We are delighted to congratulate UBC Orthopaedics Postdoctoral Research Fellow Taqdir Ali on receiving a 2024 Michael Smith Health Research BC Research Trainee Award.
The Research Trainee Program supports health researchers in the training phase of their research career to enable career development and enrich BC’s health research talent. Research trainees increase the productivity of their teams and drive discoveries that improve the health of people and communities.
“We’re proud to support BC’s early career health researchers through this funding. By investing in their career development, we’re building a stronger future for health research across the province.” — Ellie Griffith, assistant vice-president, research programs at Michael Smith Health Research BC.
The research project—Advancing Orthopaedics Diagnostic Intelligence: Deep Learning and Generative AI Models for Fracture Identification and Dialogue-driven Documentation and Decision-making—aims to improve the diagnosis of fractures in children by using artificial intelligence (AI).
Children’s bones are unique and change as they grow, making it hard to analyze X-rays accurately. The researchers plan to develop AI models that can help identify fractures in X-rays and assist doctors in asking the right questions during consultations. They will create software called “Ortho-Assistant” to automatically assess X-rays, document clinical information, and support doctors in making diagnoses and treatment decisions.
“With innovations in orthopaedics, we’re opening doors to faster, more accurate diagnoses and tailored patient care. I’m excited to be part of a future where technology and medical expertise come together to make a meaningful impact on patients’ lives.” — Taqdir Ali, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UBC Department of Orthopaedics
The primary objective of the study is to design, develop, and validate independent and innovative machine learning workflows using generative artificial intelligence (AI) models and supervised machine learning models for automatic fractures detection from radiographs and dialogue-based clinical documentation and decision-making.
In the first phase, the research team will perform two sub-tasks: radiograph annotation (based on body site) and fracture identification. In radiograph annotation, the team will fine-tune GPT-based large language models (LLMs) to extract the fracture type and location from radiology reports, and then annotate the radiographs accordingly. The annotated radiographs will be used to train a deep-learning model convolutional neural network (CNN) to identify fractures.
“These awards are very competitive, recognizing the highest quality of science by the best researchers. Dr. Ali has joined an impressive group of UBC Orthopaedics Researchers who have received Michael Smith awards over the last 20 years.” — Dr. David Wilson, Associate Head, Research, UBC Department of Orthopaedics
“I am very proud of Dr Ali’s award. It is an incredibly competitive process, and I think his success is due to the high quality and impactful nature of his work.” — Dr. Antony Cooper, Head, Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics, UBC Department of Orthopaedics
The researchers will calibrate the generative AI models in the second phase to extract pertinent information from patient-doctor dialogue during the clinic visit. The system will prompt the physician if important information or questions are missed during dialogue.
Finally, the system will generate clinical notes from the information extracted from patient-doctor dialogue. It will assist the physician in making decisions on diagnosis and treatment. And, it will follow up based on the extracted information from radiographs and dialogue.
Project Team
Taqdir Ali, PhD is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Orthopaedics at UBC and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute with over six years of industry experience in the United Kingdom as a software engineer, software architect, and researcher. He completed his Ph.D. in 2019 at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Kyung Hee University, South Korea and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST), Pakistan. From 2021 to 2023, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Medical Genetics, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of British Columbia.
Dr. Anthony Cooper, MBChB, FRCSC is the project’s principal investigator (PI) and supervisor. He is the Head of the Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics at UBC Department of Orthopaedics and a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon. His research focuses on limb lengthening, pediatric hip, lower limbs, feet, trauma and bone tumours, including patient-reported outcomes, quality of life, geometrical modelling, and medical imaging. He is very keen to integrate artificial intelligence within orthopaedics to enhance patient care.
Dr. John Jacob, Head of Digital Lab, is a co-investigator and co-supervisor on the project. He holds an academic appointment with the UBC Faculty of Medicine and is the Executive Director, Strategy & Operations at BC Children’s and Women’s Hospitals. He has an interdisciplinary background in healthcare, science, technology, and research.
Congratulations to all the 2024 Research Trainees. Visit the Michael Smith Health Research BC website to learn more.
