August 2025

CARDIOVASCULAR

AI-POWERED CHATBOT ‘LIPID LLAMA’ HELPS PATIENTS UNDERSTAND LIPID PANEL RESULTS

Featuring: Sadiya S. Khan, MD, Msc, and Adrienne Kline, MD, PhD

Episode Summary

Tyler Smith, a Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine student, has created a multilingual AI chatbot app designed to help patients better understand their lipid panel results. The app, Lipid Llama, is one of eight finalists that will compete in the finals of InnoFest, a national competition hosted by the American Medical Student Association that showcases innovations from medical students.
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What Lipid Llama Does
Nearly 9 out of 10 adults in the U.S. struggle to understand and use health information when it’s filled with unfamiliar or complex terms. Powered by AI, Lipid Llama simplifies lipid panel results into personalized insights for patients. By presenting this critical information in a more patient-friendly format, the app aims to improve outcomes.
With Lipid Llama, patients can:
  • Ask the AI chatbot questions based on their test results.
  • Get answers directly from the PREVENT calculator developed by the American Heart Association (AHA).

Northwestern Medicine Faculty Influences on the App
Lipid Llama pulls information from the AHA’s PREVENT calculator, which was developed in conjunction with Sadiya S. Khan, MD, Msc, the Magerstadt Professor of Cardiovascular Epidemiology at Northwestern Medicine. Dr. Khan evaluated the equations used for the calculator, and her evaluation may help primary care clinicians use these equations to more accurately predict patients’ cardiovascular risk.
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As a medical student, Smith has worked in the Kline Engineering Lab, which focuses on advancing cardiovascular medicine with AI. The lab is run by Adrienne Kline, MD, PhD, head of Artificial Intelligence and Engineering at the Northwestern Medicine Center for AI at Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.
Sadiya S. Khan, MD, Msc, Magerstadt Professor of Cardiovascular Epidemiology, Associate Professor of Cardiology
​Adrienne Kline, MD, PhD, Research Assistant Professor of Cardiac Surgery

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