Dr. Wallapak Tavanapong and Dr. Johnny Wong received a 3-year grant ($899,354) from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of the US Department of Health and Human Services, for Improving Colonoscopy Quality through Automated Monitoring. This grant is a partnership with Mayo Clinic and Indiana University as a "translation research grant," intended to put into practice theoretical results achieved within the past five years of research. Drs. Wong and Tavanapong will verify that automated, computer algorithm-based extraction of quality related features in colonoscopy is possible. Three particular aims of their research will be to test whether computer-derived metrics reflect quality of colonoscopy as defined by the American College of Gastroenterology and American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guidelines, test whether computer-derived metrics reflecting quality differ among beginning or experienced endoscopists, and to test whether awareness of automated quality monitoring alters endoscopic behavior among endoscopists.
In addition, EndoMetric, a startup company founded by Dr. Tavanapong and Dr. Wong (with Dr. JungHwan Oh at the University of North Texas and Piet de Groen, MD at the Mayo Clinic) also received funding from NSF/STTR Phase 1 and Phase 1B as well as grant from IDED (Iowa Department of Economic Development) for technology transfer and commercialization.