The week-long Institute, which is being held in conjunction with the 2011 mHealth Summit, provides participants with an overview of the engineering, behavioral sciences and clinical aspects of mobile and wireless research. In addition to the activities of the mHealth Summit, participants are involved in daily didactic sessions targeting major cross-cutting research issues and small, mentored, interdisciplinary teams to develop potential mHealth research projects. The week with conclude with a review of team concept projects by multi-disciplinary experts.

Using mobile technologies to more rapidly and accurately assess and modify behavior, biological states and contextual variables has great potential to transform medical research. Recent advances in mobile technologies and the ubiquitous nature of these technologies in daily life (e.g., smart phones, sensors) have created opportunities for research applications that were not previously possible (e.g., simultaneously assessing behavioral, physiological, and psychological states in the real world and in real-time). The use of mobile technology affords numerous methodological advantages over traditional methods, including reduced memory bias, the ability to capture time-intensive longitudinal data, date- and time-stamped data, and the potential for personalizing information in real-time. However, challenges in mobile health (or mHealth) research exist. Importantly, much of the work being done in mHealth arises from single disciplines without integration of the behavioral, social sciences and clinical research fields. Without integration, mobile technologies will not be maximally effective. The NIH mHealth Winter Institute addresses these scientific silos by bring together scientists from diverse fields to enhance the quality of mHealth research.

Institute Goals

OBSSR and many NIH Institutes, Centers and Federal partners will host a five-day training Institute December 5-9, 2011 at the Gaylord Convention Center at National Harbor. The institute will bring together leaders in mobile technology, behavioral sciences and clinical research to lead a cross-training event for early career investigators with interest in mHealth. The training curriculum will cover the current state of the science in mobile technology and engineering, behavior change theory and clinical applications, and highlight the intersection among these areas for research related to health. Daily didactic sessions will target the major cross-cutting research issues. Afternoons will be devoted to small, mentored, interdisciplinary teams developing potential mHealth research projects. Participants should expect to leave the Institute with experience creating mHealth projects in an interdisciplinary setting.

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