Faculty Profile

Tuan Amith

Title
Assistant Professor
Department
Information Science
College
College of Information

    

    

      


                          

            
Curriculum Vitae

            

              Click Here to View Faculty CV
            

          

        
                          

            
Education

            



  

  


  
PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2019. 
Major: Biomedical Informatics
Dissertation Title: Design and Architecture of an Ontology-driven Dialogue System for HPV Vaccine Counseling
MS, University of Houston-Clear Lake, 2010. 
Major: Software Engineering
BS, University of Houston-Victoria, 2003. 
Major: Computer Science
Degree Specialization: Science Concentration





          

        
                

          
Current Scheduled Teaching*


          
No current or future courses scheduled.


          
*
  Texas Education Code 51.974 (HB 2504) requires each institution of
  higher education to make available to the public, a syllabus for
  undergraduate lecture courses offered for credit by the institution.
  

        

      

    

  


    

    

      


        


          


            
Previous Scheduled Teaching*


            
                    

                    INFO 5960.021, Library and Information Sciences Institute or Seminar, Spring 2023  SPOT
                    

                    INFO 5365.021, Health Sciences Information Management, Fall 2022  SPOT

          


          
*
  Texas Education Code 51.974 (HB 2504) requires each institution of
  higher education to make available to the public, a syllabus for
  undergraduate lecture courses offered for credit by the institution.
  

        

      

    

  

  
  	

	

	  

		

		   
Published Publications



  

