UVA Health Archives - HIT Leaders and News

Drug Discovery AI Needs Better Biology

Jason Free — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:13:58 +0000

The latest drug-discovery AI announcement from the University of Virginia School of Medicine deserves attention, but not for the usual reason. The easy storyline is speed. The more important storyline is realism.

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UVA Health: Testing if MRI Can Reveal Undetected Brain Injuries in Soldiers

Jason Free — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 12:22:44 +0000

Hidden injuries have always been one of the most insidious threats in military medicine. From early battlefield concussion to long-term neurological impairment, brain trauma often escapes early detection, particularly in soldiers exposed to repeated low-level blasts.

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UVAHealth: Will AI-Driven Mental Health Support Close or Widen the Care Gap in Oncology?

Jason Free — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 10:54:03 +0000

The promise of artificial intelligence in mental health care is rapidly transitioning from experimental to operational. For breast cancer patients in particular, AI-based interventions could radically reshape how psychological distress is detected, triaged, and managed across settings. But the core question remains unresolved: Will these systems meaningfully extend care, or create a new layer of digital inequity?

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UVA Health: The Automation Imperative in Diabetes Technology

Jason Free — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 10:44:59 +0000

Efforts to fully automate insulin delivery for type 1 diabetes are entering a critical inflection point. For nearly a decade, the artificial pancreas has promised to transform care for millions of people managing the condition. But even with notable advancements in hybrid closed-loop systems, a fundamental barrier remains: user burden.

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UVA Health University Medical Center Expands MRI Suite

Jason Free — Wed, 21 May 2025 15:14:24 +0000

To improve the patient experience and access to care, UVA Health University Medical Center has opened an expanded magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suite that will better accommodate the thousands of patients receiving these scans annually. MRIs are a non-invasive imaging technique used to detect and diagnose health conditions throughout the body, as well as to monitor the progress of certain treatments.

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An App to Detect Heart Attacks and Strokes

Jason Free — Tue, 20 May 2025 11:19:07 +0000

“Heart attack and stroke are two leading causes of death in Virginia and the U.S. Our study found that the ECHAS app could accurately identify patients with heart attack, stroke and other emergency brain or heart problems who needed evaluation in the emergency room or admission to the hospital,” said UVA Health neurologist Jonathan R. Crowe, MD, MPH, one of the study’s authors. “We hope ECHAS could help save lives by reducing delay and helping patients get the heart attack and stroke care they need.”

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New Genomics Tool Accelerates Biomedical Breakthroughs

Jason Free — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 12:04:54 +0000

Genomics is a complex field that involves analyzing vast amounts of data. This work is complicated by the number of researchers involved and the varying ways they have named “reference sequences” over the years. Reference sequences are essential tools in genomic research, often representing genetic information compiled from multiple individuals. Researchers rely on these sequences to identify gene variations driving genetic diseases and to understand how diseased cells behave differently than normal cells.

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Artificial Intelligence Tool to Accelerate New Treatments

Jason Free — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 11:15:41 +0000

The new AI tool called LogiRx, can predict how drugs will affect biological processes in the body, helping scientists understand the effects the drugs will have other than their original purpose. For example, the researchers found that the antidepressant escitalopram, sold as Lexapro, may prevent harmful changes in the heart that lead to heart failure, a condition that causes almost half of all cardiovascular deaths in the United States.

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UVA Health Develops Simple Scan to heartID Patients at Heart Risk

Jason Free — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 14:49:36 +0000

Everyone knows the health risks of carrying too much fat around the waist and hips, but UVA Health scientists have developed a noninvasive way to assess the health risks of unseen fat around the heart.

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Cause, Potential Treatment ID’d for Persistent COVID-19 Lung Problems

Jason Free — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 10:53:20 +0000

Arthritis drugs already available for prescription have the potential to halt lingering lung problems that can last months or years after COVID-19 infections, new research from the School of Medicine and Cedars-Sinai suggests.

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