AIM-AHEAD News

June 6 - 7, 2024

Texas Conference on Health Disparities: Big Data to Enhance Health Equity

On behalf of the Institute for Health Disparities at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, we invite you to attend our 19^th Annual Texas Conference on Health Disparities. This year our conference will focus on Big Data to Enhance Health Equity.

Conference Contact coleen.franckowiak@unthsc.edu or Riyaz.Basha@unthsc.edu

We have reserved a block of rooms in SpringHill Suites $99+Tax/night (less than one mile from the conference venue) for  two nights (Check in 6/5/2024; checkout 6/7/2024). If you are interested to avail this offer, please register for the conference and give us your name and contact information to inform the hotel.

For more information, to register, or submit an abstract, please go to https://tchd2024.dryfta.com/

April 24, 2024, 4:00 pm ET

AI-CARES Webinar Series

Seminar 3: Spotlight on All of Us: Funding opportunities in AI and health equity

Speakers:

Dr. Janeth Sanchez, Program Director for Health Equity - All of Us Research Program

Dr. John Haller, Program Director - Advanced Technologies & Surgery Branch - Division of Cardiovascular Sciences -National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

Dr. Lucia Hindorff, Lead Extramural Training Program Director - Training, Diversity, and Health Equity Office - National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

April 19, 2024, 2:00-3:00 pm ET

Advancing Health Research through Ethical, Multimodal AI Initiative ROA

This initiative aims to develop ethically focused and data-driven multimodal AI approaches to more closely model, interpret, and predict complex biological, behavioral, and health systems and enhance our understanding of health and the ability to detect and treat human diseases.

See the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy website for more information: https://datascience.nih.gov/artificial-intelligence/MultimodalAI 

• Informational webinar on April 19, 2024, from 2:00-3:00 pm ET

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Due Date (Optional): April 29, 2024 by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.

• Proposal Due Date: May 16, 2024 by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization. Late applications to this ROA will not be accepted.

• Questions? Reach out to: ODMultimodalAI@od.nih.gov

  
  

Now through early September

NEW Common Fund FY25 High-Risk, High-Reward Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFO)

The NIH Common Fund has announced FY2025 funding opportunities for the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, Transformative Research Award, and Early Independence Award in the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. The program provides unique opportunities for exceptionally creative scientists to pursue highly innovative approaches to address major challenges in biomedical or behavioral research. Any research topic relevant to the broad mission of NIH is welcome. Please share this information widely.

• NIH Director's Pioneer Award (DP1 - Clinical Trial Optional - RFA-RM-24-002): The Pioneer Award supports individual scientists at any career stage with outstanding records of creativity who propose pioneering approaches to address major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research. See the Pioneer Award website for more information. 

Application deadline: September 9, 2024. Pre-application webinar on June 25, 2024, from 12:00-1:30 PM ET (registration link)  

• NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2 - Clinical Trial Optional - RFA-RM-24-003): The New Innovator Award supports early-stage investigators of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly innovative research ideas with the potential for broad impact. See the New Innovator Award website for more information. 

Application deadline: August 19, 2024. Pre-application webinar on June 25, 2024, from 2:00-3:30 PM ET (registration link)  

• NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award (R01 - Clinical Trial Optional - RFA RM-24-004): The Transformative Research Award supports individuals or teams proposing exceptionally innovative and/or unconventional research projects with the potential to create or overturn fundamental paradigms. See the Transformative Research Award website for more information. 

Application deadline: September 3, 2024. Pre-application webinar on June 26, 2024, from 3:30-5:00 PM ET (registration link)  

• NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (DP5 - Clinical Trial Optional - RFA RM-24-005): The Early Independence Award provides a mechanism for promising early career scientists to move rapidly into independent research positions by omitting the traditional postdoctoral training period. See the Early Independence Award website for more information. 

Application deadline: September 6, 2024. Pre-application webinar on June 26, 2024, from 1:00-2:30 PM ET (registration link)

This is an updated list of many potentially interesting funding opps

February 13-15, 2024

AIM-AHEAD Hawaii/Pacific Islands Community and Stakeholder Engagement

Dear colleagues from Hawaii/Guam/American Samoa/N. Mariana Islands

The AIM-AHEAD program (www.aim-ahead.net) will be launching many new programs for 2024, in addition to the ongoing 7 programs that were launched in the first two years. There are numerous opportunities to engage in our consortium.

