La Chiara Landrum, a Meharry SACS student, was awarded Best Poster at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Research Institute (RI) All-Intern Poster Session for her work advancing the future of medical technology in crisis care.
Her project, “Enhancing Portable Emergency Room (PER) Care with a Multimodal Fusion Framework Using Bounded AI Agents on the Edge,” introduces an innovative approach to supporting medics and non-medical volunteers in resource-limited, high-pressure environments such as disaster zones, humanitarian missions, and large-scale public events.
Portable Emergency Rooms (PERs) are designed to provide rapid medical response in environments where conditions are harsh and resources are scarce. However, they often face challenges including limited connectivity, fragmented data, and the urgent need for real-time decision-making. Landrum’s research addresses these barriers by creating a machine learning–based framework that enhances pre-triage capabilities, allowing medics and volunteers to better prepare for patient care through real-time decision support.
The team has already achieved success in developing an audio-to-text processing system with key information extraction (KIE) and pre-triage decision support. Future research will expand the framework by integrating additional data modalities, moving closer to a comprehensive AI-powered tool that can improve patient outcomes in critical situations.
Landrum’s recognition highlights the importance of AI-driven solutions in modern MedTech and reflects Meharry’s growing role in shaping the future of healthcare innovation.
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