Tag: MiNE

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A Medical Ethics ROP Journey with Jayun Bae

Jayun Bae – ROP299Y 2016-17
My name is Jayun Bae and I am completing my second year in the Neuroscience and Bioethics majors at the University of Toronto, St. George. I was a 2016-2017 Research Opportunity Program (ROP) student in Dr. Pascal Tyrrell’s lab, working on a study that investigated the ethics of sharing patient data with private organizations (see my timeline above). I am a member of the Hart House Debating Club and an events associate for the Life Science Student Network. 
                                                               
My ROP project was necessitated by the partnership proposed by the Medical image Networking Enterprise (MiNE) that would establish a data-sharing relationship between public and private sector organizations. The ethical concerns with the partnership involved patient consent, privacy, and financial gain – but there were also issues that I
uncovered throughout the project. It quickly became clear that the answers could not be found through an examination of precedence or legal documents, because many of the research actions that would take place (specifically involving private organizations) fell in the grey area between what was legal and what was ethical. For example, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) are two guidelines for organizations to follow when handling patient data – but neither are able to clearly and positively dictate how this partnership should operate.
Therefore, I developed a study that would seek expert opinions through the administration of a survey. I conducted interviews at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the University of Toronto and performed qualitative data analysis. My ROP project was presented at the ROP Poster Fair and the Victoria College Research Day events. The ROP was an extremely valuable experience in gaining research skills, and I’m grateful to
Dr. Tyrrell for the guidance and mentorship. The project is not yet completed, so I am looking forward to continuing the study beyond the scope of the ROP.   Please have a look at my poster from the 2017 ROP Research Day below:
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Sharing Medical Images for Research: Patients’ Perspectives

Michelle Cheung – YSP 2nd Place Award

Michelle was our second YSP student this summer and did a great job at particpating in one of our studies in looking at patients’ willingness to share their medical images for research. This study is also part of the MiNE project.

Here is what Michelle had to say:

“My name is Michelle Cheung and I am a rising senior at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California. In my free time, I love to bake, read, travel with family, and take Barre classes. I also enjoy volunteering with friends at local charitable events and the Key Club at school. I am very interested in human biology and hope to study genetics and biotechnology next fall.

I really enjoyed the three weeks with the YSP Research Program. I learned so much about medical imaging modalities and had the amazing opportunity of helping research assistants survey patients at the Sunnybrook Hospital for the MiNE project. At first, it was a little daunting, but over time, I became more confident and comfortable interacting with patients, and grew to love surveying. The continuous surveying each day highlights the aspect and importance of repetition in conducting scientific research. Above all, it was an absolute pleasure getting to know the MiDATA and VBIRG lab. I’m grateful to my mentors and the lab members for exposing me to a whole new lab world I never thought existed beyond the traditional wet labs.”

Great job Michelle!

Have a peek at Michelle’s award winning poster and…

… I’ll see you in the blogosphere.

Pascal Tyrrell

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MiDATA – Enabling Medical Image Research at the University of Toronto

Poster to be presented at the Department of Medical Imaging Resident Achievement Day 2016

Where have a I been you ask? At my desk putting this program together! I apologize for being MIA for the past month or so but I it has been a busy time nurturing this fledgling program of MiNE (pun intended!).

Here is the premise:

Bridging the gap between clinical expertise and the science of managing and analyzing medical imaging data is challenging. To provide direction for data management as well as the analysis and reporting of research findings, we are in the process of introducing a data science unit – MiDATA – offering users an environment geared towards a “soup to nuts” approach to medical imaging research methodology and statistics. The Department of Medical Imaging of the University of Toronto is one of the largest in North America with a clinical faculty of more than 184 faculty, 60 residents and 80 fellows based at nationally and internationally renowned hospitals conducting cutting edge clinical research in the greater Toronto area. The challenge of any successful research and educational program is bridging the “know-do” gap. The goal of MiDATA is to facilitate impactful research through the efficient and creative use of a mentored learning environment.

Shout out to our collaborators the Division of Biostatistics from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health!



Tomorrow is the official unveiling at the 2016 Department of Medical Imaging Resident Achievement Day. I thought I would share with you our poster as a sneak peek…



Once you have digested its contents have a listen to Paper Planes by M.I.A. to decompress and…

… I’ll see you in the blogosphere (or at tomorrow’s event!)


Pascal Tyrrell


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U of T Research Opportunity Program – Clare Sheen

Clare Sheen is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, in process of completing her Bachelor of Sciences in Genomics and Microbiology/Molecular Genetics. She was a 2015-6 Research Opportunity Program (ROP) student working on designing the Medical Image Network Enterprise (MiNE) interface for Dr. Pascal Tyrrell from U of T’s Department of Medical Imaging. She is currently a social director on the Life Science Student Network exec team and a volunteer at U of T’s Agrawal Lab where she helps with Drosophila experiments. She continues to seasonally work as a student camp teacher in the summer.

At the Research Opportunity Program (ROP) fair on March 3rd, U of T ROP students from different departments came together to share their research. A mock-up of the MiNE interface was presented in PowerPoint with the goal of increasing user engagement and encouraging the development of a medical imaging research community. Some features of the interface are presented below.