Background

He was the initial PhD recipient from Duke University in its new Computer Science Department in 1974. His PhD was in neural networks and the processing demands of maximally parallel systems. He simultaneously completed his MD studies, part of a combined MD/PhD program comprising ten percent of the medical class referred to as the Medical Scientist Training Program.  Dr. Lloyd was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1949 and was educated at The Johns Hopkins University (BA, 1970) and MD and PhD both from Duke University in 1974. After his internship at the Duke Hospital, he has enjoyed a career combining private practice with academic research.

Dr. Lloyd has published dozens of articles ranging from computerized medical record-keeping to colorectal cancer prevention. The highlight of his academic achievement is the publication in the April 2020 issue of the journal, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, summarizing the outstanding results of his 20 years of teaching and supervising more than 50 trainee primary care colonoscopists. His work in the minority community was supported by an NIH National Institute for Minority Health and Disparities Elimination R21 grant to expand the training and compliance in the African American community. Another $383,000 federal grant supported the expansion of his innovations into four rural hospitals in South Carolina. The results of his research were acknowledged by being selected chair of the section on Colorectal Cancer of the 2013 NIH Summit of the Science of Eliminating Racial Disparities.

After President Ronald Regan’s bout with colorectal cancer in 1982, Dr. Lloyd obtained training in sigmoidoscopy screenings. After several years and studies indicating sigmoidoscopy was not as protective as full colonoscopy, Dr. Lloyd expanded his knowledge base to encompass full colonoscopy. After he and his partners successfully provided colonoscopy screening to their patients for more than a decade, the “GI lab” in the office was expanded to a separate outpatient endoscopy center (ASC). Over the next twenty years, Dr. Lloyd and his 50 primary-care trainees performed more than 70,000 colonoscopies. A recent review performed by a Mayo Clinic faculty member and the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health revealed the innovations delivered triple the protection from subsequent colorectal cancer as the community model. The beauty of his innovations is the rapidity in which they can be taught to a sufficient population of existing physicians to meet the demand expeditiously. To achieve the promise of the National Polyp Study from 1993 we must double capacity, increase compliance 50 percent and double the polyp yield of traditional colonoscopy methods. The Tandem Team Colonoscopy technique (developed by Dr. Lloyd) satisfies each of these goals. If adopted nationally, the innovation will save $45 billion in direct healthcare costs and reduce the gross incidence by 75,000 cases and the mortality by 25,000 victims. This can be achieved without training a single additional gastroenterologist, so there are no lengthy obstacles.

In addition to his medical career, Dr. Lloyd was a multi-engine instrument rated pilot, an equestrian (Western pleasure), and avid runner (5K through marathon). He has his two daughters and six grandchildren who are the light of his life. He shares an interest in ancient civilizations and the mysteries of global cataclysms (comet impacts, vulcanism, earthquakes, and sea level changes). This teaching opportunity is an answer to a longstanding dream. He comes from a multigenerational academic family, yet this is his first non-clinical teaching role. I hope we all enjoy exploring the panorama of healthcare databases and data science. I feel passionately that the students in this realm will make major contributions to harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to eliminate the unacceptable variability in the quality of healthcare delivered in America. With AI, health inequities can be eliminated. Costs will plummet while health measures improve. Millions of jobs will be created to assist patients in achieving optimal health (nursing assistants, diet counseling, personal trainers, behavioral health therapists, navigators and technicians to assist procedural care).

After fifty years as a Primary care Physician, I am passionate about providing medical informatics tools at the point of care. Healthcare quality is far too variable and especially poor among the underserved. With AI, health inequities can be eliminated. Costs will plummet while health measures improve. Millions of jobs will be created to assist patients in achieving optimal health (nursing assistants, diet counselors, personal trainers, behavioral health therapists, navigators, and technicians to assist procedural care). I hope I can share the passion of my hopes for medical informatics and the evolution of American healthcare towards an improved system delivering value at far less cost. The dream of precision medicine is within our grasp with the power of AI.

Education

PhD., Duke University Graduate School, Department of Computer Science, Durham, North Carolina
MD., Duke University Medical School, Durham, North Carolina
B.A., Natural Science, The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 

Research Overview

Dr. Lloyd's ambition is to harness the power of AI in primary care. There is no existing learning database, so it will have to be created from scratch. Dr. Lloyd is researching chatbots to streamline data acquisition for the PCP to reduce burnout. Once the data is accumulated, autonomous care emerges. Similar to autonomous driving, the key is an accurate, unbiased learning file. Once invoked, the role of the PCP will be transformed to manage whole person health and wellbeing.