News

e-HAIL researchers: If you have news to share, please forward the link to kmanthei@umich.edu.

News Feed
BBC: October 5, 2026

OpenAI systems hacks Australia’s health system

Prof. Nikola Banovic spoke with the BBC on the significance of recent hacking by OpenAI agents and potential safeguards that could be put into place to identify hacking risks ahead of time.
University of Michigan: September 21, 2026

Two Grants Advance Joyce Yan-Ran Wang’s Vision for AI-empowered Precision Medicine

Congratulations to e‑HAIL member Joyce Yan‑Ran Wang, PhD who received a one-year pilot grant from U‑M’s Unit X and a Google Research Award to advance AI-empowered precision medicine. Her team is developing multimodal AI to identify clinically similar prior patients and use their treatment outcomes to help guide care for new patients.
University of Michigan: September 10, 2026

Rams Already have an Edge on the 49ers if Health Expert Is Right

e‑HAIL member Cathy Goldstein, MD, MS, was cited in recent NFL coverage discussing how international travel and circadian disruption can affect athletic performance.

CSE faculty lead two projects selected for U-M Strategic Initiative Fund support

CSE researchers are contributing expertise in human-centered data analysis, global mental health training, and other interdisciplinary initiatives among the fund’s inaugural projects.
University of Michigan: September 2, 2026

MTRAC, Electric Vehicle Center Award Nearly $1M to 11 Projects

Kudos to e‑HAIL member Ke Sun, PhD, whose project, Making Robots See Invisible Airflow Change: Enabling Portable Moiré Schlieren Inspection on Robots for Mobility Manufacturing Diagnostics, received funding from the MTRAC Advanced Transportation Innovation Hub.
The Lancet: July 3, 2026

Home counseling visits increase HIV testing for couples, viral suppression for mothers in Kenya

Kudos to e-HAIL member Lynae Darbes, Ph.D., who co-led a randomized controlled trial in Kenya published in The Lancet HIV and recently featured in Medical Xpress. The trial found that home-based counseling significantly increased couples HIV testing and improved viral suppression among mothers living with HIV.

AISTATS’26 CauScale Workshop Best Paper reveals generalization mechanism of LLMs

New research led by Laura Balzano and Qing Qu establishes a mathematical framework explaining how LLMs generalize to novel, out-of-distribution tasks.
University of Michigan: June 25, 2026

Studying Neurons Using Neurons

The labs of e-HAIL members Anne Draelos, Ph.D., and Joshua Welch, Ph.D., were featured in Michigan Medicine’s Health Lab for their research using a new computing platform that harnesses human neurons. The team is investigating whether the activation patterns of neurons can perform computational tasks, offering a promising new approach to understanding the human brain.
University of Michigan: June 23, 2026

How AI Is Helping Emergency Physicians Learn from Their Patients

Developed by Alex Janke, M.D., M.H.S., and e-HAIL member Florian Schmitzberger, M.D., M.S., “Tell Me What Happens Next” uses AI to provide emergency clinicians with automated follow-up summaries about patient outcomes without requiring manual chart review. The team is now working with AI&DHI to expand the tool.
June 9, 2026

Can AI Help Our Cities Beat the Heat? Inside the University of Michigan’s AI for Urban Heat Resilience Hackathon

Kudos to e-HAIL member Geoffrey Siwo, Ph.D., and Verrah Otiende, Ph.D., whose leadership of the AI for Urban Heat Resilience Hackathon was featured in the Amazon Web Services Public Sector Blog. The hackathon brought together university and industry partners to develop equitable AI approaches for mapping urban heat.
University of Michigan: June 5, 2026

After Michigan School Cell Phone Ban, Most Districts Haven’t…

Originally published in The Conversation and featured in the Detroit Free Press, a co-authored article by e-HAIL member Elyse Thulin, Ph.D., breaks down how Michigan school districts are tackling the state’s upcoming smartphone ban.
May 25, 2026

Cause of Preeclampsia May Have Been Discovered by University of Michigan Researchers

A report on groundbreaking preeclampsia research features e-HAIL member Ashley Hesson, M.D., Ph.D., highlighting a newly identified molecular driver that could revolutionize therapeutic intervention.
University of Michigan: May 20, 2026

AI Chatbots Spark Mental Health Concerns, Including Psychosis Risk

Highlighting the hidden dangers of generative AI, a Michigan Medicine Health Lab story features e-HAIL member Stephan Taylor, M.D., discussing how commercial chatbots can introduce substantial mental health risks, including exacerbating delusions or psychosis in vulnerable users.

