UT Southwestern held its first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Colloquium in November featuring 16 talks and 53 poster presentations running the full spectrum from fundamental AI methodologies to AI applications in research, medical education, clinical care, and health system operations. You can read the abstracts in the Colloquium proceedings.

Beyond the impressive display of AI science, the Colloquium and reception that followed facilitated interactions and collaborations among researchers interested in AI from across campus. This first symposium was a clear sign of the rapid adoption of AI throughout the UT Southwestern community.

Moving forward, UT Southwestern leadership has initiated an AI task force charged with formulating strategies and organizational structures, expanding AI awareness, facilitating training, and promoting further explorations of AI applications for research, education, and clinical care. Upcoming editions of this newsletter will cover these institutional AI plans as they are created. Stay tuned as this technology takes off! 

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is a new federal research funding agency that supports bold and transformative biomedical and health science breakthroughs that cannot readily be accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity. The agency has a budget of $1.5 billion of research funding that needs to be awarded in the next two years.

Currently, there are two ways for investigators to obtain ARPA-H funding:

1. Apply through the Open Broad Agency Announcement (Open BAA) by March 14.

2. Respond to one of the posted research programs already launched by ARPA-H.

Investigators are encouraged to attend an ARPA-H presentation followed by a Q&A session tomorrow, Jan. 17 at 2 p.m. Register to attend.

The Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program is sponsoring two funding opportunities to help foster equitable and sustainable community-academic collaborations. Proposals require the involvement of a community partner in all aspects of the study plan. This approach seeks to enable investigators to work with community organizations to identify health priorities and develop projects that will address those needs.

Investigators are encouraged to apply to one of the following awards by Feb. 16:

Community Engagement Pilot Grant

This grant aims to support research studies that test new approaches to addressing health problems through community-engaged implementation. Pilot grants of up to $30,000 will be awarded. Indirect costs are not allowed. Learn more by attending a Q&A session Jan. 19, Jan. 31, or Feb. 12.

Community Engagement Planning Grant

This award funds the development of innovative and impactful research projects that are conducted in community-based and/or clinical settings, with the potential to lead to future community-engaged research opportunities. Planning grants up to $15,000 will be awarded. Indirect costs are not allowed. Learn more by attending a Q&A session Jan. 22, Feb. 5, or Feb. 13.

REDCap – a self-managed, secure, web-based solution that supports data collection for studies – is available for research to develop databases for collecting and managing data quickly.

The Clinical Informatics Center and the CTSA Program provide an array of services to help teams maximize the use of this tool for research projects.

Book a consult to take advantage of the following:

· Project consultation

· User training and support

· Customized data collection forms

· Form Render Skip Logic module

· Epic to REDCap FHIR connection

Community Engagement Grand Rounds*

Robin T. Higashi, Ph.D., shares best practices on "Communicating Effectively with Spanish-Speaking Populations in Clinical and Community-Based Research."

• Today at noon. Register to attend.

Implementation Science Seminar*

Cara C. Lewis, Ph.D., explains the importance of "Articulating Implementation Mechanisms to Optimize for Impact, Efficiency, and Equity."

• Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. Register to attend.

Clinical Informatics Research Colloquium*

Murat Kantarcioglu, Ph.D., presents "Privacy-Preserving Health Care Data Linkage and Sharing for Pandemic Response."

• Jan. 30 at 1 p.m. Email Casandra Moxey to receive a Zoom link. 

Accelerating Clinical Research in Texas*

David Karp, M.D., Ph.D., and Dixie D. Thompson, B.S.N., RN, discuss the Trial Innovation Network and how it can help multisite investigators.

• Feb. 2 at noon. Register to attend.

Grant Writing Library*

UT Southwestern faculty members have free access to a grant writing library designed to help

researchers in the process of securing National Institutes of Health funding.

• Contact the CTSA Program to request free access.

*Sponsored by the UT Southwestern CTSA Program