The Houston area’s two Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) and Texas Southern University (TSU), are each utilizing artificial intelligence-driven partnerships to profoundly impact society. Their work stands to position each institution as a central force in training the next generation of data scientists, engineers, and healthcare research professionals for the nearly 90 million AI-related jobs that are projected to come online in the next few years.
HOUSTON HEALTH CHALLENGES
AI has transformed various fields, healthcare included. AI is already improving healthcare research, including diagnosing diseases, developing personalized treatment plans, assisting clinicians with decision-making, and more.
The Texas Medical Center (TMC), the largest medical complex in the world, is already viewed as cutting-edge in all aspects of healthcare delivery, including its implementation of AI. But these facts are little consolation to many Houston residents who live on the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum, like the lion’s share of individuals who live within a stone’s throw of the TSU campus.
This makes TSU’s investment in AI, especially regarding healthcare, all the more important.
TSU & AI
TSU’s home, Houston’s Third Ward, is ground zero for some of the city’s highest rates of diabetes, heart disease, COPD, COVID-19, asthma, and more. And because Black women are at a higher risk of contracting the most aggressive type of breast cancer (triple-negative), the large Black population surrounding TSU needs special attention.
Black women in Harris County are also 3.5 times more likely to die in childbirth than their white counterparts.
By utilizing partnerships and TSU’s heavy investment in building an AI infrastructure, TSU seeks to address breast cancer and maternal mortality rates.
Omonike Olaleye, PhD, is TSU’s senior associate vice president for Research & Innovation. She’s also the principal investigator of TSU’s Center for Biomedical and Minority Health Research (CBMHR).
Olaleye, who’s lab focuses mainly on maternal health and child health research, says TSU’s CBMHR is using AI for drug discovery and development.
The university (TSU) has deployed a lot of infrastructure for artificial intelligence when it comes to the marriage between AI and the social determinants of health.
Omonike Olaleye, PhD
TSU’s senior associate vice president for Research & Innovation and principal investigator of the CBMHR Center
“One of the things we use AI to do in drug discovery is called predictive drug discovery. We use AI to identify compounds virtually and build these chemical molecules that could interact with potential targets to help prevent disease or to help treat disease. Once we identify these potential compounds through the use of AI drug discovery, we now come back into the lab to actually test what AI has predicted,” said Olaleye.
Olaleye says AI also helps TSU predict and correct the most prevalent social determinants of health (economic policies, housing type, access to clean water, income, etc.) for specific communities.
Other TSU research scientists focus their research on seeking cures for cancer, diabetes, and other issues that disproportionately impact Black communities, specifically prostate cancer and breast cancer.
TSU FIGHTS BREAST CANCER
For Black women, getting mammograms on schedule is still driving these ugly health disparities. Often, lack of transportation or the inability to afford to take off from work for fear of losing that job stands between far too many Black women and access to timely mammograms.
Veronica Ajewole, PharmD, an associate professor of Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at TSU, seeks to address this issue.
“Third Ward, where TSU is located, is literally in the shadow of the largest medical center in the world. When I go for conferences, I tell people proximity is not equivalent to access,” said Ajewole. “So how then do I use AI in providing services regarding cancer prevention? Early detection. That is key. Early detection saves lives.”
Ajewole uses AI to empower underserved communities to take action regarding cancer screenings and other preventive services by identifying zip codes.
“Where you live determines the water you drink, the quality of education, and the resources you have around you. So, when it comes to deployment of some of the resources we have, I have the privilege of leading a $1 million award funded by the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). That award provides mammograms at no cost to uninsured and underinsured women. We’ve been able to successfully screen over 1,400 women. How did we identify those women? We had to use AI to guide us.”
ADDITIONAL TSU AI USES
TSU’s work with AI has made news outside of Houston.
“We’ve been recognized nationally. Actually, we were recently invited to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to teach the country how to build [AI] infrastructure. Imagine that. Bringing in an HBCU to lead presidents, provosts, and VPs for research. ‘How did TSU build this huge infrastructure with so little money?’ So, we’ve been blessed to do that with AI,” said Olaleye.
And that’s not all.
“Through my center we’re able to send a couple of faculty to MIT the Department of Energy Labs there to really understand how you can use AI when it comes to cybersecurity and for national security. So TSU is really expanding its use of AI and, more importantly, training our faculty, staff, and students in this space.”
PVAMU DEPLOYS AI FOR U.S. DEFENSE UPGRADES
The Houston area’s other HBCU, PVAMU, is also deeply invested in integrating AI into its operations. However, PVAMU’s focus is very different.
At Prairie View, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) recently awarded the school an $8 million grant for a new research project focused on advanced data analysis and artificial intelligence. The project, titled “CREDIT+: Advancing Data Analysis for Mission-Critical Applications in the Era of Artificial Intelligence,” is led by Dr. Lijun Qian, an endowed professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at PVAMU’s Roy G. Perry College of Engineering.
“This project offers a great opportunity for PVAMU to enhance its research capacity in artificial intelligence and big data analytics and for our students to be well-trained and pursue careers in these exciting fields,” said Qian.
Specifically, the DOD grant will allow PVAMU to take the CREDIT Center’s work to the next level. That work consists of supporting U.S. military operations by better-analyzing data from sources such as satellites, drones, field sensors, and warfighters so the DOD can better understand real-time situations and make informed decisions. This could improve mission planning, increase situational awareness, and enhance personnel safety.
Specifically, PVAMU will utilize AI to develop new ways to gather, organize, and analyze data. Qian’s team will also find innovative methods to speed up AI-enhanced data processing and conduct tests to apply their findings to real-world scenarios.
Qian added that this AI-driven project will transform Prairie View’s ability to effectively address and solve many complex problems posed by big data.
