The Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) leads and coordinates the implementation of the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science. The Strategic Plan for Data Science provides a road map for the NIH to harness and foster ethical use of new technologies arising from artificial Intelligence and Machine learning (AI/ML) to advance basic and clinical research and to improve health and health care at individual and community levels.

In support of the strategic plan for data science, NIH has launched several initiatives to expand the development and use of AI/ML in biomedical, clinical, and behavioral research. However, the AI/ML field currently lacks diversity in its researchers and in data, including electronic health record (EHR) and social determinants of health (SDoH) data. Furthermore, underrepresented communities have untapped potential to contribute expertise, data, diverse recruitment strategies, and cutting-edge science and to inform the field on the most urgent research questions but may lack financial, infrastructure, and data science training capacity to apply AI/ML approaches to research questions of interest to them. These gaps pose a risk of creating and continuing harmful biases in how AI/ML is used, how algorithms are developed and trained, and how findings are interpreted, ultimately leading to continued health disparities and inequities for underrepresented communities.

To close the gaps in the field and to better engage underrepresented communities, the NIH has launched the AI/ML Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) program in 2021. The AIM-AHEAD has three goals.

1. To enhance the participation and representation of researchers and communities currently underrepresented in the development of AI
2. To address health disparities and inequities using AI/ML
3. To improve the capabilities of this emerging technology

To advance health equity and researcher diversity in AI/M, the AIM-AHEAD Coordinating Center (A-CC) was established to build a consortium of institutions and organizations with a core mission to serve minorities and other underrepresented or underserved groups impacted by health disparities. The A-CC was initially awarded as the two-year planning of assessment and capacity building to identify priority research aims in health equity and AI/ML, as well as the training and infrastructure needed to support these.

Since its inception, the A-CC  worked with local communities and stakeholders to identify priority health disparity areas, known as the AIM-AHEAD North Stars. The A-CC supported several training opportunities, AI health equity research, small-scale community-engaged research, and data and infrastructure capacity-building at low-resource institutions.  In addition, the program developed joint traineeships with NIH-supported programs to reduce barriers, democratize access, and increase researcher diversity in AI/ML by leveraging All of Us and NCATS (N3C) datasets, infrastructure, and training components.  Impactful outputs include:

• Generated a wealth of mentorship opportunities and created a virtual hub platform called AIM-AHEAD Connect for networking, matching mentors, and mentees, and interacting at the intersection of AI/ML and health equity.
• Increased the number of mid- and early-career researchers trained in AI/ML and health disparities research from diverse backgrounds and lower-resource institutions.
• Supported innovative AI/ML research projects directly aimed at historically underserved and underrepresented communities to address AI and data biases and incorporate SDoH to improve the understanding of health outcomes.
• Developed a set of core ethics and equity principles to build equity in training and biomedical research, as well as best practices for working with underrepresented stakeholders.
• Engaged underrepresented communities to contribute to the conversation on AI/ML and healthcare.
• Supported capacity building in AI health equity research and data and infrastructure at lower resource institutions.

In addition, the AIM-AHEAD program was specifically mentioned by President Joe Biden in the recent Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, with a call to accelerate AIM-AHEAD grants and highlight activities in underserved communities.

The charge of the AIM-AHEAD Working Group of the Council of Councils is to provide an assessment of the AIM-AHEAD’s progress to date and to provide recommendations for the future of this initiative, specifically:

• Review the current scope and goals of the AIM-AHEAD as well as progress to date;
• Provide recommendations on the future of the AIM-AHEAD program based on progress and the needs of underserved communities impacted by data and AI biases and healthcare disparities;
• Provide recommendations on potential success measures for the AIM-AHEAD program.