Sheridan’s Centre for Mobile Innovation receives federal funding for COVID-19 research project

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) today announced new funding support to cover the urgent need for equipment for ongoing research related to COVID-19. Among the recipients is Sheridan’s Centre for Mobile Innovation, whose project is focused on efficient and effective remote health monitoring during COVID-19.

Through the CFI’s Exceptional Opportunities Fund – COVID-19, the Centre has been awarded $39,307 to advance the development of Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM).“During a pandemic, the value proposition of RPM is clear,” said Dr. Edward Sykes, Principal Investigator and Director of the Centre for Mobile Innovation. “First, it can support early discharge from hospital since doctors will have access to continuous patient monitoring information after they leave the hospital, lessening strain on healthcare facilities; and second, it provides close monitoring of vital signs in healthcare settings and private homes that can efficiently track significant health symptoms and identify issues before they escalate.”

The Centre for Mobile Innovation is collaborating with industry partner CloudDX to enhance RPM in the following ways:

1. Vitaliti Continuous Vital Sign Monitoring: CloudDX’s Vitaliti can measure multiple vital signs, including ECG, heart rate, Sp02 respiration, core body temperature, blood pressure, movement, steps and posture.
2. Clinic of the Future: This system, currently in development, integrates mixed reality to display a patient’s real-time vital signs from the Vitaliti along with other pertinent data such as results from bloodwork and CT/MRI imaging, the patient’s medical history medications and allergies.

“The Clinic of the Future is a compelling and innovative approach for the vision of healthcare and the transformative possibilities that these technologies unlock for doctors, nurses and other caregivers,” said Dr. Sykes. “In the midst of a pandemic, the need for such transformation is even more urgent.”

“This funding reaffirms the powerful impact that applied research, undertaken with industry and community partners, can have in addressing real-world issues,” said Dr. Janet Morrison, Sheridan’s President and Vice Chancellor. “The Centre for Mobile Innovation continues to be a leader in developing innovative solutions for healthcare using creative applications of mobile technologies that can effect positive change to benefit our communities and the wider world.”

CMI’s other research projects have included a low-cost portable medical assessment and monitoring kit for low-resource settings, an objective method for diagnosis of chronic pain, addressing critical shortages in the healthcare work force through efficient and effective mobile-based training, and many more.

About Sheridan’s Centre for Mobile Innovation

The Centre for Mobile Innovation (CMI) is one of Sheridan College’s six research and incubation centres. Its mandate is to create innovative solutions to problems in healthcare using leading mobile and related technologies including the Internet of Things, wearable computing, augmented and virtual reality, and machine learning. Driven by industry need, CMI projects are developed with student and faculty researchers who gain invaluable practical interaction with real-world projects. Learn more at cmi.sheridancollege.ca

Pictured top right: Sheridan team working on the Clinic of the Future research project at the Centre for Mobile Innovation.