  
Published Intellectual Contributions


  
Conference Proceeding
Amith, M., Harris, M. R., Stansbury, C., Ford, K., Manion, F. J., Tao, C.  (2022). Expressing and Executing Informed Consent Permissions Using SWRL: The All of Us Use Case.. Other. 2021, 197-206. 
Lin, R., Amith, M., Zhang, X., Wang, C., Light, J., Strickley, J., Tao, C.  (2021). Developing Ontologies to Standardize Descriptions of Visual and Dermoscopic Elements. Other. 
Ngantcha, P., Amith, M., Roberts, K., Valenza, J. A., Walji, M., Tao, C.  (2021). Dental EHR-infused Persona Ontologies to Enrich Dental Dialogue Interaction of Agents.. Other. 2021, 1818-1825. 
Zhu, A., Amith, M., Tang, L., Cunningham, R., Xu, A., Boom, J. A., Tao, C.  (2021). Experimenting with a Prototype Interactive Narrative Game to Improve Knowledge and Beliefs for the HPV Vaccine.. Other. 13097, 186-201. 
Ngantcha, P., Amith, M., Tao, C., Roberts, K.  (2021). Patient-Provider Communication Training Models for Interactive Speech Devices.. Other. 12777, 250-268. 
Amith, M., Wang, J., Xiong, G., Roberts, K., Tao, C.  (2020). A health consumer ontology of fast food information.. Other. 2020, 1714-1719. 
Amith, M., Cui, L., Roberts, K., Tao, C.  (2020). Towards an ontology-based medication conversational agent for PrEP and PEP.. Other. 2020, 31-40. 
Amith, M., Lin, R., Cunningham, R., Wu, Q., Savas, L. S., Gong, Y., Boom, J. A., Tang, L., Tao, C.  (2020). Examining Potential Usability and Health Beliefs Among Young Adults Using a Conversational Agent for HPV Vaccine Counseling.. Other. 2020, 43-52. 
Xu, A., Amith, M., Li, J., Tang, L., Tao, C.  (2020). An Interactive Game for Changing Youth Behavior Regarding E-cigarettes. Communications in Computer and Information Science. 1224 CCIS, 512-518. https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85088742974
Amith, M., Lin, R., Cui, L., Wang, D., Zhu, A., Xiong, G., Xu, H., Roberts, K., Tao, C.  (2019). An Ontology-Powered Dialogue Engine For Patient Communication of Vaccines.. Other. 2427, 24-30. 
Amith, M., Fujimoto, K., Tao, C.  (2019). NET-EXPO: A Gephi Plugin Towards Social Network Analysis of Network Exposure for Unipartite and Bipartite Graphs.. Other. 1034, 3-12. 
Li, F., Wang, M., Pham, H. A., Xiang, Y., Amith, M., Tao, C., Du, J., Rao, G.  (2019). Systematic design of drug repurposing-oriented Alzheimer's disease ontology. 2019 IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics, ICHI 2019. https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85075952475
Amith, M., Zhu, A., Cunningham, R., Lin, R., Savas, L., Shay, L., Chen, Y., Gong, Y., Boom, J., Roberts, K., Tao, C.  (2019). Early Usability Assessment of a Conversational Agent for HPV Vaccination.. Other. 257, 17-23. 
Amith, M., Lin, R., Liang, C., Gong, Y., Tao, C.  (2018). VEO-Engine: Interfacing and Reasoning with an Emotion Ontology for Device Visual Expression.. Other. 851, 349-355. 
Lin, R., Amith, M., Liang, C., Tao, C.  (2017). Designing an ontology for emotion-driven visual representations. Proceedings - 2017 IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine, BIBM 2017. 2017-January, 1280-1283. https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85046023774
Amith, M., Manion, F. J., Harris, M. R., Zhang, Y., Xu, H., Tao, C.  (2017). Expressing Biomedical Ontologies in Natural Language for Expert Evaluation.. Other. 245, 838-842. 
Wang, D., Cunningham, R., Boom, J., Amith, M., Tao, C.  (2016). Towards a HPV Vaccine Knowledgebase for Patient Education Content.. Other. 225, 432-6. 
Amith, M.  (2015). A web application towards semiotic-based evaluation of biomedical ontologies. Other. 
Myneni, S., Amith, M., Geng, Y., Tao, C.  (2015). Towards an Ontology-driven Framework to Enable Development of Personalized mHealth Solutions for Cancer Survivors' Engagement in Healthy Living.. Other. 216, 113-7. 
Amith, M., Tao, C.  (2014). A Prototype Mobile Virtual Assistant for Semantic-Based Vaccine Information Retrieval. Other. Smart Health. 200-205. Springer International Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08416-9_21
Amith, M., Loubser, P. G., Chapman, J., Zoker, K. C., Rabelo Ferreira, F. E. (2012). Optimization of an EHR mobile application using the UFuRT conceptual framework.. Other. 2012, 209-17. 
Journal Article
Amith, M., Cui, L., Zhi, D., Roberts, K., Jiang, X., Li, F., Yu, E., Tao, C.  (2022). Toward a standard formal semantic representation of the model card report.. BMC Bioinformatics. 23(Suppl 6), 281. 
Mauldin, R. L., Rawwad, T. A., Amith, M., Kuhns, L. M., Schneider, J. A., Fujimoto, K.  (2022). Community-clinic linkages for promoting HIV prevention: organizational networks for PrEP client referrals and collaborations.. AIDS Care. 34(3), 340-348. 
Lu, Y., Barrett, L. A., Lin, R. Z., Amith, M., Tao, C., He, Z.  (2022). Understanding Information Needs and Barriers to Accessing Health Information Across All Stages of Pregnancy: Systematic Review.. Other. 5(1), e32235. 
Amith, M., Onye, C., Ledoux, T., Xiong, G., Tao, C.  (2021). The ontology of fast food facts: conceptualization of nutritional fast food data for consumers and semantic web applications.. Other. 21(Suppl 7), 275. 
Du, J., Preston, S., Sun, H., Shegog, R., Cunningham, R., Boom, J., Savas, L., Amith, M., Tao, C.  (2021). Using Machine Learning-Based Approaches for the Detection and Classification of Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Misinformation: Infodemiology Study of Reddit Discussions.. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 23(8), e26478. 
Tang, L., Fujimoto, K., Amith, M., Cunningham, R., Costantini, R. A., York, F., Xiong, G., Boom, J. A., Tao, C.  (2021). "Down the Rabbit Hole" of Vaccine Misinformation on YouTube: Network Exposure Study.. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 23(1), e23262. 
Amith, M., Fujimoto, K., Mauldin, R., Tao, C.  (2020). Friend of a Friend with Benefits ontology (FOAF+): extending a social network ontology for public health.. Other. 20(Suppl 10), 269. 
Amith, M., Lin, R. Z., Cui, L., Wang, D., Zhu, A., Xiong, G., Xu, H., Roberts, K., Tao, C.  (2020). Conversational ontology operator: patient-centric vaccine dialogue management engine for spoken conversational agents.. Other. 20(Suppl 4), 259. 
Fujimoto, K., Wang, P., Li, D. H., Kuhns, L. M., Amith, M., Schneider, J. A. (2020). Collective Avoidance of Social and Health Venues and HIV Racial Inequities: Network Modeling of Venue Avoidance on Venue Affiliation, Social Networks, and HIV Risk.. Other. 47(2), 202-212. 
Wei, Q., Zhang, Y., Amith, M., Lin, R., Lapeyrolerie, J., Tao, C., Xu, H.  (2020). Recognizing software names in biomedical literature using machine learning.. Other. 26(1), 21-33. 
Amith, M., Cohen, T., Cunningham, R., Savas, L. S., Cuccaro, P., Gabay, E., Boom, J., Schvaneveldt, R., Tao, C.  (2020). Mining HPV Vaccine Knowledge Structures of Young Adults From Reddit Using Distributional Semantics and Pathfinder Networks.. Other. 27(1), 1073274819891442. 
Amith, M., Roberts, K., Tao, C.  (2019). Conceiving an application ontology to model patient human papillomavirus vaccine counseling for dialogue management.. BMC Bioinformatics. 20(Suppl 21), 706. 
Imahashi, M., Fujimoto, K., Kuhns, L. M., Amith, M., Schneider, J. A. (2019). Network overlap and knowledge of a partner's HIV status among young men who have sex with men.. AIDS Care. 31(12), 1533-1539. 
Amith, M., Manion, F., Liang, C., Harris, M., Wang, D., He, Y., Tao, C.  (2019). Architecture and usability of OntoKeeper, an ontology evaluation tool.. Other. 19(Suppl 4), 152. 
Fujimoto, K., Wang, P., Flash, C. A., Kuhns, L. M., Zhao, Y., Amith, M., Schneider, J. A. (2019). Network Modeling of PrEP Uptake on Referral Networks and Health Venue Utilization Among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men.. AIDS and Behavior. 23(7), 1698-1707. 
Amith, M., Tao, C.  (2018). Representing vaccine misinformation using ontologies.. Other. 9(1), 22. 
Lin, R., Amith, M., Liang, C., Duan, R., Chen, Y., Tao, C.  (2018). Visualized Emotion Ontology: a model for representing visual cues of emotions.. Other. 18(Suppl 2), 64. 
Amith, M., He, Z., Bian, J., Lossio-Ventura, J. A., Tao, C.  (2018). Assessing the practice of biomedical ontology evaluation: Gaps and opportunities.. Other. 80, 1-13. 
Amith, M., Cunningham, R., Savas, L. S., Boom, J., Schvaneveldt, R., Tao, C., Cohen, T.  (2017). Using Pathfinder networks to discover alignment between expert and consumer conceptual knowledge from online vaccine content.. Other. 74, 33-45. 
Amith, M., Song, H. Y., Zhang, Y., Xu, H., Tao, C.  (2017). Lightweight predicate extraction for patient-level cancer information and ontology development.. Other. 17(Suppl 2), 73. 
Amith, M., Tao, C.  (2017). Modulated evaluation metrics for drug-based ontologies.. Other. 8(1), 17. 
Amith, M., Gong, Y., Cunningham, R., Boom, J., Tao, C.  (2015). Developing VISO: Vaccine Information Statement Ontology for patient education.. Other. 6, 23. 
Amith, M.  (2012). Software Design, a 2011 Primer. Other. 