U-M researchers receive Laude Moonshots funding for AI-driven glucose management

Their project is recognized for its potential to transform patient care through collaborative, conversational intelligence.
NBC: May 13, 2026

Most U.S. Doctors Are Quietly Using this AI Tool. Few Patients Know About It.

e-HAIL member Cornelius James, M.D., provided expert perspective in an NBC News article covering the rapid, widespread adoption of OpenEvidence, an AI-powered medical search tool currently utilized by a majority of U.S. physicians.
The Conversation: May 13, 2026

How tarot readers are using AI – and what it says about our growing reliance on chatbots for emotional support and advice

In this article, Prof. Farnaz Jahanbakhsh and coauthors explore how tarot readers are using AI to interpret cards, highlighting both the promise of chatbots as tools for reflection and the risks of overreliance on AI for personal guidance and support.
University of Michigan: May 1, 2026

U-M’s Expertise Is Only as Valuable as Our Willingness to Learn

e-HAIL co-lead convener Akbar Waljee, MD, reflected on equitable partnership, global health research, and leveraging technology to improve health outcomes globally in a U-M Research story.

Rada Mihalcea elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The honor recognizes Mihalcea’s influential research in natural language processing and her leadership in advancing responsible AI for social impact.
University of Michigan: April 27, 2026

Making a Difference with Living Donor Kidney Organs

e-HAIL member Danielle Haakinson, MD, was featured in a Michigan Medicine Health Lab story on living donor kidney transplantation and the impact of living donation in transplant medicine.
MIT Technology Review: April 24, 2026

Health-care AI is here. We don’t know if it actually helps patients.

This article highlights a Nature Medicine paper coauthored by Prof. Jenna Wiens, and cites research by Prof. Xu Wang, to show that while health-care AI tools may be accurate, hospitals still need rigorous evaluation of whether they improve clinical decision-making and patient outcomes.
University of Michigan: April 20, 2026

National Academies of Practice Inducts 12 from U-M

Congratulations to e-HAIL member Cornelius James, MD, on his induction as a Distinguished Fellow into the National Academies of Practice. Dr. James is one of twelve members from U-M honored this year by the NAP, which recognizes those dedicated to advancing interprofessional education, scholarship, research, practice, and policy.
University of Michigan: April 20, 2026

Copper-loaded Starch Nanoparticles Can Target Bacteria in Microbial Communities

J. Scott VanEpps, MD, PhD, discussed his development of copper-loaded starch nanoparticles designed to target and eliminate bacterial biofilms.
University of Michigan: April 20, 2026

Complex Connections Among Bipolar Disorder, Substance Abuse, and Suicide

Sarah Sperry, PhD, highlighted her research on how spikes in substance use can predict higher levels of suicidal ideation in patients with bipolar disorder.
University of Michigan: April 15, 2026

Guggenheim Fellowships Bestowed Upon Four U-M Scholars

Kudos to e‑HAIL member Daniel Forger, PhD, on being named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow. This prestigious fellowship recognizes his exceptional work using applied mathematics to better understand music.
University of Michigan: April 8, 2026

AIIM Awards 86 Research Teams for Innovative Uses of AI

Congratulations to e‑HAIL members Matthias Wilms, PhD, and David Jurgens, PhD, on receiving First Prize in the 2026 AIIM Empowering Research with AI Awards. Additional honors were awarded to members Daniel Ehrmann, MD, MS, Liyue Shen, PhD, Samet Oymak, PhD, Florian Schmitzberger, MD, MS, and Prashant Mahajan, MD, MPH, MBA. Their projects represent the leading edge of AI applications in clinical and technical research
AI & Digital Health Innovation: March 25, 2026

