AIM-AHEAD Announces Year 4 Program Awardees and Fellows
AIM-AHEAD is pleased to announce the Awardees and Fellows for our Year 4 programs. In this funding cycle, 89 awards were granted to researchers from across the United States and U.S. territories to support research in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and to improve health outcomes.
Below is a list of AIM-AHEAD Year 4 Programs and their Awardees and Fellows, along with each individual’s institutional and AIM-AHEAD Hub affiliations.
AIM-AHEAD Federated Network Program (Cohort 2)
The AIM-AHEAD Federated Network Program enables institutions to collaborate on AI/ML-driven health research without sharing patient-level data. Instead, sites analyze their own electronic health record (EHR) data locally and share only aggregate results through a secure, private GitHub repository. This privacy-preserving model broadens research participation by accommodating local data governance policies and enabling greater institutional engagement.
Program Directors:
- Paul Avillach, MD, PhD
- Griffin Weber, MD, PhD
- Usha Sambamoorthi, PhD
- Gabriel Brat, MD, MPH
- Tianxi Cai, PhD
Four Awardees were selected from the following institutions:
| AIM-AHEAD Hub | Awardee Institution |
|---|---|
| North/Midwest | University of Nebraska Medical Center |
| Northeast | University of Massachusetts Medical School |
| South Central | Baylor College of Medicine |
| Southeast-Meharry | University of Kentucky Research Foundation |
AIM-AHEAD Research Fellowship Program (Cohort 4)
The AIM-AHEAD Research Fellowship Program engages early-career researchers conducting innovative work at the intersection of healthcare and AI/ML. Fellows will apply AI/ML methodologies to biomedical, clinical, or genomic data to advance health outcomes, with a focus on AIM-AHEAD’s North Star (III): improving behavioral health, cardiometabolic health, and cancer outcomes for all.
Program Director:
- Paul Avillach, MD, PhD
Program Co-Directors:
- Wyatt Bensken, PhD;
- Jennifer Bagdasarian, PhD;
Twenty-five Fellows will represent the following institutions:
| AIM-AHEAD Hub | Awardee Institution |
|---|---|
| North/Midwest | Marquette University University of Nebraska Medical Center University of Utah |
| Northeast | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Kean University Pennsylvania State University The Raymond Banks 'A Way With Words' Foundation Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc. Stevenson University University of Maryland University of Massachusetts Lowell University of Pennsylvania |
| South Central | Houston Methodist Research Institute University of Texas at El Paso University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston |
| Southeast-Meharry | ERIM Consulting LLC Meharry Medical College |
| Southeast-Morehouse | Florida State University University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras |
| West | Stanford University University of California Los Angeles |
AIM-AHEAD Hub-Specific Projects (Year 4)
The AIM-AHEAD Hub-Specific Projects aim to advance community-based participatory research (CBPR) by supporting small-scale projects co-led by community-based organizations and academic or private-sector researchers. This funding opportunity focuses on the use of AI/ML to address health challenges shaped by lifestyle and social factors, with an emphasis on trust, relevance, and impact.
Hub Leaders:
- Bettina Beech, DrPH, MPH (Central Hub);
- Roland Thorpe, PhD (Northeast Hub);
- Anil Sankar, PhD (Southeast-Meharry Hub);
- Herman Taylor, MD (Southeast-Morehouse Hub);
- Alejandra Casillas, MD (West Hub);
- Keith Norris, MD, PhD (West Hub);
- Evelinn Borrayo, PhD (North/Midwest Hub);
- Spero Manson, PhD (North/Midwest Hub);
- Jamboor Vishwanatha, PhD (South Central Hub);
- Usha Sambamoorthi, PhD (South Central Hub);
- Harlan Jones, PhD (South Central Hub);
- Toufeeq Syed, PhD (Communications and Dissemination Hub).
