Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzheimer's Disease (MAITC)

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PROJECT SUMMARY: Overall More than 90% of older Americans would prefer to stay in their homes as long as possible as they age. However, the prevalence of chronic illness including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Alzheimer's disease related dementias (ADRD) can make the goal of successful aging at home out of reach without substantial support. At- home health care technologies hold significant promise to provide many needed forms of support, but have not been specifically developed for older adults, AD/ADRD patients, caregivers, and their clinicians. Many existing health monitoring technologies are burdensome to use for older adults, are not sufficiently accurate, have specific algorithmic biases, and lack adequate usability, and the resulting deluge of data often fails to provide information that can usefully inform caregivers and support clinical decisions. Further, many current treatment and intervention regimes are limited in terms of their ability to be remotely delivered, managed and adapted to patient needs and caregiver abilities over time. The Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzheimer's Disease (MAITC) is a multidisciplinary Center spanning five sites – the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brandeis University and Northeastern University – that aims to foster interdisciplinary research on the development, validation and translation of emerging AI- enhanced technologies to enhance connections between older adults, caregivers, and clinicians in order to more effectively support healthy aging as well as the care of patients with AD/ADRD at home. To achieve this objective, MAITC will pursue the five aims. The first is to apply a rigorous process which involves eliciting stakeholder needs to drive the foci of pilot studies and identifying promising technologies suitable for incorporation into pilot research projects. The second is to form and support a multidisciplinary community of engineers, computer scientists, behavioral scientists, medical researchers, nurses and clinicians working to advance the goals of the MAITC. The third is to provide access to state-of-art validation facilities, diverse cohorts across rural and urban areas, and translation and commercialization services to enable rapid, robust and multi-faceted validation and translation of AI-enhanced technologies. The fourth is to administer a pilot project granting process and ensure that the pilot projects are responsive to stakeholder needs, use emerging AI and related technologies that have significant potential to improve interactions between older adults, lay caregivers, and clinicians. The fifth is to provide training to developers, clinicians, and other stakeholders and to disseminate findings to diverse research, development and practice communities to accelerate further development of promising technologies and promote the adoption of validated technologies beyond the MAITC. Through these coordinated efforts, we hope to improve the lives of older adults and their caregivers.