A Hawaii/Pacific Island Stakeholder and Community Engagement meeting is planned for February 13-15, 2024 in Honolulu, HI. The goal of this program is to provide information about AIM-AHEAD programs, resources and networking opportunities. There will be two grant writing workshops: One for new stakeholders and one for stakeholders who need to revise their previously submitted applications to AIM-AHEAD

The location of the meeting will be decided shortly. In the meantime, I am requesting you to place a hold on your calendar to attend the Honolulu meeting. We will provide you a registration link in order for you to reserve your spot. There is no registration fee.

Oct 27, 2023

Become A Mentor for the AIM-AHEAD Research Fellowship Program

All Research Fellows in Cohort 2 will have one AIM-AHEAD Mentor that will be chosen through the AIM-AHEAD Research Fellowship Mentoring Program. The AIM-AHEAD Mentors will be chosen from a pool of AIM-AHEAD Mentor applicants. The AIM-AHEAD Mentor Pool Application will be open from October 2, 2023, - October 27, 2023. All selected mentors should be notified by November 2023.

Oct 24, 2023

Become A Mentor for the AIM-AHEAD Program in Leadership

All Research Fellows in Cohort 2 will have one AIM-AHEAD Mentor that will be chosen through the AIM-AHEAD Research Fellowship Mentoring Program. The AIM-AHEAD Mentors will be chosen from a pool of AIM-AHEAD Mentor applicants. The AIM-AHEAD Mentor Pool Application will be open from October 3, 2023, - October 20, 2023. All selected mentors should be notified by October 24, 2023.

June 29, 2023, 9am - 12pm

Hybrid Event  - Advancing Health Equity: Building a Framework for Ethical AI Interactive Sessions

The Center for Urban Health Equity will host a conference focused on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. The focus of the conference will be the ethics of AI – building a framework. 

Location: Morgan State University, Behavioral & Social Science Center Building, Rm 512-514 

June 14, 2023, 10am - 11am PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

June 12, 2023, 10am - 11am PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

June 7, 2023, 10am - 11am PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

June 5, 2023, 12pm - 1pm PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

June 1, 2023, 8am - 9am PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

May 31, 2023, 10am - 11am PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

May 24, 2023, 10am - 11am PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

May 22, 2023, 12pm - 1pm PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

May 18, 2023, 3–4 pm CT

Ethics Discussion Forum: Health Data Privacy and its Impact on Representation and Algorithmic Fairness

Without data, there is no modern artificial intelligence. However, getting access to data, and particularly data about a person’s biology or healthcare, can be difficult. Many factors limit health data sharing on a broad scale, with privacy being one of the principles most voiced as a concern. Our society, and the organizations that function with it, have devised a number of strategies for managing the tradeoff between health data privacy and accessibility. These include, but are certainly not limited to, 

• creating online data enclaves where users are limited by the program languages and computing infrastructure support (e.g., pay per compute in the cloud), 
• entering into contractual agreements with data controllers, which can be onerous to establish, maintain, and manage, and 
• subjecting data to de-identification practices that reduce the likelihood that the identity of the individuals to whom the data corresponds will be recognized. 

In this ethics discussion forum, we will walk through some of these strategies, as well as examples of how data sharing practices have been realized historically. Along the way, we will discuss how the tradeoffs inherent in these strategies can affect,

• which researchers have access to these data and 
• the extent to which the resulting datasets can (and cannot) support health equity research

Discussion Host:

May 18, 2023, 8am - 9am PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

May 17, 2023, 10am - 11am PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

May 15, 2023, 12pm - 1pm PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

May 15, 2023, 10am - 11am PT

DRC/OCHIN Office Hours

The AIM-AHEAD Data and Research Core (DRC) team will be holding office hours twice a week from 5/15 – 6/19. The office hours will be set up for AIM-AHEAD Research Fellows and Call for Proposal applicants to meet and consult with the DRC and OCHIN team as they work on their proposals, discuss OCHIN datasets, and any other needs related to AIM-AHEAD Y2 projects.

