AIM-AHEAD Federated Network Program

AIM-AHEAD Federated Network Program

Offers support for federated research infrastructure enabling privacy-aware data sharing across healthcare institutions.

The AIM-AHEAD Federated Network Program is a North Star IV infrastructure initiative under NIH's AIM-AHEAD consortium (OT2OD032581), funding institutions to build and operate privacy-preserving, federated AI/ML research infrastructure on electronic health record data. The program uses a collaborative GitHub repository for shared federated analysis workflows, enabling multi-site EHR research without centralizing patient data. It is one of approximately 25 sub-programs active under the AIM-AHEAD umbrella, which NIH launched in July 2021 to build AI/ML capacity at limited-resource healthcare and research institutions.

Cohort 2 (Year 4), announced in January 2026, awarded four institutions. Program directors include Avillach, Weber, Sambamoorthi, Brat, and Cai. Awards are issued as sub-awards through the AIM-AHEAD Coordinating Center via Research Opportunity Announcements (ROAs), not through NIH grants.gov. The funding instrument is an Other Transactions sub-award — a cooperative-style mechanism with active coordinating center engagement — rather than a standard R01 or U01 cooperative agreement. Award amounts are not published on public pages and must be confirmed in each applicable ROA document.

Institutions eligible for this program are US-based non-profit research organizations and universities with EHR data resources and the capacity to implement federated AI/ML workflows. For-profit companies are not eligible. Year 5 ROA continuity depends on renewal of OT2OD032581 beyond July 2026. Prospective applicants should demonstrate both existing institutional EHR infrastructure and technical capacity to participate in the program's shared GitHub-based federated analysis ecosystem.