08/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/08/2024 01:10
The Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzheimer's Disease (MassAITC), housed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, announced today its third round of grant funding, totaling $2.3 million, awarded to 11 pilot programs. The goal of the funding is to spur innovation at the intersection of AI, technology and aging with an emphasis on the home environment.<_o3a_p>
Launched in 2021 with a grant from the National Institute on Aging, MassAITC is a collaboration between the commonwealth's premier institutions of education and health-including, in addition to UMass Amherst, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brandeis University and Northeastern University. It is led by Deepak Ganesan and Benjamin Marlin, both professors in UMass Amherst's Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS), and Niteesh Choudhry, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and executive director of the Center for Healthcare Delivery Sciences at Brigham and Women's Hospital.<_o3a_p>
More than 90% of older Americans would prefer to stay in their homes as they age. However, the prevalence of chronic illness, including Alzheimer's disease, can make that goal impossible without substantial support. Projects funded by the MassAITC pilot program, now in its third year, are already making great strides toward the goal of aging at home. Each team draws on interdisciplinary research that brings together the perspectives of patients, caregivers, clinicians, behavioral scientists and other stakeholders. These perspectives inform the work of teams whose expertise lies in wearable and contactless sensing, artificial intelligence and machine learning. <_o3a_p>
The MassAITC pilot awards competition is driven by a broad mandate to leverage technology, including AI and machine learning, to address a range of challenges related to aging and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). According to David Paquette, associate director of research, "The pilots represent a diverse cohort of academic and industry collaborators from across seven states and Puerto Rico." Marlin adds, "Many of these pilot awardees are leveraging key resources across the MassAITC partner institutions; in particular, we are seeing an expansion of the use of Manning CICS Data Science Core to support the deployment of advanced machine learning algorithms."<_o3a_p>
"We are excited to highlight increased focus amongst this cohort on developing technologies in partnership with underrepresented rural-dwelling older adults. This broad participation is a crucial step toward ensuring that the resulting products and algorithms developed will be equitable," says Choudhry.<_o3a_p>
The selected Year 3 pilots include: <_o3a_p>
Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias Focused Pilots<_o3a_p>
Healthy Aging Focused Pilots<_o3a_p>
A description of each pilot project can be found here.
MassAITC Pilots on the Move<_o3a_p>
MassAITC is a member of the a2 Collective-a program funded by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health-that administers the annual a2 Pilot Awards for projects using AI and technology approaches to benefit older adults, including individuals with AD/ADRD, and their caregivers. The window for the upcoming fifth year of a2 Pilot Awards will be open from Dec. 2, 2024 - Jan. 15, 2025.<_o3a_p>