Parisa Rashidi, Ph.D., professor in the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Catherine Price, Ph.D., ABPP/CN professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, have received a five-year, $3.7 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) renewal award to improve the detection of cognitive impairment in older adults preparing for surgery.
The project, PRECEDE II: Presurgical Cognitive Evaluation Via Digital Clockface Drawing Focusing on Educational Heterogeneity, will examine how educational background influences cognitive screening outcomes and develop more accurate, accessible approaches for evaluating older adults before surgery.
Preoperative cognitive impairment is a significant predictor of postoperative complications, yet many existing screening tools may not perform equally well across patients with varying levels of education. The interdisciplinary research team aims to address this challenge through the development of innovative artificial intelligence tools designed to improve screening accuracy across diverse patient populations.
“As healthcare increasingly relies on data-driven decision-making, it is critical that the tools we develop work effectively for all patients,” Rashidi said. “By combining artificial intelligence with clinical expertise, we hope to create more equitable cognitive screening approaches that account for differences in educational experiences and improve care for vulnerable older adults.”
The project will pursue three primary objectives: developing an explainable AI-enhanced digital Clock Drawing Test, creating predictive models that integrate cognitive and surgical data to improve postoperative outcome prediction, and evaluating alternative digital cognitive screening approaches for individuals with lower levels of formal education.
Rashidi and her Intelligent Health Lab (i-HEAL) will contribute expertise in machine learning, explainable AI, and federated learning methods to help develop advanced models capable of identifying cognitive impairment while accounting for educational heterogeneity. These approaches aim to improve both the accuracy and fairness of preoperative cognitive assessments, and the clinical-research-training outreach employed through the Perioperative Cognitive Anesthesia Network (PeCAN) led by Price.
The project builds on an established collaboration among researchers from the University of Florida’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, College of Public Health and Health Professions, and College of Medicine. Findings are expected to improve perioperative cognitive screening, enhance prediction of postoperative complications and support better care for older adults at risk for cognitive impairment.
The NIH-funded project will continue through 2031.