AI MedTech Match: Uniting clinical and AI experts to transform patient care

This article highlights a new U-M program that pairs clinical investigators with AI experts to develop collaborative projects aimed at improving patient care, with Jenna Wiens noting strong early interest in cross-campus partnerships.
University of Michigan: January 16, 2026

Impact Institutes Awards First Seed Funding to 10 Research Teams

Congratulations to e-HAIL members Alex Peahl, MD, MSc; Jenna Wiens, PhD, e-HAIL Advisory Convener; and Kayvan Najarian, PhD; who were awarded seed funding from the Impact Institutes, a new initiative supporting interdisciplinary research and innovation as part of U-M’s “Look to Michigan” vision.

Rada Mihalcea named Fellow of the ACL

Prof. Mihalcea has been recognized for her significant research contributions in the areas of graph-based language processing, computational social science, and natural language processing for social good.
June 6, 2025

Statistical Advisory Panel

e-HAIL member Ivo Dinov, PhD, was recently elected to the Statistical Advisory Board of Nature Medicine.
May 13, 2025

Obsessed with Getting Good Sleep? That Could Be Making It Worse.

e-HAIL member Cathy Goldstein, MD, was recently quoted in an article about sleep trackers.
May 13, 2025

The Medical Field and AI: How Could Future Doctors Appointments Look with AI?

e-HAIL member Jodyn Platt, MD, MPH, recently had her research on how adults feel about AI in the medical field featured in an article in Mid-Michigan Now.
University of Michigan: May 9, 2025

MTRAC Awards $2.1M to Biomedical Research Projects

e-HAIL member Daniel Ehrmann, MD, MS, was awarded a Kickstart early-stage funding grant from the Michigan Translational Research & Commercialization (MTRAC) Life Sciences Innovation Hub for the project Obtaining Transparent Therapeutic Optima Multidirectional Communication Platform. e-HAIL member Karthik Ramani, MD, MHA, MB, and colleague Albert Shih, MS,PhD, received a mid-stage funding award for their research project, Dialy-Safe Needle.
University of Michigan: May 9, 2025

Transforming Pancreatic Cancer Research Through Collaboration

Kudos to e-HAIL member Timothy Frankel, MD, and Michigan Medicine colleagues, whose collaborative research on pancreatic cancer is featured in a U-M report on the Impact of Federally Sponsored Research.
University of Michigan: April 2, 2025

Thirteen U-M Faculty Members Named as 2024 AAAS Fellows

Kudos to e-HAIL member Arvind Rao, PhD, who earned election to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2024, along with twelve other U-M faculty.
March 31, 2025

Macy Faculty Scholars Program

e-HAIL member Cornelius James, MD, was named a 2025 Macy Faculty Scholar. This select group of early-career faculty members are chosen for their timely scholarly work and promise as future leaders in health professions education.

2025 EECS Outstanding Achievement Awards

The EECS Department has honored four faculty for their sustained excellence in instruction and curricular development, distinguished participation in service activities, or for their significant achievements in scholarly research.

Shaping the future of AI: A Q&A with Rada Mihalcea

The director of the AI Lab at the University of Michigan discusses the lab’s rich history and its ambitious future.

Dhruv Jain and Devin McCaslin receive William Demant Foundation grant for AI-driven dizziness diagnosis

The grant will support their pioneering research to improve diagnostics and management of dizziness, a symptom associated with hearing loss, using AI technology.
University of Michigan: February 3, 2025

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Check out the new video series from the Institute for Health Policy and Innovation (IHPI), which highlights how IHPI researchers are actively exploring and shaping AI application in health and healthcare. Featured researchers include e-HAIL members Cornelius James, MD, Rahul Ladhania, PhD, MPhil, and Jodyn Platt, PhD, MPH. e-HAIL and its co-Lead Convener Akbar Waljee, MD, MSc, are featured in the accompanying article, “e-HAIL: Accelerating Interdisciplinary Innovation in eHealth and Artificial Intelligence.”
The University Record: February 3, 2025

Twenty U-M Faculty Leaders Named Innovation Champions

e-HAIL member Arvind Rao, PhD, was selected into the inaugural cohort of U-M Innovation Champions. The Innovation Champions were chosen for their passion and dedication to advancing innovation within their units and will collaborate with U-M leadership on innovation efforts university-wide.

