Pilot Grants
Encourage new Rutgers-wide collaborations and establish a platform to develop independent extramural grant applications.
Center for Biomedical Informatics and Health Artificial Intelligence
A transformative initiative designed to position Rutgers as a national leader in computational medicine and health AI.
Overview
The Center for Biomedical Informatics and Health AI was established to serve as the catalyst for a transformative effort that establishes Rutgers as a national and international leader in computational medicine and health AI. The overarching goal is to bring together substantial existing, but currently siloed, strengths in the broad area of biomedical informatics, including bioinformatics, clinical informatics, clinical research informatics, public health informatics, translational bioinformatics, etc., and substantially expanding them, especially in the area of health AI, making them collectively much more than the sum of their parts.
In the News
“By combining AI and Learning Health Systems methods with a LivingLabs model of spaces to focus our work on solving real-world problems, our center will aim to transform both science and healthcare – starting in New Jersey, but with impacts that reach far beyond.”
Leslie Lenert, MD
Inaugural Director, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Health AI
Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, RWJMS
Initiatives
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Provide funding and interdisciplinary mentorship in Biomedical Informatics and Health AI for postdoctoral researchers.
Summer Internship
Provide a platform for undergraduate and MS Rutgers students to participate in hands-on projects focused on Biomedical Data Science and Health AI and introduce students to careers in Computational Medicine and AI in healthcare.
Summer Bootcamp
Augment Biomedical Data Science and Health AI training for Rutgers Health Postdocs and Graduate Students and introduce them to the value of using AI in Healthcare and Biomedical applications.
Stay up to date with the latest news and events
Events
Rutgers Health AI Virtual Seminar Series
This series, co-sponsored by the Center for Data Science and BMIHAI, connects Rutgers faculty, staff, and students interested in AI training and research in health and medicine.
Summer Internship BMIHAI Mini-Symposium
Date: August 1, 2025
Location: ICPH Building | 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ
2025 Annual Symposium
Theme: Frontiers in Biomedical and Health AI: Applications, Challenges, and Opportunities
Our Model
The Rutgers Center for Biomedical Informatics & Health Artificial Intelligence (BMIHAI) is built on three big ideas:
- P4 Medicine – healthcare that is Precision-based, Predictive, Preventive, and Participatory. This means care is tailored to each person, aims to predict illness before it happens, works to prevent it, and includes patients as active partners.
- Learning Health System (LHS) – a way of improving healthcare by constantly repeating a cycle of watching, testing, learning, and improving.
- Living Laboratories (LivingLabs) – real-world testing spaces where doctors, scientists, patients, and engineers work together on tough health problems, trying out new solutions in both labs and real settings.
We also bring in public-private partnerships (working with both government and companies) to help fund and guide our work.
The Rutgers Center for BMIHAI will be a place where:
- Patients, doctors, and scientists all learn from each other.
- AI and data science make healthcare safer, faster, and fairer.
- Real-world problems guide the work of labs.
- Partnerships with companies and government help keep the research funded and sustainable.
By combining P4 Medicine, Learning Health Systems, and LivingLabs, we aim to transform both science and healthcare – starting in New Jersey, but with impacts that reach far beyond.
Our Values
Our values are about fairness and opportunity. We want a system where:
- Every patient can choose to take part in research.
- Every doctor can learn from groups of patients.
- Every scientist can access the materials they need for research.
- Every research team can study and improve the healthcare system.
- Scientists of all levels – even citizen scientists – can test ideas using advanced models and simulations.
- Students and teachers can use AI to learn and explore science in new ways.
What is a LivingLab?
At Rutgers, we’ll create 3–5 LivingLabs. LivingLabs are special programs that bring together people and technology to solve big health problems.
This idea has already worked in other places, like:
- Rutgers Environmental Sciences – where students learn hands-on by solving real environmental problems.
- MIT – where the campus is used as a testbed for new ideas.
- UC San Diego (Qualcomm Institute) – where Dr. Lenert and others helped first responders after 9/11 by creating mobile health apps, disaster-response tools, and wireless medical devices.
LivingLabs usually combine physical labs (where engineers build tools and devices) and virtual labs (data and simulations). They also rely on shared evaluation systems, funding partnerships, and teamwork across many fields.
Core Members
Leslie A. Lenert, MD, MS, FACMI, FACP
Director, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Health Artificial Intelligence
Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Antonina Mitrofanova, PhD
Deputy Director, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Health Artificial Intelligence
Associate Professor, Department of Health Informatics, Rutgers School of Health Professions
W. Evan Johnson, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases & Director, Center for Data Science, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
David J. Foran, PhD
Professor of Pathology, Laboratory Medicine and Radiology & Chief of Medical Informatics, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Chief Informatics Officer & Director of Computational Imaging and Biomedical Informatics, Rutgers Cancer Institute
Inaugural Chief Research Informatics Officer, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Contact Us
General questions about the center? Email: bmihai@ifh.rutgers.edu
Questions about the Summer Internship? Email: bmihai_internship@ifh.rutgers.edu
Questions about the Post-doc Program? Email: bmihai_postdoc@ifh.rutgers.edu
Questions about the Summer Bootcamp? Email: bmihai_bootcamp@ifh.rutgers.edu
Questions about the Annual Symposium? Email: bmihai_symposium@ifh.rutgers.edu
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