UPMC Enterprises to encompass themes for research projects which will focus on digital health trends and healthcare industry challenges. 2021 brought another year of the continued surge in innovative healthcare research. The CMLH is following trends to initiate new collaborations with Carnegie Mellon faculty that we are not yet working with, as well as featuring industry experts and researchers for quarterly virtual speaking engagements focusing on digital health perspectives.