Representing Human Anatomy for Computation and Communication: Synergistic Development of an Anatomical Ontology and Semantically-Augmented Anatomical Graphics

Clarkson R01 for June 2022 Abstract for routing Title: Representing human anatomy for computation and communication: Synergistic development of an anatomical ontology and semantically-augmented anatomical graphics” Communicating about anatomical concepts and patient-specific anatomy is fundamental to medicine. Ontologies of anatomy, such as the Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA), represent a domain of knowledge in a form that can be used by both computers and people. However, there are shortcomings in the ability of the FMA to continue to serve as a source for standardized, computable knowledge of human anatomy. These shortcomings arise from inconsistencies in modeling schemes and the lack of visual representations to clarify text-based representations of anatomy. This project will provide a solution by creating a new ontology (called the Foundational Model of Human Anatomy (FMHA)) as a derivative of the FMA, creating libraries of composable anatomical graphics to serve as standardized visual representations, and demonstrating how the biomedical community can use the FMHA and graphics by developing proof-of-concept web applications and employing the graphics in several contexts.