AIM-AHEAD is proud to announce the awardees for our Year 3 programs. For the 2024-25 funding cycle, 114 research projects and fellows from across the United States and its territories received grants from AIM-AHEAD to support their work in artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) and health equity. Program kick-offs are taking place throughout October, further introducing awardees to AIM-AHEAD, its resources, and their fellow awardees.

Below is the list for some of the AIM-AHEAD Year 3 programs and award recipients, including name, institution, location, and AIM-AHEAD Hub affiliation. We will be sharing more program awardees in the near future. We are excited to support these researchers and collaborate on their impactful projects.

Federated Network

The AIM-AHEAD Federated Network allows sites to participate in collaborative research and share data across sites without needing patient-level data to leave the local site. The program is open to institutions conducting research at the intersection of healthcare practice and delivery, AI/ML methods, and the advancement of health equity.

Program Directors: Paul Avillach, MD, PhD; Griffin Weber, MD, PhD; Usha Sambamoorthi, PhD; Gabriel Brat, MD, MPH; and Tianxi Cai, PhD

Four Awardees:

Patricia Mabry, HealthPartners Institute, Minnesota (North/Midwest Hub)
Aaron Rapp, University of the Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Sophia Shalhout, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts (Northeast Hub)
Leyla Warsame, Fairview Health Services, Minnesota (North/Midwest Hub)

Research Fellowship - Cohort 3

The AIM-AHEAD Research Fellowship Program engages early-career researchers in biomedical research utilizing AI/ML methodologies to address health disparities and biases in algorithms. It provides funding and resources for innovative, data-focused projects that enhance health equity in areas such as behavioral health, cardiometabolic health, and cancer.

Program Directors: Paul Avillach, MD, PhD; Wyatt Bensken, PhD; Nawar Shara, PhD; and Chunmei Liu, PhD

Twenty-five Awardees:

Pegah Ahadian, Kent State University, Ohio (Northeast Hub)
Sadia Akter, Marshall University, West Virginia (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Alaina Beauchamp, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Texas (South Central Hub)
Yu-Lun Chen, Kessler Foundation, New Jersey (Northeast Hub)
Daniil Filienko, University of Washington Tacoma, Washington (North/Midwest Hub)
Nathaniel Hendrix, American Board of Family Medicine, Washington, D.C. (Northeast Hub)
Alexandra Kakadiaris, Rice University, Texas (South Central Hub)
Kiyoung Kim, Texas A&M University, Texas (South Central Hub)
Vijay Kunwar, Albany State University, Georgia (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Natalia Maldonado, University of Puerto Rico - Centro Comprensivo de Cancer, Puerto Rico (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Monique McCallister, Tennessee State University, Tennessee (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Adetoun Musa, Texas Kidney Foundation, Texas (South Central Hub)
Andrew Nguyen, University of Maryland, Maryland (Northeast Hub)
Yue Ning, Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey (Northeast Hub)
Howard Prioleau, Howard University, Washington, D.C. (Northeast Hub)
Zahra Rahemi, Clemson University, South Carolina (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Korin Reid, Ellison Laboratories, Georgia (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Jaime Sesgundo, University of Nevada Reno, Nevada (West Hub)
Kehlin Swain, Greens Health, Texas (South Central Hub)
Xuan Wang, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Texas (South Central)
Lucretia Williams, Howard University, Washington, D.C. (Northeast Hub)
Elaine Yu, Vitalant Research Institute, California (West Hub)
Anna Zamora-Kapoor, Washington State University, Washington (North/Midwest Hub)
Ling Zhang, Northern Arizona University, Arizona (West Hub)
Liang Zhao, Kennesaw State University, Georgia (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)

Hub-Specific Projects - Cohort 3

The AIM-AHEAD Hub-Specific Projects aim to promote community-based participatory research using AI/ML to tackle health disparities by funding collaborative, small-scale research initiatives led by community organizations and academic researchers. These projects are designed to enhance community engagement in AI/ML research, build capacity among vulnerable populations, and generate preliminary data to support future larger NIH grant applications.