May 11, 2023, 3pm - 4pm CST

Leadership Fellowship Cohort #2 Informational Webinar

Please register and attend this informational Zoom webinar to learn more about the Leadership Fellowship Cohort #2 Informational Webinar funding opportunities and ask questions you may have.

May 23-June 23, 2023

AIM-AHEAD's Health Equity Data Challenge

High Risk Breast Cancer Prediction and Health Equity Data Challenge

DSTC and Nightingale Open Science developed this challenge as a training and outreach opportunity for underrepresented students in AI/ML.

The goal of this challenge is to improve the prediction of the cancer stage in minority patient’s cancers above a baseline score derived from all patients, using only the whole slide images generated by a breast biopsy.

Triple negative breast cancers constitute 15% to 20% of breast cancers and have higher incidence in African American and Hispanic women, with African Americans facing worse outcomes than other race and ethnic groups. [2] Determining the stage helps doctors determine how to move forward with treatment.

Event page:
https://www.aim-ahead.net/data-science-training-core/2023-health-equity-data-challenge/

April 19, 2023, 4-5 pm CT

Register for the AIM-AHEAD Year 2 Call for Proposals Webinars

AIM-AHEAD anticipates releasing a new call for proposals opportunities in April 2023. Please see Notice of Intent to Publish Solicitations (Year 2) https://www.aim-ahead.net/call-for-proposals-year-2/

About AIM-AHEAD: The National Institutes of Health’s Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) program has established mutually beneficial, coordinated, and trusted partnerships to enhance the participation and representation of researchers and communities currently underrepresented in the development of AI/ML models and to improve the capabilities of this emerging technology, beginning with electronic health records (EHR) and extending to other diverse data to address health disparities and inequities.

Deadline: Friday, April 14, 2023.

CHITA 2023 Travel & Participation Grants

We are pleased to announce grant opportunities for participation in CHITA (Conference on Health IT and Analytics). With the generous support of the AIM-AHEAD consortium, CHITA will provide a limited number of grants for participants with diverse backgrounds. We especially encourage underrepresented minorities to join CHITA. Recipients will be reimbursed for travel and hotel expenses and will receive an additional $500 stipend. A certificate of participation will be provided.

To apply, please send an email to cdhai@jhu.edu with the following information:

• Your resume, and LinkedIn page if available.
• One brief paragraph describing your interest in applying AI in healthcare to enhance equity and diversity.

April 12, 2023, 4-5 pm CT

Register for the AIM-AHEAD Year 2 Call for Proposals Webinars

AIM-AHEAD anticipates releasing a new call for proposals opportunities in April 2023. Please see Notice of Intent to Publish Solicitations (Year 2) https://www.aim-ahead.net/call-for-proposals-year-2/

About AIM-AHEAD: The National Institutes of Health’s Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) program has established mutually beneficial, coordinated, and trusted partnerships to enhance the participation and representation of researchers and communities currently underrepresented in the development of AI/ML models and to improve the capabilities of this emerging technology, beginning with electronic health records (EHR) and extending to other diverse data to address health disparities and inequities.

April 6, 2023, 3–4 pm CT

Ethics Discussion Forum: The AIM-AHEAD Ethics and Equity Principles

The potential for artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to address health equity in an ethical manner is an ongoing discussion, with both debate and uses cases across a growing range of health-related scenarios. Centered within this debate are broad considerations for convened institutions and individual stakeholders who are seeking to fulfill this potential collaboratively, meaningfully, and effectively, such as AIM-AHEAD. Members of the AIM-AHEAD Ethics SubCore will present, on behalf of the AIM-AHEAD Ethics and Equity Workgroup, the AIM-AHEAD Ethics and Equity Principles and Glossary to drive a moderated discussion around challenges and opportunities to implementing the principles and glossary among diverse institutions and collaborators within the Consortium. Individuals who attend will also have the opportunity to sign up to participate in a 1:1 interview with members of the AIM-AHEAD Ethics and Equity Workgroup to discuss their personal views and perspectives about the Principles and Glossary and provide feedback on opportunities to strengthen the Principles and Glossary. 

Discussion Hosts:

New Course Available!

All of Us Researcher Workbench On-Demand Training

Enroll today in this free, self-directed course that provides an overview of the Researcher Workbench and how it can be used to address health disparities with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.