AI, AI, Oh! Task Force Prepping Medical School Community to Adapt to New Tools

e-HAIL Co-lead Convener Akbar Waljee, MD, MSc, AGAF, Advisory Convener Brahmajee Nallamothu, MD, MPH, and member Jun Li, PhD, serve as co-chairs of the Research working group, one of the four working groups that together constitute the GenAI taskforce.
University of Michigan: November 25, 2024

A Cause for Collaboration

Congratulations to e-HAIL member Scott VanEpps, MD, PhD, and Vishu Asthana, MD, PhD, on being awarded funding from the Frankel Innovation Initiative to continue their work on the development of the Rapid Response system to treat sepsis.
The Washington Post: October 29, 2024

How Long Can You Stand on One Foot? The Answer May Predict Your Fall Risk.

e-HAIL member Devin McCaslin, PhD, was featured in an article discussing the deterioration of the inner ear’s sense of balance over time (subscriber-only article).

$1.2 million NSF funding for U-M research on surgical training

The researchers will apply computational methods to assess and enhance surgical training and patient outcomes.

Maggie Makar receives Google Research Scholar award for work on causally motivated AI models

The award will support Makar’s work to develop machine learning models that leverage causal reasoning to detect and manage chronic pain.

Leveraging artificial intelligence for early detection of lung cancer

Predictive models developed by an interdisciplinary U-M research team have improved early lung cancer detection beyond traditional measures, with the potential to save lives.
University of Michigan: August 29, 2024

Eckner and Lavieri Awarded DoD Grant for Concussion Risk Prediction Research

Congratulations to e-HAIL members Mariel Lavieri, PhD., and James Eckner, MD, MS, who were recently awarded a DoD grant to develop predictive tools to identify cadets and midshipmen from US Service Academies at the highest risk for sustaining concussions.
University of Michigan: August 1, 2024

Physical Activity Improves Early with Customized Text Messages in Patients with Heart Problems

Jessica Golbus, M.D., is part of a team using wearable technology to study how personalized text messages effectively promote increased physical activity for patients after significant heart events.
In the News: August 1, 2024

Cameras with Facial Recognition Detect Driver Impairment

A research team led by Mohammed Islam, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, developed a system that relies on 3D cameras that can cost-effectively be added to advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), which have been used in cars for years (article from Vision Spectra).
University of Michigan: August 1, 2024

e-HAIL co-Lead Convener Akbar Waljee, M.D., M.Sc., Appointed Assistant Dean for Global Health Research

e-HAIL co-Lead Convener Akbar Waljee, who has been appointed assistant dean for global health research in the Medical School. In this role, he works closely with the dean of the Office of Research to accelerate U-M’s partnerships in global health discoveries in research and advancements in health solutions internationally.

You’re just a stick figure to this camera

The anonymity could reduce unnecessary surveillance in an age of smart devices.

CSE researchers receive Social Impact Award at NAACL 2024

The award recognizes the importance of their research on cultural biases in large language models.

Forecasting ‘forever chemicals’ in U.S. waterways with AI

In collaboration with the Environmental Working Group, researchers at U-M have received a Graham Sustainability Institute Catalyst Grant to develop AI tools that can predict PFAS contamination in water sources across the U.S.
University of Michigan: June 11, 2024

Improving shared decision-making among interprofessional teams

e-HAIL member, Vitaliy Popov, Ph.D., and his work on creating a new teaching tool to aid with shared decision-making among patients and their care team is highlighted in this article from the RISE Innovation Development Program.

