The Rutgers Center for Biomedical Informatics & Health Artificial Intelligence (BMIHAI) has announced the recipients of its first Pilot Grant Awards. Three interdisciplinary teams at Rutgers will receive one-year funding to support projects that use biomedical informatics and health artificial intelligence to advance computational medicine and public health.
The Pilot Grant Program was created to encourage new collaborations across Rutgers, making use of the university’s strengths in data science, biomedical informatics, and artificial intelligence. The selected projects are expected to lay the groundwork for future external grant applications and intellectual property development.
“We’re excited to support the advancement of informatics research through these pioneering projects,” said Leslie Lenert, director of BMIHAI and professor in the Department of Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
“These awards reflect our commitment to building a collaborative research ecosystem that positions Rutgers as a leader in informatics and health AI,” said Antonina Mitrofanova, deputy director of BMIHAI and associate professor with the Rutgers School of Health Professions.
The three funded projects include:
- “A Precision Medicine-Based Deep Phenotyping of Heart Failure Leveraging Artificial Intelligence Tools.” The team stated: “This project applies artificial intelligence to electronic health records to uncover hidden heart failure subtypes, enabling precision medicine, earlier interventions, and equitable, cost-effective patient care.” The lead principal investigator is Priyadarshini Kachroo from the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics at the Rutgers School of Health Professions. Co-principal investigators include Zeeshan Ahmed (RWJMS/IFH), Choyang Albert (Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital), Srinivas Denduluri (Office of Information Technology – Advanced Research), Thomas Nahass (RWJMS), and Naveena Yanamala (RWJMS).
- “Multidimensional, Intelligent, Next-generation Data Core (MIND-Core).” According to the team: “This project is a computational framework for building intelligent and interdisciplinary precision health approaches to study substance use disorders (SUDs).” Zeeshan Ahmed serves as lead principal investigator. Co-principal investigators are Tammy Chung (IFH/RWJMS) and Danielle Dick (Rutgers Addiction Research Center/RWJMS).
- “Genetic Signatures of Compensation in Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria.” The researchers explained: “This project elucidates genetic signatures of antimicrobial resistance that will enhance diagnostics and improve treatment strategies against antimicrobial resistant infections.” Jason Yang is lead principal investigator; Rohan Maddamsetti is co-principal investigator.
BMIHAI operates within the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research (IFH) at Rutgers. The center aims to drive transformative research by applying AI methods across educational, training, and research activities related to data science.
More information about BMIHAI can be found on their website: https://ifh.rutgers.edu/center-for-biomedical-informatics-and-health-artificial-intelligence/