Eighteen selected Awardees represent the following institutions:
| AIM-AHEAD Hub | Awardee Institution |
|---|---|
| Central | Chaminade University of Honolulu University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa |
| North/Midwest | Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center Washington State University |
| Northeast | Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health University of Maryland Eastern Shore |
| South Central | Baylor College of Medicine University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston |
| Southeast-Meharry | Marymount University The Nashville Food Project Pangea LLC University of Tennessee at Chattanooga |
| Southeast-Morehouse | Georgia State University Kennesaw State University |
| West | Arizona State University Creighton Community Foundation, Inc. University of Southern California |
AIM-AHEAD Consortium Development (CDP) FAIR-MED Program
The AIM-AHEAD Consortium Development Program (CDP) Fostering Trustworthy AI Research to Advance Health and Medicine for All Americans (FAIR-MED) Program funds multi-disciplinary research that develops and implements AI/ML to address differences in health outcomes related to cancer, cardiometabolic, and behavioral health.
Successful FAIR-MED projects will need to engage healthcare providers, including those serving patients in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Community Health Centers (CHCs), or Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs). FAIR-MED projects are expected to design and field-test AI/ML tools, models, or AI-aided interventions while integrating trustworthy AI considerations throughout design, development, and implementation.
Program Directors:
- Taona P. Haderlein, PhD;
- Harlan Jones, PhD;
- Bradley Malin, PhD;
- Usha Sambamoorthi, PhD.
Ten Awardees were selected from the following institutions:
| AIM-AHEAD Hub | Awardee Institution |
|---|---|
| North/Midwest | Iowa Primary Care Association |
| Northeast | NYU Long Island School of Medicine University of Massachusetts Medical School |
| South Central | Tulane University University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston |
| Southeast-Morehouse | Emory University Center For Black Women's Wellness University of Puerto Rico University of Puerto Rico, Medical Science Campus |
| West | Arizona State University |
AIM-AHEAD Public-Private Partnerships to Improve Population Health Using AI/ML (Year 4)
The AIM-AHEAD Public-Private Partnerships to Improve Population Health Using AI/ML (P4) Program supports collaborations between local, state, or tribal health departments and either higher education institutions or data-science-oriented organizations with accessible data libraries. These partnerships are effective for conducting AI/ML studies that address health and align with AIM-AHEAD’s overall goals.
Program MPIs:
- Bettina Beech, DrPH, MPH;
- Spero Manson, PhD.
Twelve Awardees were selected from the following institutions:
| AIM-AHEAD Hub | Awardee Institution |
|---|---|
| Central | University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa |
| South Central | Rice University University of Houston University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston |
| Southeast-Meharry | Florida State University Old Dominion University Northwestern University Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University |
| Southeast-Morehouse | Emory University School of Medicine |
| West | Stanford University |
AIM-AHEAD Clinicians Leading Ingenuity IN AI Quality (CLINAQ) Fellowship Program (Cohort 2)
The AIM-AHEAD Clinicians Leading Ingenuity IN AI Quality (CLINAQ) Fellowship Program is a one-year program (September 2, 2025 – August 31, 2026) designed to equip clinicians with the skills to responsibly integrate AI/ML into clinical practice. Through a mix of virtual and in-person sessions, fellows will learn to evaluate, develop, and apply AI tools to address healthcare challenges and improve patient outcomes.
Program Director:
- Herman Taylor, MD, MPH
Fifteen Fellows were selected from the following institutions:
| AIM-AHEAD Hub | Awardee Institution |
|---|---|
| North/Midwest | Harborview Medical Center |
| Northeast | Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC. Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Presbyterian |
| South Central | University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Texas Children's Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine Xavier University of Louisiana |
| Southeast-Meharry | Cleveland Clinic Foundation Eskenazi Health |
| Southeast-Morehouse | Advance Medical Research Center, Puerto Rico CIMA Mennonite Hospital Morehouse Healthcare Private Office University of North Georgia |
| West | University of California, Los Angeles Semel Institute University of California San Diego Health |
Related Links:
AIM-AHEAD Federated Network Program
AIM-AHEAD Research Fellowship Program
AIM-AHEAD Hub-Specific Projects
AIM-AHEAD Consortium Development Program
AIM-AHEAD Public-Private Partnerships to Improve Population Health Using AI/ML (P4)
AIM-AHEAD CLINAQ Fellowship Program