LAFAYETTE, La. (press release) — The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Tulane University, Georgia Tech, and the University of Florida are proud to announce that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has approved a planning grant to establish the Accessible Healthcare through AI-Augmented Decisions (AHeAD) Center as an Industry University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC).
NSF AHeAD brings together university researchers with healthcare organizations and technologists to address barriers to deploying AI-augmented decision support tools that enhance healthcare delivery, improve patient outcomes, and reduce costs.
Healthcare systems see significant promise in AI for improving care delivery and controlling costs, yet face significant barriers to safe and effective implementation, including concerns about AI accuracy, patient safety, and integration with health system workflows.
AHEAD brings together leading AI researchers and implementation experts to address challenges related to human-AI interaction, privacy-preserving AI, and the robustness of AI models. The center will create best practices, evaluation frameworks, open models, and practical toolkits that health organizations can use to deploy AI systems more safely and effectively, train next-generation AI healthcare specialists, and accelerate industry-wide adoption.
The interdisciplinary center is led by Dr. Raju Gottumukkala of UL Lafayette, with co-directors Dr. Aron Culotta of Tulane University, Dr. Ghassan AlRegib of Georgia Tech, and Dr. Joel Harley of the University of Florida. The center assembled an interdisciplinary team of researchers from computer science, systems engineering, health sciences, clinical, and public health across the four universities.
The center’s mission is particularly relevant for addressing gaps in healthcare delivery. As Dr. Gottumukkala explains, “Healthcare quality today depends on geography and resources – with rural areas having provider shortages. AI, if implemented in the right way, has the power to democratize healthcare. Louisiana struggles with poor health outcomes, and AI can be quite transformative in creating accessible tools that can detect problems early and help people manage chronic conditions – reducing hospitals and costs while improving lives,” said Dr. Gottumukkala.
Dr. Ramesh Kolluru, Vice President of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development at UL Lafayette, adds, “We are on the cusp of a health technology revolution.” “By prioritizing practical applications and user-centric designs, we are committed to transforming lives and empowering individuals to take charge of their health like never before.” Kolluru continues, “AI research is where technology aligns with human values to transform society. UL Lafayette is proud to lead the AI innovation into the future.”
The center has garnered broad industry support, with 50 organizations committed to the initiative, including: Acadian Ambulance Service, Access Health Louisiana, Alliance for AI in Health Care, Amazon AWS, Amedisys, Arthrex, AWS, Beta Health Services, Canary Speech, CGI, Doc Griggs Enterprises, LLC, DOCSPACE, Emory University, Exactech, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, Google, Gulf Coast Technologies Corp., Halifax Health, Haltian, HealthComply AI, Helix Laboratory Partners, Interia LLC, Louisiana Department of Health, LA Public Health Institute, Mathworks, Mediview, Microsoft, MPLT Healthcare, MyLigo, Nestor Labs, New Orleans East Hospital – LCMC, Ochsner Health Systems, Omaha Children’s Hospital, One Telemed, Opelousas General Health, Plato, Protégé, Retina Consultants of Texas, Shands Hospital, Siemens, Southwest Research Institute, Sterling Health Services, Sunvestka, The Bean Path, Triad Executive Advisors, Tulane Medical Group, VA – Southeast Louisiana Health Care System, VA Rural Health Resource Center, Veteran’s Affairs Hospital, and XRMedix.
This diverse consortium includes healthcare providers, technology companies, and specialized AI firms, reflecting the center’s comprehensive approach to implementing healthcare AI.
Developing safe, validated AI systems requires significant investment and specialized expertise that individual companies cannot bear alone. The field faces critical workforce gaps due to high demand for professionals who understand both AI technology and healthcare implementation. The NSF IUCRC model provides an ideal platform for addressing these challenges by enabling cost-sharing among consortium members while bringing together diverse expertise—from AI researchers to health sciences and implementation specialists. This collaborative approach accelerates the development of AI-augmented decision support tools that benefit the entire healthcare industry while training the next generation of specialists.
The center is part of a broader applied AI initiative led by the Center for Applied AI at UL Lafayette to drive applied AI innovation to improve societal outcomes. UL Lafayette has a strong track record of leading successful national-scale industry university partnerships. In 2010, the university launched Louisiana’s first NSF center and the only IUCRC focusing on data science and visualization. The NSF Center for Visual and Decision Informatics partnered with Drexel University, Tampere University, the University of Virginia, Stony Brook, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, resulting in 128 industry-sponsored projects and 274 peer-reviewed publications. The center also trained and mentored 219 students.
About UL Lafayette
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette specializes in applied research that impacts the people, communities, and organizations in the Acadiana region, the state of Louisiana, the nation, and the world.
Sustainability, healthcare, new economies, new technologies, new processes, new products, and new ideas are today’s challenges.
As South Louisiana’s primary hub for innovation and ideas, we are working to take on these challenges by building research partnerships among University students, faculty, government research labs, and the private sector to effectively change the state—and world—for the better.
About Tulane University
Tulane is embracing the promise of AI through investments across research, education, and community engagement to drive transformative impact on health and beyond. Multidisciplinary initiatives – such as the Center for Community-Engaged AI, the Jurist Center for AI, and the Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science is advancing innovation through partnerships with Tulane’s long-standing strengths in biomedical sciences and public health.
With over 2,250 undergraduate and 470 graduates and professional students in more than 60 academic programs, Tulane’s School of Science and Engineering is preparing students to tackle society’s most pressing challenges. For more information, see https://ai.tulane.edu/.
About Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as Georgia Tech, is one of the top public research universities in the U.S., developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.
The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees, as well as professional development and K-12 programs for fostering success at every stage of life.
The student body comprises more than 53,000 undergraduate and graduate students, representing 54 U.S. states and territories and over 146 countries. They study at the main campus in Atlanta, at instructional sites around the world, and through distance and online learning.
As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.
About the University of Florida
The University of Florida (UF) is the state’s leading university and is consistently listed as one of the top public research universities in the nation. In 2018, UF became the first Florida school to break into the list of top 10 public universities. Since 2017, UF has advanced nine spots on the public university list, and according to the recently released 2024 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, UF is ranked sixth among top public universities.
NSF Industry University Cooperative Research Center
The well-established program accelerates the development of critical technologies from early-stage research to the marketplace. Since 1973, the NSF IUCRC program has fostered collaborative research, strengthened the national innovation ecosystem, supported workforce development, and accelerated technology transfer.