Leveraging AI to improve video-based surgical learning

New tool can help surgeons quickly search videos and create interactive feedback, saving time while improving educational value for trainees.
University of Michigan: May 6, 2024

Can AI Make Us Healthier Humans?

Jodyn Platt, M.P.H., Ph.D., was featured on the Back 2 The Fundamentals research podcast where she discussed the ethical use of data for research and the promise of artificial intelligence to improve healthcare.
University of Michigan: May 3, 2024

University of Michigan Creates AI Tool for Campus, Students

Kudos to David Jurgens, Ph.D., whose work on the new University of Michigan AI tools for campus and students was mentioned in a PBS news special.

Maggie Makar receives NSF CAREER Award to develop machine learning models backed by causal reasoning

Makar’s research will leverage causal mechanisms to build more robust machine learning models.

Harnessing tech to shape the future of pandemic defense

The Computing Community Consortium, including CSE Prof. Rada Mihalcea, has released a new workshop report on the role of computing in preventing and mitigating the effects of pandemics.
University of Michigan: February 26, 2024

Mariel Lavieri Selected to Join the New Voices Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Congratulations to e-HAIL member Mariel Lavieri, Ph.D., on being selected to join the New Voices program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. She is recognized for excellence in research related to human health as well as championing diversity, equity and inclusion.

Widely used AI tool for early sepsis detection may be cribbing doctors’ suspicions

When using only data collected before patients with sepsis received treatments or medical tests, the model’s accuracy was no better than a coin toss.
University of Michigan: February 12, 2024

Multimodal AI model may guide personalized treatments for tuberculosis

Kudos to e-HAIL member Sriram Chandrasekaran, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, and postdoctoral fellow Awanti Sambarey, who led a team of U-M researchers to develop a multimodal AI model to predict treatment outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) patients. Their analysis of real-world worldwide patient data may lead to personalization of TB treatment.

Hearing emotion: Redefining mental health monitoring via voice-based mood detection

Researchers at U-M have received a $3.6 million NIH grant to support their development of new digital phenotyping tools to better detect and measure symptoms of bipolar disorder via audio monitoring.
University of Michigan: January 16, 2024

Identifying Dementia from EHR Data

Dr. Vinod Vydiswaran gives an interview on how he is developing methods to identify dementia from Electronic Health Record (EHR) data. While the adoption of EHR systems into healthcare introduces new and exciting opportunities to extract information that can be used to augment other types of data for research, it can be tricky to pull out meaningful information from the text of clinical notes.
University of Michigan: January 12, 2024

For surgery patients, AI could help reduce alcohol-related risks

e-HAIL member Vinod Vydiswaran, Ph.D., M.Tech is working on a project that uses artificial intelligence to scan surgery patients’ medical records for signs of risky drinking in order to help spot those whose alcohol use raises their risk of problems during and after an operation.

Clinicians could be fooled by biased AI, despite explanations

Regulators pinned their hopes on clinicians being able to spot flaws in explanations of an AI model’s logic, but a study suggests this isn’t a safe approach.

CSE researchers present new findings and tech at UIST 2023

CSE researchers have 2 papers and 4 demos appearing at the conference, covering new tech that improves accessibility, enhances user experience, and helps surgeons-in-training.

Dhruv Jain receives NIH grant to improve health education for people with sensory disabilities

Prof. Jain and his collaborators in Michigan Medicine will develop best practices to increase health literacy and access to information for patients with disabilities.

Nikola Banovic receives NSF CAREER Award to advance explainable AI

Prof. Banovic aims to use human-AI interaction to explain and justify AI decisions to end users.
University of Michigan: August 17, 2023

AI can predict certain forms of esophageal and stomach cancer

e-HAIL Co-Lead Convener, Akbar Waljee, M.D., M.Sc., Lyle C. Roll Endowed Professor; Professor, Learning Health Sciences; Professor, Internal Medicine, is a senior author on a study with a team of researchers including Joel Rubenstein, M.D., M.S., a research scientist at the Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Kettles Veterans Affairs Center for Clinical Management Research; Professor, Internal Medicine. The team is studying a new artificial intelligence tool that accurately predicts certain forms of cancer at least three years prior to a diagnosis.

