The Johns Hopkins Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratory for Aging Research (JH AITC) launched on January 10 with a website that listed two impressive Requests For Proposals (RFPs) that seek to make an impact on technological projects to improve the health and well-being of older adults.
Funded by the National Institute of Aging Grant P30AG073105, the aging-focused JH AITC is designed to foster the development of novel uses of artificial intelligence and technologies to improve the health and well-being of older adults. The JH AITC is one of three centers at significant leading research institutions resulting from the new $20M federal grant. The other two are at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Pennsylvania.
You can read more background about this coordinated, multicenter effort at Johns Hopkins University here. Collaboratory leaders include members from the Johns Hopkins University schools of Medicine, Nursing, the Whiting School of Engineering, and the Carey Business School, as well as stakeholders including older Americans and caregivers, technology developers and innovators, and industry partners. The JH AITC’s tagline nicely sums up their role and goal among their peers: “Engineering Innovations to Change Aging.”
COAH colleagues Drs. Jeremy Walston and Peter Abadir are among the multidisciplinary PIs leading the effort. According to Dr. Walston, this initiative is important because “Many older adults accumulate health problems and have functional and cognitive declines that impact their ability to stay in their own homes and enjoy meaningful social interactions… This new enterprise is attempting to disrupt these problems in ways that will lengthen the years that people have to enjoy independent, highly functional lives, free of cognitive impairment.”
To this purpose, the RFPs can be found here:
- Pilot A Funding: Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia
- Pilot B Funding: Geriatrics and Age-Related Conditions
Interested applicants are encouraged to attend an informational webinar on January 18 at 3 PM ET. To register, visit here. The applications are due a month later on February 18.
For more information about this program and about JH AITC resources, please email jhu-aitc@jh.edu and follow @JH_AITC on Twitter.
COAH welcomes the JH AITC and looks forward to watching its successes unfold, making a meaningful difference in the real world of older adults.
By Anthony L. Teano, COAH Comm. Spec. & Ann Wiker, JH AITC Admin. Mgr.