Yale

Hua Xu, PhD, Robert T. McCluskey Professor and vice chair for research and development in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science, and his collaborators have been awarded a five-year, $9,483,323 grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health for the project “AI-Powered Coordinating Center for the AITC Program on Aging and AD/ADRD Research.” Xu serves as contact principal investigator, alongside multiple principal investigators (MPIs) Thomas M. Gill, MD, Humana Foundation Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics) and director of the Yale Program on Aging; Xenophon Papademetris, PhD, professor of biomedical informatics and data science and of radiology and biomedical imaging at Yale, and associate director for data science of the Yale Biomedical Imaging Institute; and Andrew J. Saykin, PsyD, Raymond C. Beeler Professor of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, and director of the Indiana Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Indiana University.

The AI-Powered Coordinating Center (AICC) will serve as the national hub for the NIA’s AITC program, coordinating activities across the five AITC centers to promote integration, collaboration, and efficient program management. The AICC will use AI-enabled infrastructure to streamline administration, facilitate information and data sharing, strengthen commercialization and regulatory pathways, and support centralized award management, review, and progress tracking. Through sustained engagement with older adults, caregivers, and community partners, the AICC will promote the development and adoption of accessible, responsive technologies while catalyzing translation of AITC discoveries into real-world applications.

The AICC will benefit older adults, people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD), caregivers, researchers, and communities by advancing the development, evaluation, and adoption of AI-enabled technologies that address unmet needs in aging and dementia research. “AI is creating unprecedented opportunities to transform aging and Alzheimer’s disease research, but realizing its full potential requires more than individual technologies; it requires a coordinated ecosystem that brings together researchers, innovators, patients, caregivers, and industry partners,” said Xu. “Through the AICC, we are excited to build the infrastructure and collaborative network that will connect the AITC centers, accelerate the development and translation of promising AI-enabled technologies, and ultimately improve the health and quality of life of older adults, including those living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.”

“AI has tremendous potential to impact research on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, and aging more broadly, but powerful tools require thoughtful coordination to achieve their potential contribution. We are excited to work with our Yale colleagues and network of AITC centers to help maximize the benefits of AI for ADRD and aging research, and to provide guidance and support for regulatory approval and commercialization of such tools,” said Saykin.

The project is carried out in collaboration with Indiana University and runs through July 2031.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U24AG103119. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.