Fuad Abujarad, PhD, MSc

Dr. Abujarad's research is interdisciplinary and focuses on the design, development, and use of digital health tools in the domain of public health, clinical, as well as health services research.

He is currently studying the use of automated screening, motivational interviewing, virtual coaching, and digital health to enhance identification of elder mistreatment at the point-of-care. The "Virtual cOaching in making Informed Choices on Elder Mistreatment Self-Disclosure (VOICES)" tool was developed under an R01 supported by the National Institute of Aging (NIA) to provide a self-administered screening and educational process in the emergency department setting. VOICES continues to be expanded upon in additional research projects exploring other populations such as older adults with cognitive impairments and settings such as the primary care setting.

Dr. Abujarad is also studying the use of digital health to improve the Informed Consent process. He is the PI on the “Patient-Centered Virtual Multimedia Interactive Informed Consent (VIC)” an R21 funded by AHRQ. In this study, he developed and evaluated a reusable infrastructure that will enable the informed consent process to be performed on handheld devices (e.g. iPads) utilizing interactive multimedia libraries (e.g. graphics, video clips, animations, presentations, etc.) designed to enhance patient comprehension and quality of care.

Research projects include: Examining the effect of enhancing e-referral to deliver a comprehensive, multi-sector-connected-service model via a community-driven coordinated-case-management approach to improve older adults’ capacity for self-care; utilizing digital health to build and strengthen the personal care aides (PCAs) workforce to meet the overwhelming demand for high-quality, lower-cost supports and services for older adults at home through an implementation of a new more efficient and cost-effective way.

As a computer scientist, his research is focused on software solutions for healthcare service challenges. His background in computer science enables him to refine the design, as well as implementation and deployment of health systems, that is easy-to-use, user-friendly, user-centered, and feasible.