{"id":260796,"date":"2026-08-07T04:50:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T04:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/260796\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T04:50:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T04:50:06","slug":"penn-awarded-collaborative-nsf-grant-to-launch-ai-health-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/260796\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn awarded collaborative NSF grant to launch AI health institute"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Penn has announced a partnership with the University of Delaware and several other collaborating universities to develop an institute focused on artificial intelligence\u2019s role in health care.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Titled the National Science Foundation AI Institute for Human-AI Cooperation, the collaboration is funded by a $21.5 million, five-year award from the NSF and will bring together over 40 partners across academia, industry, and government. The institute is \u201cdesigned to support, not replace, human decision making in healthcare,\u201d according to a July 29 <a href=\"https:\/\/penntoday.upenn.edu\/news\/penn-partners-new-national-science-foundation-ai-institute-human-ai-cooperation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>HAIC director Cathy Wu said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian that the institute seeks to \u201ctransform artificial intelligence into an adaptive teammate,\u201d allowing humans to have \u201cdynamic cooperation\u201d with AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wu explained that such collaboration would enable HAIC to develop \u201cpersonalized models tailored to individual needs,\u201d both creating \u201ca new path for health care\u201d and cultivating \u201cthe next generation of leaders in AI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Computer science professor and HAIC managing director Eric Eaton told the DP the institute aims to develop AI systems as \u201ceffective clinical partners\u201d that do not \u201creplace human clinical judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-serif\">Get the DP delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/thedp.us2.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=a96885e3aa3f8131c872ee329&amp;id=370b4800ba\" class=\"newsletter-btn font-sans no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we\u2019re really trying to build is a national hub for research on how humans and AI can work together effectively,\u201d Eaton added.<\/p>\n<p>According to HAIC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/haicinstitute.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">website<\/a>, the institute will interpret \u201cmultiscale and multimodal data\u201d to help \u201cmake rehabilitation more personalized, effective, and responsive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition, HAIC will \u201cuse AI\u2011enabled digital twins to create virtual versions (or avatars) of patients, allowing clinicians to refine treatment options before applying them in real-world care,\u201d according to the release.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Eaton highlighted Penn\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grasp.upenn.edu\/about\/facilities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">GRASP Lab<\/a> as a source of \u201cstrengths in foundational AI and machine learning and robotics\u201d for HAIC\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to be pursuing research multimodal reasoning of time-varying processes, such as how a patient changes during treatment, adaptive and continual learning, where the system is persistent over a long period of time and adaptive with experience, and methods for human-AI interaction,\u201d Eaton said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that Penn Engineering and Penn Medicine are already collaborating on projects using multimodal clinical data \u201cto study how AI can better support real-time clinical decision making.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>HAIC deputy director Austin Brockmeier told the DP that physical therapy is a \u201cjourney,\u201d adding that the researchers want to establish \u201ca triad between the AI, the patient, and the clinician.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want the AI to provide a second opinion, doing things that a human can\u2019t do,\u201d Brockmeier said. \u201cYou can increase the amount of information that\u2019s being measured and make that actionable for the treatment plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brockmeier explained that AI tools can also improve patients\u2019 experiences outside the physician\u2019s office, stating that \u201chaving additional measurements at home, as well as additional adaptive guidance during those exercises, can be transformative for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wu noted that the HAIC\u2019s work is made possible by a \u201creally exciting team effort\u201d by the collaborating universities, each of which brings \u201call different kinds of expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added that \u201cthe foundational AI technology and methodology\u201d the researchers hope to develop could translate into \u201cmuch broader economic and societal impact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn has announced a partnership with the University of Delaware and several other collaborating universities to develop an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-260796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}