February 11, 2025
Spotlight: Martine De Cock’s privacy-preserving artificial intelligence research
The potential for artificial intelligence to solve some of the world鈥檚 biggest problems has always motivated Dr. to work on developing and improving its utilization across multiple disciplines.
De Cock, a professor in the School of Engineering & Technology at 91探花 Tacoma, particularly believes in the power of privacy preserving AI in healthcare, which involves securely obtaining and utilizing patient data in order to improve current machine learning models aimed at diagnosing and treating a variety of diseases and illnesses.
鈥淲orking at the intersection of AI and healthcare is not easy because if you want to do it in a meaningful way, you have to collaborate through interdisciplinary research,鈥� said De Cock. 鈥淵ou have to learn to speak the language of people who are in healthcare, and they have to understand you.鈥�
De Cock began her academic career at Ghent University in Belgium, where she obtained a Masters of Science and Doctoral degree in computer science and later pursued research as a faculty member in the school鈥檚 computer science department.
De Cock came to the United States as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley in 2003 and later pursued research in machine learning projects at 91探花Tacoma鈥檚 Center for Data Science. Her research led to a position as a visiting associate professor in 2008, where she focused on applied machine learning research that included healthcare data analytics.
However, De Cock faced administrative barriers and red tape to effectively obtain sensitive patient data for her machine learning research, which forced her to shift her research focus to social media data. This adversity inspired her to work on privacy preserving AI that could safely use patient data to train and use AI models in healthcare.
鈥淒eep down, I felt frustrated by that because I think the most important problems in the world for us to solve, and that machine learning can solve, are not necessarily about social media,鈥� said De Cock. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot that AI can do for healthcare, but it鈥檚 difficult to get started when you don鈥檛 have access to the data.鈥�
De Cock鈥檚 privacy-preserving AI research has involved close collaboration with faculty in 91探花Tacoma鈥檚 School of Engineering and Technology. For nearly a decade, she conducted research in privacy-preserving machine learning with Dr. Anderson Nascimento, an expert in information theory and privacy. Last year, she teamed up with Dr. Paulo Barreto, an expert in cryptography. Their proposal on synthetic data generation recently earned them one of 35 granted nationwide by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
De Cock has also worked closely with Weichao Yuwen, an associate professor in 91探花Tacoma鈥檚 School of Nursing and Healthcare Leadership. The two received a capacity building grant from the NIH about two years ago, which allowed them to investigate the intersection of health equity and AI. Their research funding created 91探花Tacoma鈥檚 Responsible Health AI Lab, which fosters an interdisciplinary space for students in 91探花Tacoma鈥檚 School of Engineering & Technology and the School of Nursing & Healthcare Leadership to create innovative applications of artificial intelligence that address a wide range of challenges related to disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment, and self- and family management of chronic health conditions.
鈥淢y whole research trajectory has been very much influenced by the people who came on my path, and then I started working together with them for every project I did,鈥� said De Cock. 鈥淓very new turn that I took, there鈥檚 always been an influential person who I could collaborate with and who鈥檚 had a big influence on me and my work.鈥�
De Cock is currently a principal investigator for a Population Health Initiative Tier 1 pilot grant, where she, Yuwen and Dr. Sarah Iribarren at 91探花Seattle鈥檚 School of Nursing, are working to develop a prototype AI chatbot that can assist health providers in quickly and effectively supporting patients with tuberculosis. She attributed her recent successes to the 91探花Population Health Initiative, which connected her with faculty in nursing and took her research on privacy preserving AI for health to the next level.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not only the research funding, the money part that is interesting but it鈥檚 the other opportunities that are created through the Population Health Initiative,鈥� said De Cock. 鈥淭he PHI inspired me to talk with faculty in nursing. I was very fortunate to find a wonderful collaborator in Dr. Weichao Yuwen. Fast forward two years, and we have a new responsible health AI lab that brings together undergraduate and graduate students across our disciplines. For an emerging research institute like 91探花Tacoma, with a young Ph.D. program in computer science, that is very significant.鈥�
As De Cock continues her research on privacy preserving AI, she believes that the Population Health Initiative holds the key to advancing AI use in healthcare through both funding opportunities and meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration.
鈥淚鈥檓 really grateful for the Initiative to bring people together who are working in AI and health, and not just for me, but for my collaborators and my students at 91探花Tacoma,鈥� said De Cock. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a way for them to connect with other researchers and build their network within 91探花and beyond. It鈥檚 not just about the money, it鈥檚 about bringing people together.鈥