A team of healthcare professionals has received a $50,000 award to transform their idea for an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tool that can match cancer patients with the relevant clinical trials, into reality. They were taking part in the Duke-NUS Health Innovator Programme, a nine-month, first-of-its-kind fellowship in Singapore that assembles a multi-disciplinary team to solve healthcare problems while being guided by industry mentors. 

Team OncoPATH’s project aims to improve clinical trial accessibility and simplify referrals for local and regional cancer patients to the clinical trial team. The platform, OncoPATH, uses a Large Language Model to match cancer patients to suitable trials. Prospective patients are matched according to the information entered in a short questionnaire (i.e. diagnosis, stage of cancer, mutational profile and sites of disease). Interested patients can forward their details to register for the matched trial(s), and a formal consultation will be arranged at the respective healthcare institution.

This year, which marks the second edition of the Duke-NUS Health Innovator Programme, saw five competing teams addressing clinical needs in the fields of “oncology and primary health”. The other four projects presented were- an improved colorectal cancer screening kit, a self-test colposcopy device for cervical cancer screening, an improved blood glucose monitoring app for people with diabetes, as well as an AI health companion that provides personalised cancer screening advice.

Next, all the teams will be seeking more funding to develop their innovations, while being guided by clinical and industry mentors.