THEW Educational Program
The Center for Quantitative Electrocardiography and Cardiac Safety and its Telemetric and Holter ECG Warehouse (THEW) initiative propose a set of training classes for US and International students (graduate, PhD and post-doc levels). Primarily related to research activities in the field of digital quantitative electrocardiography, the program provides a unique opportunity to learn about DSP, electrocardiography and clinical research .
The Winter 2009 Session was just completed : four students from Alborg University in Denmark have taken the RES 950 class during the winter session 2009. Jens Stampe Soerensen, Lars Johannesen, Kasper Lundhus and Ulrik Silvanus Lerkevang Grove received their certificate for the Winter quarter (see picture below). The students have worked on four reseach topics including: ECG wave delineation, ECG wavelet filtering, the development of an improved RR-bin method and an algorithm for the classification of T-wave morphology. Their works are being submitted for publication.
from right to left: Kasper Lundhus Jens Stampe Soerensen, Lars Johannesen,and Ulrik Silvanus Lerkevang Grove with their diploma from the Center for Quantitative Electrocardiography and Cardiac Safety..
THEW Training Program
The objective of the RES 950 class (URMC) is to develop experience in designing, conducting and reporting research work related to the extraction of information from the surface electrocardiograms in order to improve patients risk stratification and the diagnosis of cardiac diseases. To learn basic concepts of quantitative electrocardiography and associated computerized technologies.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
- Understand the basic concepts of quantitative electrocardiography
- Learn about signal processing techniques related to digital quantitative electrocardiography
- Interact with biomedical engineers and clinical researchers
- Develop good understanding of the challenges related to the measurements of most common ECG metrics
- Learn to manage and analyze large amount of digital medical information
- Develop statistical skills required in patient risk stratification and predictive models.
- Acquire experience in using selected computer language: C++, Matlab, C# - dotNET
- Get familiar with data and functionalities of the THEW
Schedule of Activities:
The students spend 16 weeks full-time at the Center for Quantitative Electrocardiogrpahy and Cardiac Safety. They are introduced to the various computerized tools developed for reading, displaying, and analyzing digital electrocardiograms. A description of basic concepts needed to start doing their research project will be introduced in weekly 1-hour class. Theses classes will include: description of basic electrocardiography, challenges related to quantification of clinical ECG metrics, get familiar with the Telemetric and Holter ECG Warehouse data and tools. Then , the students are expected to define a research project for the semester under the supervision of the Course Director. The student will be expected to conduct the research work in an independent manner. A typical day is 9:00AM to 5:00PM.
DIDACTIC ACTIVITIES:
The students are expected to search literature related to their research proposal, to become proficient about the research topic selected for their research project. This includes a good understanding of the research topics, its associated challenges and its associated technologies. The students are involved in research meetings, weekly class and to interact with engineers, statisticians and clinicians.
STUDENT EVALUATION:
The student will provide a report of their research work and will find support for publishing their results in peer-review journals. An oral examination will be required during the last week of the semester to assess whether the students have met the stated goals of the course.
The class is a 4 US hour credits (16 yearly credit basis) corresponding to 20 ECTS credits (60 yearly credit basis).
For more information please contact: administrator@thew-project.org
[12/16/2009]: The Director of the THEW interviewed by Technology Review published by the MIT: here.
[11/11/2009]: New Research Center to Focus on Cardiac Safety and Innovation in Pharmaceutical Industry Today: here.
[6/11/2009]: University of of Rochester and FDA Partner for ECG Database, Drug Discovery & Development Magazine. More info here
[5/6/2009] FDA website Existing Partnerships FDA’s Public-Private Partnership Program: THEW
[03/28/2009] Public and Private part- nership to help determine Clinical Biomarker Utility in Applied Clinical Trials online.com.>here
[7/26/2010] Members: Angel Medical System Inc. has joined the THEW initiative. Angel Medical Systems develops and markets cardiac devices that provide heart monitoring, alerting, and data collection. Their AngelMed Guardian system is an iimplantable cardiac monitoring and alerting system that is designed to warn cardiac patients of potentially life-threatening heart conditions.
[7/12/2010] The THEW quoted in a recent issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. In a reply to a correspondence from Dr. Verrier and Nieminen on the role of T-wave alternans in hospital monitoring for torsades de pointes, Dr. Drew quoted the THEW as " a less expensive (than prospective clinical trials) and immediate available research strategy ... to validate ECG monitoring algorithms." JACC Vol. 56, No 3., 23010, 238-42.
[1/13/2010] Members: The Oxford University Computing Laboratory is the first new member for year 2010. At the heart of computing and related interdisciplinary activity at Oxford, this centre focuses on research in computer science, numerical analysis, computational biology, quantum computation, computational linguistics, and information systems. The Computational Biology Group also plays a key role in interdisciplinary initiatives across the University, including the EU FP7 projects euHeart and PreDiCT.
[05/27/2008]: "THEW Beyond QT working Group" releases an ECG marker submission form designed in collaboration with the FDA.
NHLBI Support[12/13/2009]:The University of Rochester and the NHLBI enabled the creation of a "Center for Quantitative Electrocardiography and Cardiac Safety" (CES). Read more...
Agreement[05/27/2008] FDA: Dr. J. Woodcock (Director, CDER-FDA) and Dr. Norman Stockbridge (Director for the Division of Cardiovascular and Renal Products, CDER-FDA) signed a Letter of Agreement officially starting the partnership between the FDA and University of Rochester for the THEW initiative. More...