Feinberg Student Creates AI Chatbot to Decode Blood Test Results
Third-year Feinberg student Tyler Smith has developed an innovative AI chatbot called Lipid Llama, designed to help patients better understand their cardiovascular health by interpreting lipid panel blood test results. Smith, a self-described “math nerd” and former collegiate athlete, created Lipid Llama as part of his Masters of Science in Artificial Intelligence capstone class in January 2024.
Smith worked alongside Jonathan Hourmozdi, a Feinberg cardiovascular fellow, and Amogh Karnik, now a Feinberg cardiology faculty member, to develop the app. Their goal was to create a product that strengthens health literacy and helps patients understand their medical tests. Lipid Llama allows users to input their test results and receive interpretations of the data, including explanations of terms like HDL and LDL cholesterol.
The app utilizes a risk score calculator from the American Heart Association to provide a 10-year risk assessment of heart attack, stroke, and heart disease based on a patient’s cholesterol results, blood pressure, and medications. This feature is particularly important as many patients struggle to comprehend their lipid panel results, often due to the complex terminology used.
“Lipid tests carry some really jargon-heavy terms, like HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol,” Smith explained. “These are things that patients hear, and they go in one ear and out the other.” Lipid Llama aims to bridge this knowledge gap by providing clear explanations and allowing patients to ask questions about their test results through its chatbot feature.
The development of Lipid Llama has gained significant recognition. In April, Smith attended the American Medical Student Association’s inaugural digital health technology competition, where Lipid Llama was selected as one of eight finalists from over 30 teams. Although it didn’t win first place, the competition provided Smith with valuable insights from physician entrepreneurs.
Smith is now working to pilot Lipid Llama with patients locally, pending additional funding and approval from the Institutional Review Board. He is also leading the effort to publish an academic paper on Lipid Llama, currently pending acceptance.
The project has been praised by Kris Hammond, Director of the MSAI program, who highlighted the importance of tailoring products to stakeholders. “There’s a culture in computation that sometimes you spend a lot of time with your head down, looking at the screen and typing away,” Hammond said. “You also need to lift your head up and look out beyond the screen and understand that what you are doing is going to have an impact on the world.”
Smith hopes that Lipid Llama will improve patients’ education and health outcomes by providing them with the tools they need to understand their preventive cardiovascular health. “There’s a lot of opportunity for equity and access, and that’s what we’re focused on here,” Smith said. “It’s getting the most amount of patients the tools that they need to have access to their preventive cardiovascular health and be able to understand and ask questions. I think it’s going to do a lot of good, and I hope to help spread it.”
