Breakthrough Research
Grants Program

Winter 2023: Koita Center for Digital Health, IIT-Bombay (KCDH) and Johns Hopkins University

Navigate through the Application Process using the links directly above.

Overview

Deadlines

  • Full Proposal Application Due: Tuesday, April 9, 2024
  • Award Announcement: May 15, 2024

Funding & Project Timeline

  • Up to 2 proposals will be awarded at $60k each
  • 18-month project timeline (inclusive of submission to IRB and related processes)

About GKII

The Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute mission is to improve society through research, education, policy, and practice by mobilizing Johns Hopkins faculty, staff, students, and alumni to work with partners in India. Its two-fold strategic priorities include – Enhancing Opportunities by networking with faculty, students, and collaborators, providing student and faculty exchange opportunities, lowering barriers to work in India with access to know-how, and establishing partnerships and frameworks promoting collaborative research; and Core Initiatives involving seed grants, incubator funding, programmatic investment, and fundraising opportunities in high-priority core areas including Infectious diseases, Maternal, child and adolescent health, Health systems strengthening, Climate change & environmental security, Non-communicable diseases, and Technology & digital health.

GKII Affiliated Faculty list

About KCDH

Koita Centre for Digital Health (KCDH) at IIT Bombay is the first of its kind in India, focused on driving academic programs, research, and industry collaborations in Digital Health. KCDH addresses the need for engineering, clinical professionals and entrepreneurs in Digital health and creates research and employment opportunities in this domain. IIT Bombay partners with leading hospital systems, healthcare research, and academic organizations which have strong capabilities in different branches of medicine and healthcare.

KCDH Associated Faculty list

Grant Program Description

The Breakthrough Research Grants Program provides funding for pilot projects led by faculty members from Koita Center for Digital Health, IIT-Bombay (KCDH), and Johns Hopkins University (JHU) that involve interdisciplinary collaborations. Digital technologies are increasingly being used to drive improvements in health outcomes. This opportunity is focused on Digital Health, defined as the “use of information and communications technologies in medicine and public health to manage illnesses, health risks and promote wellness” (Ronquillo et al. 2022). The WHO, in its Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020-2025 outlines the opportunities that the use of digital information and communication technologies present for the achievement of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Such technologies can include the following 7 areas (but are not limited to):

Large Language Models in Healthcare

  • Diagnosis assistance and improved patient care
  • Advancing medical research and knowledge
  • AI enabled crisis management
  • Data driven policy changes
 Healthcare Applications

  • Electronic Health Records, Electronic Medical Records and clinical applications
  • Medical imaging
  • Medical devices software
  • Payers and life sciences applications
 Healthcare Data Management

  • Data interoperability and standards
  • Data Privacy and Security
  • Healthcare data warehousing & management
  • Federated data management
Healthcare Analytics and AI/ML

  • Healthcare AI/ML
  • Medical image analytics
  • Clinical decision support
  • Preventive & prescriptive analytics
 Consumer Health & Tele-medicine

  • Consumer health devices
  • Mobile Health applications
  • Tele-medicine applications
  • Remote patient monitoring
 Computational Biology & Bioinformatics

  • Proteomics
  • Genomics
  • Pathway analysis
  • Disease diagnosis
Population Health & Public Health Policy

  • Disease surveillance & analytics
  • Population health analytics
  • Epidemiology & disease management
  • Public health policy

Proposals in the thematic areas of Non-Communicable Diseases, Mental Health, Infectious Diseases, Maternal and Child Health, Health Systems Strengthening, and Climate Change & Environmental Security will be preferred.

Grant Program Objectives

  • Foster collaborations that advance scientific and clinical research and/or innovative solutions to health challenges in India 
  • Promote growth in impactful interdisciplinary collaborations across Johns Hopkins University and Indian partner institutions. 
  • Support the development of new partnerships between research institutions in India and JHU faculty and students. 
  • Promote equitable research partnerships among JHU faculty and Indian institutions. 
  • Offer mentorship and training opportunities for JHU students and students in India.

Funding Use and Restrictions

Funds are intended for research support, including, but not limited to technical support, lab supplies, assays, travel costs, student costs, and limited research equipment. There will be no transfer of funds between JHU and the co-funding partner, KCDH. GKII funds will cover costs for JHU faculty and salary support may be requested. Similarly, funds from KCDH will support the requirements for their respective researchers.