Program Directors: Bettina Beech, DrPH, MPH; Evelinn Borrayo, PhD; Alejandra Casillas, MD, MSHS; Harlan Jones, PhD; Spero Manson, PhD; Keith Norris, PhD; Anil Shanker, PhD; Herman Taylor, MD, MPH

Nine Awardees:

Solmaz Amiri, Washington State University, Washington (North/Midwest Hub)
Jeff Boles, Creighton Community Foundation, Inc., Arizona (West Hub)
Subhajit Chakrabarty, Louisiana State University Shreveport, Louisiana (South Central Hub)
Karlene Cunningham, East Carolina University, North Carolina (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Ramin Homayouni, Oakland University, Michigan (South Central Hub)
Marissa Johnson Rogers, University of the Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Yu Liang, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Tennessee (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Evelina Sterling, Kennesaw State University, Georgia (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Greg Tardieu, Alexandria City Public Schools, Virginia (Southeast - Meharry Hub)

Consortium Development Program - Innovation for Equity in Low-Resource Settings

This program aims to support multidisciplinary research pilot projects using AI/ML to develop novel approaches that improve healthcare access, quality, and outcomes for populations facing health disparities in cancer, cardiometabolic, and behavioral/mental health. The awardee projects will engage Federally Qualified Health Centers or Community Health Centers from Medically Underserved Areas, forming collaborative and equal partnerships.

Program Directors: Taona P. Haderlein, PhD; Josh Lemieux; and Usha Sambamoorthi, PhD

Six Awardees:

Debi Alexander, SPARC Solutions, Virginia (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
John LeBien, Abartys Health, Puerto Rico (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Winston Liaw, University of Houston, Texas (South Central Hub)
Yui Nishiike, Community Health Center Network, California (West Hub)
Timothy Thomas, Alaska Native Tribal Health, Alaska (North/Midwest Hub)
Yi Zhu, Hawaii Pacific University, Hawaii (Central Hub)

AI/ML in Biomedical Research and Clinical Practice that Embodies Ethics and Equity (ABC-EE)

The AIM-AHEAD ABC-EE program will engage multidisciplinary teams in advancing AI/ML in biomedical research and clinical practice, focusing on ethical development and equitable application to reduce health disparities. Research projects in this program will assess and enhance the role of ethics and equity in AI/ML for health and develop and implement strategies to overcome ethics and equity challenges.

Program Director: Brad Malin, PhD

Ten Awardees:

Qiongyu Hao, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, California (West Hub)
Christopher Kulesza, Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, Texas (South Central Hub)
Habeeb Olufowobi, University of Texas at Arlington, Texas (South Central Hub)
Teri Platt, Clark Atlanta University, Georgia (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Kuldeep Rawat, Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Shumit Saha, Meharry Medical College, Tennessee (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Ashutosh Singhal, Meharry Medical College, Tennessee (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Tammi Taylor, Jackson State University, Mississippi (South Central Hub)
Sherry Yun Wang, Chapman University, California (West Hub)
Janusz Wojtusiak, George Mason University, Virginia (Southeast - Meharry Hub)

Public-Private Partnerships to Improve Population Health Using AI/ML

The AIM-AHEAD Public-Private Partnerships to Improve Population Health Using AI/ML program supports collaborations between local, state, and tribal public health departments, resource-limited academic institutions, and data-science organizations to conduct AI/ML studies on health equity.

