at the Center for Health Innovation and Transformative Care

In early 2024, Digital Health Co/Lab at the Center for Health Innovation and Transformative Care (Co/Lab) posted its first-ever Request for Applications (RFA), inviting research teams to submit project ideas focused on early-stage digital health development and innovation. Proposals aligned with the three domains of focus: digitally-enabled devices, digital therapeutics & diagnostics, and tech-centric providers. Awards of up to $50,000 were offered to help investigators generate preliminary data to support external grant applications, implementation in real-world clinical practice and/or commercialization.

The response was impressive and, in May, the Center invited all applicants to pitch their idea, Shark Tank-style, to a multidisciplinary review panel. The review process for evaluating each application and pitch was similar to that used by the NIH.

Assistant Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Co/Lab is excited to announce that the first awardee of the 2024 Early-Stage Digital Health Innovation Award is Dr. Mohammad Haeri’s project “Advanced Mitosis Detection and Quantification in Tumors by Artificial Intelligence”. Dr. Haeri is an Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. His research uses artificial intelligence to enhance the accuracy of mitotic count detection and quantification, in turn assisting pathologists in cancer tumor grading and preventing misdiagnosis. With this award, Dr. Haeri and his team can continue their research, strengthen the precision and sensitivity of their AI tool, and expand the reach and commercialization potential of their innovation. To read more about about the research that Dr. Haeri is leading, read their recent publication: Enhancing mitosis quantification and detection in meningiomas with computational digital pathology

Co/Lab would like to thank all the applicants, reviewers and staff who made the first Early-Stage Digital Health Innovation Award such a success. 

October 30, 2024

1:00-5:00 p.m.

Ad Astra Room - Health Education Building, 5th floor at the KUMC main campus

Join us for our inaugural event dedicated to celebrating and fostering innovation. The afternoon will feature focused sessions, collaborative opportunities and insightful presentations by award-winning innovators.

We are honored to welcome Dr. David A. Asch, Executive Director of Penn’s Center for Health Care Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania, as our keynote plenary speaker. 

Attendees will also have the chance to network with peers and industry leaders while enjoying a selection of food and beverages. More information to follow.

Meet Bryn Perrins, our Communications Intern. Bryn grew up in Lawrence, KS, and is an upcoming senior at Brigham Young University. She is pursuing a degree in Communications Studies with an emphasis in Design. She has a passion for healthcare and is excited to learn from The Center’s wide variety of professionals! 

Faculty Led Proof of Concept Program at DOC

Faculty Led POC funding is available for faculty-led projects to advance commercialization of innovative technology covered by an invention disclosure previously submitted to a Kansas institution of higher education. These awards will be made as grants with repayment obligations, to be repaid if successfully licensed by the university.

August 22, 2024
Kansas City, MO

Monthly Webinars

October 23-24, 2024
Las Vegas, NV

Dr. Frank T. Materia, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology and Population Health and Associate Research Director of the Co/Lab, was recently elected to a two-year leadership position in the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM). As Chair of the Digital Health Special Interest Group, Dr. Materia will lead society-wide efforts building scholarly collaborations and career development opportunities in both academic and private digital behavioral medicine sectors. He also leads SBM's Digital Equity and Implementation working group which develops and disseminates interdisciplinary scholarship and policy focused on bringing equity in reach, and patient access to, mobile health interventions. 

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to the team.  

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