The Center for Health and Business stimulates and supports innovative, high-impact research that advances Bentley’s role in the evolving health ecosystem. Through exclusive research assistantships, collaborative initiatives and seed funding, we empower faculty, staff and students to engage directly with the health industry. From implementation science and AI-driven innovation to health communication and global equity, our research portfolio reflects a broad commitment to applied, interdisciplinary work. We champion these efforts across campus and with external partners, amplify their impact and help shape solutions that improve health systems and outcomes.
Current Students
Bentley Community
Health Initiative Seed Funding
The Center for Health and Business offers seed funding to support innovative health-related initiatives at Bentley. Our aim is to foster and expand health-focused collaborations, networks and opportunities for students and research endeavors. The Bentley community can apply for CHB seed funding to support health-related research (IRB approval required), conference participation or sponsorship, collaborative projects, or on-campus programming such as guest lectures or professional talks. Funding is intended to advance initiatives at the intersection of health and business.
Revolutionizing Healthcare Cost Accounting Through AI
This project's goal is to develop AI algorithms that can accurately predict patient care costs, enhance resource allocation efficiency and analyze the financial impacts of various healthcare protocols, using large datasets from healthcare providers to train and test AI models. By integrating AI with healthcare financial management, the project aims to uncover innovative methods for cost prediction, resource optimization and economic evaluation of treatment approaches. This project positions Bentley as a leader in producing relevant, impactful research in healthcare finance and AI.
Representation Learning from Electronic Health Records Data
The wealth of valuable real-world medical data found within Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems is particularly significant in disease phenotyping and patient clustering. Our research proposes to model the counts of EHR concepts and the binary phenotype for a target disease. This will allow patients with similar profiles to be grouped together, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical research, leading to more personalized healthcare recommendations and improved management of diseases.
Digital Platform Usage, Digital Literacy and Familial Health Potential
Digital technologies have supported psychological, emotional, and physical well-being, including access to mental health professionals, services to support food insecurity, financial support services, and education. The understanding needed to use a touchscreen, navigate two-step authentication, and manage AI may be the greatest hurdle in full health potential. However, there is limited research on vulnerable populations' digital access and literacy skills and the relationship to health-based outcomes.
Collaborators
Reach out to collaborate with the CHB!
Virtual Communications Research Lab
The Center for Health and Business supports a robust international collaboration between researchers at Bentley, McGill, and Brown Universities. The mission of the Virtual Communications Research (VCR) Lab is to leverage immersive technologies to study and improve the human experience of communication in healthcare. The group conducts research in serious illness communication and palliative care using advanced virtual reality platforms.
Visiting Health Scholars
Each year, the CHB hosts one or two visiting scholars at Bentley University.
During the visit, they present formally to the Bentley community through a campus-wide address, advise faculty engaged in health-related research and discuss individual research projects, spend time on Bentley’s campus learning about our health-related initiatives and engage around the strategic positioning and direction of the CHB.