Program Directors: Bettina Beech, DrPH, MPH and Spero Manson, PhD

Four Awardees:

Grazyna Badowski, University of Guam, Guam (Central Hub)
Jeronimo Cortina, University of Houston, Texas (South Central Hub)
Muhammed Idris, Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Mario Martinez, Fort Lewis College, Colorado (North/Midwest Hub)

Consortium Development Projects to Advance Health Equity - Year 2

The Consortium Development Projects to Advance Health Equity are multidisciplinary research projects that use AI/ML to develop novel algorithms and approaches to address health disparities and inequities. Awardees are using new or existing datasets — such as electronic health records, image data, and Social Determinants Of Health — to develop and enhance AI/ML algorithms that have the potential to detect and mitigate bias or illuminate ethical or other emerging issues to reduce health disparities while improving healthcare and outcomes for populations experiencing health disparities in the United States.

Program Director: Harlan Jones, PhD

Twenty-one Awardees:

Suresh Bhavnani, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas (South Central Hub)
Laura Brandt, The City University of New York, New York (Northeast Hub)
Cheryl Brown, University of North Carolina Charlotte, North Carolina (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Natalie Cartwright, Norwich University, Vermont (Northeast Hub)
Ying Ding, University of Texas at Austin, Texas (South Central Hub)
Macarius Donneyong, Ohio State University, Ohio (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Camille Edwards, Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts (Northeast Hub)
Gian-Gabriel Garcia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Yanmin Gong, University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas (South Central Hub)
Marie Guerraty, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (Northeast Hub)
Vibhuti Gupta, Meharry Medical College, Tennessee (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Feifan Liu, University of Massachusetts Medical, Massachusetts (Northeast Hub)
Semhar Michael, South Dakota State University, South Dakota (North/Midwest Hub)
Junier Oliva, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Abiodun Oluyomi, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas (South Central Hub)
Abiel Roche-Lima, University of Puerto Rico, Medical Science Campus, Puerto Rico (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Hari Trivedi, Emory University, Georgia (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
Katherine Tuttle, Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital, Washington (West Hub)
T. Sean Vasaitis, The University of Maryland Eastern, Maryland (Northeast Hub)
Amy Waterman, Houston Medical Research Institute, Texas (South Central Hub)
Bo Zhou, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Texas (South Central Hub)

Program for AI Readiness (PAIR) - Phase 2 (Cohort 1)

The Program for AI Readiness (PAIR) leverages AIM-AHEAD's capabilities to jump-start AI research for health equity in low-resource institutions through capacity building. PAIR connects awarded institutions with AIM-AHEAD resources through a two-phase funding model to establish AI/ML health equity research labs with cross-disciplinary teams. In Phase II, teams will continue activities such as advanced research skills training, exploratory projects, grant writing, team building, and engagement with experts and coaches.

Program Directors: Gordon Gao, PhD, MBA; Toufeeq Syed, PhD, MS; and Harlan Jones, PhD

Eleven Awardees:

Arghya Das, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska (North/Midwest Hub)
Martine De Cock, University of Washington Tacoma, Washington (North/Midwest Hub)
Uduak George, San Diego State University, California (West Hub)
Marjorie C. Gondre-Lewis, Howard University, Washington, D.C. (Northeast Hub)
Muhammed Idris, Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia (Southeast - Morehouse Hub)
ABM Rezbaul Islam, Sam Houston State University, Texas (South Central Hub)
Fahmi Khalifa, Morgan State University, Maryland (Northeast Hub)
Nathan Green, Marymount University, Virginia (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
Debra Terrell, Johnson C. Smith University, North Carolina (Southeast - Meharry Hub)
John Valdovinos, California State University Northridge, California (West Hub)
Yi Zhu, Hawaii Pacific University, Hawaii (Central Hub)

AIM-AHEAD Program Links:

• Federated Network
• Research Fellowship
• Hub-Specific Projects
• Consortium Development Program - Innovation for Equity in Low-Resource Settings
• AI/ML in Biomedical Research and Clinical Practice that Embodies Ethics and Equity (ABC-EE)
• Public-Private Partnerships to Improve Population Health Using AI/ML
• Consortium Development Projects to Advance Health Equity - Year 2
• Program for AI Readiness (PAIR) - Phase 2 (Cohort 1)