{"id":236348,"date":"2026-06-21T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T18:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=236348"},"modified":"2026-06-19T16:45:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T02:45:02","slug":"12-million-establishes-pac-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/21\/12-million-establishes-pac-aid\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> researchers awarded $12M<\/abbr> grant to advance AI<\/abbr>, data science in medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"The
The John A. Burns School of Medicine and the UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Researchers at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Cancer Center<\/a> and UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a> (JABSOM<\/abbr>) were awarded more than $12 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH<\/abbr>) to establish the Pacific Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in Medicine (PAC-AID<\/abbr>)—a new research center dedicated to accelerating biomedical discoveries through artificial intelligence and data science to benefit people in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and the Pacific region, and worldwide.<\/p>\n

\"John
John Shepherd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Funded through the NIH<\/abbr>‘s Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence<\/a> (COBRE<\/abbr>) program, the five-year award will provide approximately $12 million through February 2031. The award was administered by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, with a federal award date of June 4, 2026.<\/p>\n

The center will be led by Principal Investigators John Shepherd and Youping Deng. Shepherd is chief scientific officer at the UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center, and B.H. and Alice C. Beams Endowed Professor in Cancer Research at JABSOM<\/abbr>. Deng is co-director, Genomics and Bioinformatics Shared Resource, at the UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center; and professor and director, Bioinformatics Core Facility, at JABSOM<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

PAC-AID<\/abbr> will serve as a central hub integrating AI<\/abbr> into biomedical research to improve health outcomes in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>. Over five years, the project will renovate the UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center Data Center to establish a new Medical AI<\/abbr> Core (MedAI<\/abbr> Core), providing advanced, high-performance computing resources and AI<\/abbr> expertise. Physically located within both the UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center and JABSOM<\/abbr> on the shared Kakaʻako<\/span> campus, PAC-AID<\/abbr> will directly fund four major inaugural research projects and establish a Pilot Projects Program to support more than eight new, locally relevant pilot studies.<\/p>\n

\"Youping
Youping Deng<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“At the heart of our mission as a flagship research university is the drive to translate innovation into meaningful impact,” said Vassilis Syrmos, incoming chancellor of UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa. “PAC-AID<\/abbr> is a vital expansion of that mission, enabling our faculty to harness the power of artificial intelligence to pioneer new avenues of biomedical inquiry that were previously unreachable, solidifying the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa’s role as a global leader in health innovation.”<\/p>\n

“AI<\/abbr> has the potential to unlock major medical breakthroughs and help people live healthier lives, and we need to take advantage of it,” said U.S.<\/abbr> Sen. Brian Schatz, who played a pivotal role in securing the grant. “This new funding will help Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> continue to attract top-tier talent and develop treatments and cures that will benefit people across the state.”<\/p>\n

“The $12 million over five years will substantially strengthen AI<\/abbr> and data science capabilities and support the development of the next generation of investigators,” said UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center Director Naoto T. Ueno. “The research advances made possible by PAC-AID<\/abbr> will further the UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center\u2019s work toward new understandings and treatments for cancer, to save lives in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and the Pacific, and across the globe.” In addition, high paying jobs generated by this project will have a strong economic benefit for our local communities.<\/p>\n

“At JABSOM<\/abbr>, our mission is to improve the health of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> through education and research,” said Sam Shomaker, JABSOM<\/abbr> dean. “This investment will help accelerate discoveries that address the real health challenges facing our communities and ensure that advances in AI<\/abbr> translate into better outcomes for patients.”<\/p>\n

Enabling workforce development<\/h2>\n

Shepherd and Deng will oversee efforts to build research capacity, as well as foster the next generation of independent investigators using artificial intelligence and advanced data science approaches to address critical medical and public health challenges. Beyond funding research, this award establishes a workforce development mechanism to support the next generation of faculty investigators.<\/p>\n

\"researcher<\/p>\n

“This COBRE<\/abbr> award provides the critical infrastructure to bridge advanced AI<\/abbr> computational methods with our specific clinical and community health challenges,” Shepherd said. “By fostering a collaborative environment for our investigators, we are equipping them with the technical capabilities to tackle the most persistent health disparities in our islands and turn complex data into actionable health solutions.”<\/p>\n

“By the end of this project, we expect to have a nationally competitive Medical AI<\/abbr> Core, four independently funded research leaders, and more than 10 pilot projects,” said Deng. “Through these efforts, alongside workshops and collaborative research opportunities, we will significantly strengthen Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>‘s capacity for AI<\/abbr>-enabled biomedical research and innovation to address important health challenges in our region and beyond.”<\/p>\n

Transforming medical research with AI<\/abbr><\/h2>\n

Artificial intelligence is increasingly transforming healthcare and biomedical research by helping scientists analyze large and complex datasets, identify patterns that may otherwise go undetected, and accelerate the development of new approaches to disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.<\/p>\n

AI has the potential to unlock major medical breakthroughs and help people live healthier lives, and we need to take advantage of it.
—U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shepherd, who leads the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and Pacific Islands Mammography Registry<\/a>, is using a massive breast imaging database to develop AI<\/abbr> biomarkers that predict cancer risk specifically for Asian and Pacific Islander populations.<\/p>\n

The new PAC-AID<\/abbr> will support similar faculty-led research projects, provide funding for pilot studies, and establish shared research resources that can be used by investigators across disciplines.<\/p>\n

Initial funded projects include AI<\/abbr>-driven research by UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center researchers Kevin Cassel (using full-body imaging to triage skin lesions) and Elizabeth Nakasone (studying pancreatic cancer in Native Hawaiian and Japanese populations); UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa public health researcher Jonathan Huang (modeling environmental toxicant effects on fetal development); and JABSOM<\/abbr> researcher Yiqiang Zhang (identifying genetic traits in congenital heart disease).<\/p>\n

\"cancer<\/p>\n

COBRE<\/abbr> Phase 1 grants focus on the development of independent biomedical researchers and research centers, and are designed to have a 15-year cycle.<\/p>\n

“PAC-AID<\/abbr> is specifically designed to develop six to eight early-stage faculty members at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and across Pacific Island institutions who will use artificial intelligence and data science to address cancer and chronic disease outcomes in one of the nation’s most medically underserved and understudied regions,” Shepherd said.<\/p>\n

He added that the expected impact to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is substantial. “Our benchmark for success is that the funded faculty projects, four initially and two to four more when those graduate in year 3, and will later achieve independent NIH<\/abbr> R01<\/abbr> (Research 01 level university) funding at an estimated $3.25 million per award. That represents a projected $19.5 million in additional federal research funding returned to the State of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (six funded R01<\/abbr>s) on top of the initial $12 million COBRE<\/abbr> award itself — a combined potential economic and research impact of more than $31 million for Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>‘s research and healthcare workforce. These estimates are for the first 5-year period.”<\/p>\n

PAC-AID<\/abbr> joins a growing portfolio of NIH<\/abbr>-funded Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, including the Diabetes Research Center<\/a>, Integrative Center for Precision Nutrition and Human Health<\/a> and the Integrative Center for Environmental Microbiomes and Human Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New center will support innovative biomedical research, develop future scientific leaders, and expand research infrastructure in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":207850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1602,1040,218,1697,31,1363,242,241,169,9],"class_list":["post-236348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-ai","tag-biomedical-science","tag-cancer","tag-community-health","tag-john-a-burns-school-of-medicine","tag-manoa-research","tag-native-hawaiian-health","tag-public-health","tag-uh-cancer-center","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/manoa-kakaako-jabsom-cancer-center.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236348"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236382,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236348\/revisions\/236382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}