Distinguished Professor Chase says that waiting lists to see specialists have grown considerably over the last two decades. 鈥淚deally, the big impact we make is breaking that cycle of long lists through automation, software, and smart use of data. These elements have made everything more productive and can give us this thing called extrinsic change. For every dollar you put in, innovations of this type give you two or three dollars back. This extrinsic change needs to come to healthcare to meet unsustainably growing demand.鈥
Distinguished Professor Chase also devotes much of this time to supervising PhD students. One of those students was听Dr Lui Holder-Pearson,听who is now the Director of Studies in Mechatronics (second-year Engineering) and听Distinguished听Professor Chase鈥檚 colleague.听They work together at the UC Engineering lab to develop innovative advancements that aim to enhance healthcare efficiency.
鈥淎lmost everything we do in this lab is about access to healthcare,鈥 says听Dr Holder-Pearson, who hopes to get more recognition of the need to automate. 鈥淓specially with an aging population, we can鈥檛 just afford to keep throwing more money into the healthcare sector to meet demand.鈥
Speaking about his career, Distinguished Professor Chase says working with students and clinically applying things here at UC, in intensive care units and in hospitals around the world, are the most interesting aspects of his work.
One of the disruptive innovation projects Distinguished Professor Chase is currently working on involves Dr Holder-Pearson, PhD student Dael Summerhays-Sunnex and master鈥檚 student Jordan Smith. They are engineering an听AI-driven emotional recognition training tool to reduce 鈥榮ocial blindness鈥. The team says the tool offers the opportunity for anyone to reach their potential and engage on a level in society they would like to.
鈥淚 think that small successes of projects like ours can show the potential of, and need for, automation,鈥 says Dr Holder-Pearson.
鈥淲e also had the epic opportunity to learn more than we expected to,鈥 he says about the project experience.
Well-connected with colleagues from around the world, Distinguished Professor Chase hopes to break barriers to equitable healthcare through knowledge sharing and collaboration internationally as well.
Applications to one of Europe鈥檚 biggest research and innovation听funds,听,听recently听opened to researchers in Aotearoa New Zealand, which Distinguished Professor Chase welcomes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just access to money, it鈥檚 access to more opportunities. The diversity of ideas usually makes research stronger.鈥
鈥淭he advantage for us specifically is that there鈥檚 going to be more researchers here, actively looking for collaboration,鈥 says Dr Holder-Pearson.
Distinguished Professor Chase is supervising a range of projects that aim to improve equitable healthcare including:
- PhD student Isaac Fleet - Quantifying Patient Agitation in Critical Care Using Wearable Devices. Instead of relying on subjective assessments, Fleet is using stress metrics and other physiological data from wearable to analyse the agitation level of ICU patients and therefore the level of sedation.
- PhD students Jaimey Clifton, Trudy Calj茅-van der Klei and Ella Guy -听Making information more accessible for those with acute and chronic respiratory illnesses.
- UC researchers Jaimey Clifton, Ella Guy, Trudy Calje-Van Der Klei, Mia Uluilelata, Samuel Jackson, Samrath Sood, and Jordan Hill -听Reducing the cost of breathing.