High Tech and High Touch: Digital Innovations from BU’s Mobile and Electronic Health-ARC

Hosted by Belinda Borrelli, Professor, Health Policy & Health Services Research, and Director, Center for Behavioral Science Research, SDM; and Director and PI, Mobile and Electronic Health-ARC. ME-ARC Co-Directors: Lisa Quintiliani PhD (School of Medicine) & Tibor Palfai, PhD (Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences) Mobile and Electronic Health provides an unprecedented opportunity to prevent, assess, inform, and treat health behaviors across large segments of the population. Platforms include text messaging, apps, wearables, sensors, social media, gaming, virtual reality and robotics. The benefits of mHealth interventions include their availability and accessibility, cost-effective delivery, scalability, ability to personalize and tailor content, facilitation of patient-provider communication, coordination of patient care across systems, and provision of evidenced-based treatment in real-time and in real-world settings. The mission of the Mobile & Electronic Health ARC (ME-ARC) is to conduct transdisciplinary research and training in mobile and electronic health to improve health across the lifespan, particularly among the most vulnerable populations. The ME-ARC is comprised of a PI/Director (Belinda Borrelli), two Co-Directors (Lisa Quintiliani, Tibor Palfai), a steering committee, an external advisory board, trainees, and over 100 member affiliates across numerous schools at Boston University. Steering committee members have expertise in: implementation science, behavioral science, medicine, informatics/bioinformatics, software development, health literacy, engineering, and global health. Since January 2016, the ME-ARC has hosted invited speakers at monthly seminars, held yearly symposiums, and funded and conducted pilot projects. The ME-ARC coalesces mobile health resources and researchers at Boston University. This Research on Tap will highlight some of the many innovative projects in mobile and electronic health at Boston University.