The Rutgers Center for Biomedical Informatics & Health Artificial Intelligence (BMIHAI) is proud to announce the recipients of its inaugural Pilot Grant Awards. Three interdisciplinary research teams have been selected to receive funding to support innovative projects that harness biomedical informatics and health artificial intelligence to advance computational medicine and public health.

The Pilot Grant Program was established to foster new Rutgers-wide collaborations that capitalize on the university’s strengths in biomedical informatics, data science, and artificial intelligence. Awardees will receive one year of funding to support projects with strong potential for future extramural grant applications and intellectual property development.

“We’re excited to support the advancement of informatics research through these pioneering projects,” said Leslie Lenert, the director of BMIHAI and a professor in the Department of Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS).

“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, the deputy director of the center and an associate professor with the Rutgers School of Health Professions.

The research cohorts receiving the pilot grants are:

“A Precision Medicine-Based Deep Phenotyping of Heart Failure Leveraging Artificial Intelligence Tools”

The scientists said, “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.”

Lead Principal Investigator:

Co-Principal Investigators:

	Zeeshan Ahmed, an assistant professor of medicine at RWJMS and a core member of the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research (IFH)
	Choyang Albert, Medical Director of the Left Ventricular Assist Device and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
	Srinivas Denduluri, a principal clinical informatics analyst in the Office of Information Technology – Advanced Research
	Thomas Nahass, an assistant clinical professor of medicine in the Department of Pulmonary Critical Care at RWJMS
	Naveena Yanamala, an associate professor of medicine, Section Chief of Clinical Research & AI Innovation, and Director of Data Science and Machine Learning Research in the Division of Cardiology at RWJMS

“Multidimensional, Intelligent, Next-generation Data Core (MIND-Core)”

The scientists said, “This project is a computational framework for building intelligent and interdisciplinary precision health approaches to study substance use disorders (SUDs).”

Lead Principal Investigator:

Zeeshan Ahmed, an assistant professor of medicine at RWJMS and a core member of IFH

Co-Principal Investigators:

	Tammy Chung, Director of the Center for Population Behavioral Health at IFH and a professor of psychiatry at RWJMS
	Danielle Dick, Director of the Rutgers Addiction Research Center and a professor of psychiatry at RWJMS

“Genetic Signatures of Compensation in Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria”

The scientists said, “This project elucidates genetic signatures of antimicrobial resistance that will enhance diagnostics and improve treatment strategies against antimicrobial resistant infections.”

Lead Principal Investigator:

Jason Yang, an assistant professor and Chancellor Scholar in the Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics and the Center for Emerging and Re-Emerging Pathogens at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

Co-Principal Investigator:

Rohan Maddamsetti, an assistant professor of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rutgers University-New Brunswick

BMIHAI, based within IFH, serves as a catalyst for transformative research by harnessing the power of AI to transform the way research is conducted and by uniting health-related educational, training and research efforts involving data science under one umbrella.

For more information about BMIHAI, visit https://ifh.rutgers.edu/center-for-biomedical-informatics-and-health-artificial-intelligence/