Ramak Amjad, M.D.

About

Ramak Amjad, M.D., MSHI, graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. He then completed a residency in general pediatrics at the University of Kansas. Following residency, Dr. Amjad moved on to the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU), where he was able to pursue both of his passions: neonatology and medical informatics. While at MU, he completed an NIH fellowship in medical informatics and a fellowship in neonatology. During his fellowships, he also completed a master’s degree in health informatics (MSHI).

Following training, Dr. Amjad moved with his wife, Christina, to Dallas for two years in private practice. He returned to the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2003 as a medical school faculty in neonatology and medical informatics. From 2003-2010, he served as clinical faculty in neonatology and taught several graduate school classes for the department of health management and informatics. He maintains his adjunct faculty position at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the School of Medicine and a separate faculty appointment in the College of Engineering.

His research interests and accomplishments include the following:

• Researching neonatal pain modeling and simulation (1998-2001)
• Studying confusion and misinterpretation of medical terminology from acronym and abbreviation use in medical records (1998-2001)
• Examining knowledge representation of neonatal terminology in the NLM meta-thesaurus (1998-2001)
• Utilizing head ultrasound to evaluate changes in cerebral blood flow combined with bispectral index monitor (BIS) in evaluating pain in newborns and in comparing pain scoring methodology (2003-2005)
• Reclassifying historical spontaneous intestinal perforation correctly after previously being classified as surgical NEC (2005-2007)
• Using monitor data to model and simulate apnea, bradycardia and desaturation events (ABD) in the neonate (2006-2007)
• Using ABD simulation to develop and compare multiple artificial intelligence strategies to minimize the frequency, duration and magnitude of ABD events (2006-2008)
• Inventing, developing and patenting (US patent # 8,789,530) a device with engineer Dr. Roger Fales and Dr. Timothy Keim to implement the technology at the bedside (2006-present)
• Principle investigator on a Coulter Foundation grant to build the device as well as clinically test it on neonates at the University of Missouri NICU (2017-2019)
• Principle investigator on an NIH R-22 grant to fund clinical non-inferiority testing on up to 80 neonates at the University of Missouri Children’s Hospital as well as at the Studer Family Children’s Hospital (2020-present)