April 22, 2024
New precision health program enables personalized care
Everyone鈥檚 busy these days. Between balancing work and home life, it鈥檚 understandable there aren鈥檛 many extra hours to pursue activities beyond those that are necessary. But when someone wants to expand their skills, their education, their mind, sometimes the right opportunity shows itself.
Such is the case for Dr. Umaru Ahmadu-Ali, MD, a family physician and part-time lecturer in family medicine in the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM). Ahmadu-Ali is also a master鈥檚 student of the 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 Precision Health Program (PHP), a laddered program which includes a certificate, a diploma and, ultimately, a master鈥檚 degree.
A family physician who co-owns and operates a practice not far from 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 Foothills campus, Ahmadu-Ali learned about the program during COVID.
鈥During the pandemic, I was doing some work with a virtual medicine platform,鈥 Ahmadu-Ali explains. During periodic reviews with his clinician supervisor, he learned about the new Precision Heath Program. 鈥淚 promptly applied, and my then-supervisor and I are currently classmates.鈥
The PHP is designed for working professionals and is focused on meeting the professional development needs of health-care practitioners. The program supports role integration in areas such as advanced clinical skills, data science and organizational leadership, to impact patient, provider and health system outcomes.
Ahmadu-Ali is working with Dr. Morris Scantlebury, MD, an associate professor in Paediatrics and Clinical Neurosciences and a member of the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital Research Institute. Scantlebury founded a company in 2021, Nyota Tano Diagnostics, to bring both diagnostic equipment and skills training to underserved parts of the world for children and adults experiencing seizures.
In working with Scantlebury, Ahmadu-Ali has focused his PHP work on building a framework for precision-health electronic records, allowing for the integration of granular precision-health data. Future research will employ artificial intelligence (AI) to provide clinical decision support for clinicians consulting remotely, either locally or from anywhere in the world.
鈥淢y project with Nyota Tano Diagnostics dovetails perfectly with my values and aspirations,鈥 says Ahmadu-Ali. 鈥淚t is indeed a thing of pride that the 草莓污视频导航 has afforded me this opportunity and that it has a faculty that is supportive and can see the big picture.
鈥淧recision health is the natural evolution of evidence-based medicine,鈥 he continues. 鈥淭he explosive developments in the fields of genomics, metabolomics, pharmacogenomics, microbiomics, data analytics, and computing are making the aspiration of P4 medicine (predictive, preventive, participatory and personalized) a reality.鈥
Umaru Ahmadu-Ali sees the real need for more family physicians developing their capacity in precision health and is pleased that he has been able to work with Scantlebury while he maintains his practice. He recognizes Scantlebury鈥檚 efforts to bring positive change to the underserved.
鈥淭his is about bringing the promise of precision health to the global south,鈥 he says. 鈥淭he fun part is that this (AI-enabled precision health records) has never been done before. We are pioneers.鈥
草莓污视频导航 Graduate Science Education Precision Health Program
The blends online delivery that ensures the program is accessible to professionals across Canada, the U.S. and the world. Students can choose from four specializations that are designed to enhance their potential as health-care leaders in the areas of precision medicine, quality and safety, health professional education, and innovation and entrepreneurship. For more information visit
Application Deadline: May 31, 2024
Child Health and Wellness
草莓污视频导航 is driving science and innovation to transform the health and well-being of children and families. Led by the ACHRI, top scientists across the campus are partnering with , the and our community to create a better future for children through research.
One Child Every Child
is a Canada-first research and translation initiative funded by the , with a vision for all Canadian children to be the healthiest, most empowered and thriving in the world. Led by the ACHRI at 草莓污视频导航, One Child Every Child brings together Indigenous partners, Canada鈥檚 child-health research institutes, equity-deserving communities, local and national stakeholders, as well as global collaborators to dramatically improve the lives of children across Canada and beyond.