	
		
		
	  

	

	

  
    
	

	

	  

		

		   
Awarded Grants



  
  
  	  
          
Contracts, Grants and Sponsored Research  

 	 
	 	 
  
Fellowship   
Amith, M. (Other), "UTHealth Innovation in Cancer Prevention Research," Sponsored by Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, State, $4172601 Funded. (May 2015 – August 2019).
Grant - Research   
Amith, M. (Co-Principal), "AI-Based Conversational Agent for Facilitating Education and Communication About HPV Vaccination in Children and Adolescents," Sponsored by Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, Federal, $1397258 Funded. (March 2022 – February 2026).
Amith, M. (Other), "(Supplement) Dynamic learning for post-vaccine event prediction using temporal information in VAERS," Sponsored by National Institute of Health, Federal, $293520 Funded. (August 2019 – August 2021).
Amith, M. (Co-Principal), "Informatics tools to improve the interpretability and interoperability of informed consent instrument," Sponsored by National Institute of Health, Federal, $95330 Funded. (September 2020 – June 2021).
Amith, M. (Co-Principal), "An AI-powered chatbot for supporting the medication information needs of older adults," Sponsored by Cizik School of Nursing, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Other, $30000 Funded. (September 2019 – May 2021).



	
		
		
	  

	

	

	
	

  
  
  

  	

		

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					Overall
Summative Rating		
					Challenge and
Engagement Index		
					Response Rate
					
				

			
			
				

					
					
out of 5		
					
out of 7		
					%
 of 
students responded		
					
					
				

			
		


		
    
			
  • Overall Summative Rating (median):
    
			This rating represents the combined responses of students to the four global summative items and is presented to provide an overall index of the class’s quality. Overall summative statements include the following (response options include a Likert scale ranging from 5 = Excellent, 3 = Good, and 1= Very poor):
				
      
					
    • The course as a whole was
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    • The course content was
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    • The instructor’s contribution to the course was
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    • The instructor’s effectiveness in teaching the subject matter was
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  • Challenge and Engagement Index:
    
			This rating combines student responses to several SPOT items relating to how academically challenging students found the course to be and how engaged they were. Challenge and Engagement Index items include the following (response options include a Likert scale ranging from 7 = Much higher, 4 = Average, and 1 = Much lower):
				
      
					
    • Do you expect your grade in this course to be
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    • The intellectual challenge presented was
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    • The amount of effort you put into this course was
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    • The amount of effort to succeed in this course was
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    • Your involvement in course (doing assignments, attending classes, etc.) was
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