Stanford (LabNews Media LLC) – Four Stanford Medicine researchers have received funding from the US health agency ARPA-H. As the university announced on September 30, the projects are intended to develop AI functions for better treatment outcomes and for the secure monitoring of AI in healthcare.
A team led by Roxana Daneshjou, Euan Ashley, and Akshay Chaudhari will receive up to $14.9 million. It is to develop a monitoring system called STEWARD for agent-based AI systems in cardiovascular care. The three-stage system is intended to monitor AI systems in clinics and provide reports directly on-site to treatment teams. According to the researchers, it would be the first system of its kind, as there is currently no regulatory-compliant monitoring of autonomous AI agents in healthcare. The project is part of the ARPA-H ADVOCATE program, which, according to the university, represents the first attempt to develop a clinical AI system authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“We are honored to contribute to the ADVOCATE program,” said Daneshjou. “Our team will develop AI monitoring tools to ensure that autonomous agents remain safe, transparent, and accountable in clinical settings.”
A second team led by Purvesh Khatri will receive up to $41.4 million for a part of the ARPA-H CIRCLE program, which aims to improve care quality in intensive care units. The researchers intend to develop an AI-based digital twin of patients' immune response to predict treatment outcomes in the ICU. According to the university, real-time immune values are not available for critically ill patients with conditions such as sepsis or trauma, and more than 100 drug trials to treat these patients have failed.
“This project will allow us to redefine critical illnesses based on the underlying immunology, predict the course, and identify the appropriate treatment,” said Khatri.
According to the university, the research was partially funded by ARPA-H. The views and conclusions are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as the official policy of the US government.