New apps for visually impaired users provide virtual labels for controls and a way to explore images

With VizLens, users can touch buttons while their phones read out the labels, and Image Explorer provides a workaround for bad or missing alt text

With language models on the rise, how can Natural Language Processing be used for good?

A research team led by Prof. Rada Mihalcea and PhD student Zhijing Jin has created a method for identifying and categorizing research that uses NLP to address social problems.

Dhruv Jain named Google Scholar to design accessible technologies for deaf and hard of hearing people

Jain is working to design next-generation accessible technologies to give DHH people better awareness of their surroundings.
The University Record: May 15, 2023

Committee to explore applications of generative AI

e-HAIL Co-Lead Convener Rada Mihalcea, Ph.D., the Janice M. Jenkins Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Director of the Michigan Artificial Intelligence Lab, has been appointed to the university-wide Generative Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee, which will make recommendations about how U-M should approach the evaluation, use, and development of emergent artificial intelligence tools and services

Seven papers by CSE researchers presented at CHI 2023

30 University of Michigan researchers authored and co-authored papers spanning surveillance, virtual reality, algorithmic stigma, assistive technology, and sensing systems.

Jenna Wiens receives U-M Sarah Goddard Power Award for outstanding research and advocacy for women in academia

The award recognizes U-M faculty and staff who have significantly contributed to the betterment of current challenges faced by women.

Prof. Emily Mower Provost receives NSF grant for research in personalized emotion recognition

The project aims to create new and personalized speech emotion recognition approaches and to use these approaches to investigate how changes in emotion are related to changes in mental health.

Six new projects funded by LG AI Research  

The projects are a part of LG’s mission to advance AI such as Deep Reinforcement Learning, 3D Scene Understanding, and Reasoning with a Large-scale Language Model and Bias & Fairness related to AI ethics.

Rada Mihalcea receives Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award

Mihalcea is being recognized for her contributions to computational linguistics and her efforts to broaden participation in the field of computer science.

Paper by U-M researchers selected for Best Paper in IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing

The research on automatic speech emotion recognition is one of the five papers featured in the collection.
The Atlantic: July 22, 2022

The Risk and Opportunity of Online Fertility Groups

e-HAIL member, Nazanin Andalibi, Assistant Professor of Information, was recently quoted in an article about how online fertility groups can help people with a history of being ignored or stereotyped by medical professionals.
Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group: July 1, 2022

Cardiac sURgery anesthesia Best practices to reduce Acute Kidney Injury (CURB-AKI) R01 Grant

e-HAIL members Michael Mathis, M.D., a cardiac anesthesiologist, and Karandeep Singh, M.D., M.M.Sc., a nephrologist and data scientist, are co-principal investigators on the study, which leverages data science techniques to better understand the impact of anesthesia practices for cardiac surgical patients on acute kidney injury following surgery.

Rada Mihalcea named new council member for CRA Computing Community Consortium

Mihalcea has been appointed as one of six new members on the Council, which works to catalyze computing research activity. Her term begins July 1.
University of Michigan: June 2, 2022

NIH Grant in Kenya to Enhance Understanding of Aging in Africa

Anthony Ngugi (Aga Khan University) and Joshua Ehrlich (U-M) are co-principal investigators on the grant, which supports pilot work to lay the groundwork for future NIH grant applications aimed at launching the full-scale LOSHAK cohort study of older adults in Kenya.
The Lancet: May 12, 2022

AI models in health care are not colour blind and we should not be either

Prof. Jenna Wiens comments on a finding that AI systems can be trained to determine a person’s self-reported race based on a medical image.

Paper recognized for lasting impact on natural language processing

AAAI recognized Prof. Rada Mihalcea’s 2006 paper which devised a way to semantically compare short texts.