Data Science for Health Care Applications

Funded by National Institute of Aging and Texas Medicaid

My health-care research combines wearable sensing, cloud software, and machine learning to study activity, mobility, and health outcomes. A central project is ROAMM, the Real-time Online Assessment and Mobility Monitor, developed with collaborators in aging and health research.

ROAMM uses a smartwatch to support continuous measurements and bidirectional interaction with participants. Programmable measurements and participant-reported outcomes provide data surrounding falls, injuries, hospitalizations, and other intervening health events. Studies capture activity and mobility patterns together with symptoms such as pain and anxiety.

Our work also develops interpretable, data-driven methods for identifying high health-care utilizers using Medicaid data. We have studied differences in health-care expenditure, persistence of high utilization over time, and the prediction of high-cost, high-need patients.

The July 2026 funding portfolio includes the Data Science and Applied Technology Core of the UF Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, a multimodal data-integration project for chronic kidney disease, and G-CAR²E, Gerontology Centers united to Aid Remote Research in Elders.

Selected Publications

1. J. M. Alpert, B. Sharma, E. Cenko, R. Zapata, Y. Karnati, R. B. Fillingim, T. M. Gill, M. Marsiske, S. Ranka, and T. M. Manini. Identifying Barriers and Facilitators for Using a Smartwatch to Monitor Health among Older Adults. Educational Gerontology, 50:4(282–295), 2024.
2. E. Smail, J. Alpert, M. Mardini, C. Kaufmann, C. Bai, T. Gill, R. Fillingim, E. Cenko, R. Zapata, Y. Karnati, M. Marsiske, S. Ranka, and T. Manini. Feasibility of A Smartwatch Platform to Assess Ecological Mobility: Real-time Online Assessment and Mobility Monitor (ROAMM). The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 78(5):821–830, May 2023.
3. C. Laborde, E. Cenko , M. Mardini, S. Ranka, S. Nerella, M. Kheirkhahan, S. Ranka R. Fillingim, D. Corbett, E. Weber, P. Rashidi, and T. Manini. Satisfaction, Usability, and Compliance with the Use of Smartwatches for Ecological Momentary Assessment of Knee Osteoarthritis Symptoms in Older Adults: Usability Study. JMIR Aging 4(3): article e24553, 2021.
4. C. Laborde, E. Cenko , M. Mardini, S. Ranka, P. Rashidi, and T. Manini. Older Adults’ Satisfaction and Compliance of Smartwatches Providing Ecological Momentary. Innov Aging, 4(Suppl 1): article 799, Dec 2020. doi:10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2898.
5. J. M. Alperti, N. S. P. Kotai, S. Ranka, T. V Mendoza, L. M. Solberg, P. Rashidi, and M. Manini. A Simulated Graphical Interface for Integrating Patient-Generated Health Data from Smartwatches with Electronic Health Records: Usability Study, JMIR Human Factors, 7(4): article e19769, Oct. 2020.
6. M. Kheirkhahan, S. Nair, A. Davoudi, P. Rashidi, A. A. Wanigatunga, D. B. Corbett, T. Mendoza, T. M. Manini, and S. Ranka. A Smartwatch-Based Framework for Real-Time and Online Assessment and Mobility Monitoring. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 89:29-40, 2019.
7. C. Yang, C. Delcher, E. Shenkman, and S. Ranka. Expenditure Variations Analysis Using Residuals for Identifying High Health Care Utilizers in a State Medicaid Program. BMC Medical Information & Decision Making, 19(1): article 131, 2019.