This weekend, the Microsoft Health Users Group (Microsoft HUG) awarded Janssen Research & Development its Innovation Award for the company’s Autism Knowledge Engine. Autism Speaks provided scientific guidance in developing the platform.
“We congratulate Janssen R&D for the well-deserved recognition,” says Autism Speaks Chief Science Rob Ring. “Janssen’s work in creating this Autism Knowledge Engine highlights the increasing importance of innovative technologies in facilitating the future discovery and development of treatment options for individual living with autism spectrum disorders.”
Janssen’s Autism Knowledge Engine is designed for children with autism, their families and care teams. Its integrated electronic health record system uses Microsoft HealthVault to track a wide range of symptoms and provide detailed information on a child’s medical history and developmental milestones. It emphasizes communication between care providers via the web and mobile apps.
It is also designed to help identify subgroups of children who might best benefit from clinical studies of promising new treatments. It even integrates wearable biosensors that can record autism-related symptoms and body responses at home as well as in a clinical setting. These biosensors are designed to provide objective measures of symptoms in ways that will improve assessment of treatment benefits.
The platform will combine anonymous patient information to create a powerful database to guide further research.
“We are honored to be recognized with the Microsoft HUG Award,” says Janssen Senior Director Gahan Pandina. “This award represents the important collaborative work that is underway to learn more about a constellation of autism-related disorders that affect the lives of children, families and caregivers, and through a greater understanding, advance treatments in the future.”
Dr. Pandina heads Janssen R&D’s venture team dedicated to the development of tools and technologies that may ultimately help better address symptoms of autism in ways that improve function and quality of life. He will be a featured panelist at Autism Speaks second annual Autism Investment Conference, March 4 and 5 in San Francisco. (Registration still open, here.)
The Microsoft HUG Awards were announced at the 2014 annual conference of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. The awards recognize innovations that enhance the quality of patient care and optimize the use of electronic medical records.