Featured Researcher: Cameron Kim
Cameron Kim, PhD, is the Associate Director for Education at the Center for Computational and Digital Health Innovation, as well as Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies and Assistant Professor of the Practice in Duke’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. His research focuses on drug and gene delivery.
We are incredibly fortunate to have Cameron leading our educational efforts at the Center. He’s a nationally recognized leader in innovative technical approaches to education and is already spearheading our new Certificate program and Communities of Practice. His ability to bring people together across disciplines will be a powerful force in shaping the future of computational and digital health. His vision will not only strengthen our mission to find, track, and treat disease but also ensure we are training the next generation of leaders in this rapidly evolving field.
Here’s what he’s thinking about and working on.
What excites you most about computational and digital health innovations right now?
I am very excited about the predictive power that we will have with comp and digital health innovations that will transform how we diagnose and treat disease. Between digital twin systems, wearables, and increased use of AI in clinical decision making, I’m excited that we will make such health advances accessible to more people!
How did you get interested in computational and digital health?
I became interested in computational and digital health through my research in ethics education and the rising importance of machine learning in clinical care. With predictive algorithms that can help to reduce hospitalization times or reduce costs in medicine, I saw a transformative potential in widespread adoption of these technologies. But I also saw the potential risks and future-casting of such technology that harms personal privacy and leads to improper or even nefarious use that I am excited to learn and teach about!
What current research are you involved in?
My research program in the Biomedical Engineering Education Teaching Lab (BEETL) focuses on two key thrusts. My first aim focuses on enhancing biotechnology education and workforce development, with a particular insight into experiential learning, design education, and laboratory automation. I’m looking into how such authentic research experiences and teaching around lab robotics leads to their uptake and acceptance by our students.
My second research aim looks at the growing importance of ethics and character formation in engineers, especially with emergent technologies like we see in biotechnology and computational and digital health innovations. We are looking at student, faculty, and industry attitudes towards such education and how to best prepare our students for promoting responsible ethical futures, with curiosity and humility at the core of their engineering knowledge.
How do you see AI impacting or advancing your work?
Learning and education are not one-size-fits-all models of knowledge attainment. I am optimistic that AI will allow us to find better solutions for teaching and practicing the important work that we do as biomedical engineers. I also view AI as an important tool for education to inform students’ viewpoints on the veracity of information, trust in resources, and leveraging AI tools and communities to lead to important outcomes for our society.
What’s your outlook for the future of computational and digital health? Where do you see the field being in 10 years?
I think the practice of medicine will look very different with the advances that the Center for Computational and Digital Health Innovation is pioneering. With VR/AR and digital twins, we will be able to practice surgeries and perform them in such realistic simulations that will mitigate against error. Our local tech will inform us of conditions that we should seek out help for that can protect our health and the health of those around us. And, we will have better educational tools around the use of digital health that inform all folks about the trust we should have on these important tools!
What’s something people don’t know about you?
I’ve been on two nationally televised game shows! But you will have to find out which ones those are.
