Computer Science and Infectious Diseases

Researchers are creating a way to combine multiple specialties in medicine with different tools from artificial intelligence, machine learning and statistics to detect C. diff spread and design interventions for minimizing outbreaks.

Anil Vullikanti, a professor of computer science and a member of the UVA Biocomplexity Institute, is researching C. diff., a hospital-acquired infectious bacterium that can harm patients’ treatment and recovery. C. diff. affects over half a million people in the United States each year. For this fellowship, Vullikanti is creating a way to combine multiple specialties in medicine with different tools from artificial intelligence, machine learning and statistics to detect C. diff spread and design interventions for minimizing outbreaks. Vullikanti is collaborating with Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at UVA, and Dr. William Petri, vice-chair for research in the Department of Medicine and a professor of infectious diseases and international health. The team’s research has already been recognized by the UVA Global Infectious Disease Institute, which awarded them a grant to expand their research using this method and design solutions that go beyond traditional disease control methods. In addition, Vullikanti is using the same approach to develop proposals for studying other hospital-acquired infections and even address opioid addiction related to hospital anesthesiology. Vullikanti also applies this same expertise in his new role as the scientific coordinator on a $10M National Science Foundation grant that aims to thwart future pandemics.