FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Christina Serrano is committed to finding research projects that focus on the application of information systems to improve health in underserved populations.

“My first undergraduate degree is in public health, so it has been a passion of mine for a really long time,” said Serrano, an assistant professor of information systems in the Sam M. Walton College of Business. “I like to think of information systems research opportunities that really move me, that are meaningful and fulfilling. People generally can’t live without information technology, and it is a powerful tool in the health community in terms of promoting health and wellness.”

Serrano is a co-principal investigator on a telehealth pilot research project being funded jointly by the Translational Research Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

The project is highlighted in the February 2015 issue of The Arkansas Catalyst, an online monthly newsletter from the office of research and economic development. See the newsletter online or subscribe by visiting The Arkansas Catalyst ListServ page.

Sarah Rhoads Kinder, an assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology is leading the study, titled “Postpartum Management of the Pregnancy Complicated by Preeclampsia: A Pilot Study Using mHealth Monitoring at Home.”

The institutions initiated the one-year Translational Research Institute Pilot Research Awards program last year to foster research between physicians engaged in telehealth programs and researchers. The awards are intended to help investigators obtain data necessary to quickly advance to extramural funding and solidify collaborations poised to advance translational research.

In June 2014, Serrano presented a poster at a research showcase at UAMS at which the grant program was announced. She and Kinder had previously discussed collaboration; their proposal was the only one selected for funding this year.

“Dr. Kinder had been working on a mobile health project that used this equipment but without a funding source for a research assistant and participant incentives, she had not been able to gather much data,” Serrano said. “We saw this as an opportunity for seed funding to get enough subjects enrolled for solid pilot data. A lot of the women who will be served by this project are in underserved, rural areas of Arkansas.”

The research team plans to use the pilot study’s analysis and results to apply this year for a National Institutes of Health grant, titled, “mHealth Tools to Promote Effective Patient-Provider Communication, Adherence to Treatment and Self-Management of Chronic Diseases in Underserved Populations.”

Serrano helped design the study’s parameters, specifically the research questions and hypotheses and the data that would be collected, and she will assist with the data analysis and write-up for future manuscripts and proposals.

Serrano joined the Walton College faculty in 2011. She holds a doctorate in management information systems from the University of Georgia. Her research has appeared in in the International Journal of Healthcare Information Systems and Informatics and Journal of Nursing Management.