Wake Forest University School of Medicine established the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research to foster better health across our School’s local and national communities by advancing the science and application of artificial intelligence through research, education, and innovation. The Center is led by Dr. Metin Gurcan, Professor of Internal Medicine. This cross-disciplinary initiative will position our School to lead the increasingly important field of artificial intelligence in healthcare and medicine by complementing the work of other research centers.
Mission
Our mission is to advance and promote research, education, and innovation in the field of artificial intelligence, with a focus on enhancing the quality and safety of healthcare and fostering better health outcomes.
Vision
Our vision is to establish ourselves as a global leader in the development and ethical implementation of advanced artificial intelligence technologies. Through these advancements, we aim to transform disease prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment, ultimately improving overall health and ensuring widespread access to healthcare.
Center Goals
We seek to achieve our mission by pursuing the following goals:
- Research: Conduct cutting-edge AI research, exploring its applications in healthcare.
- Education: Facilitate comprehensive educational programs, including workshops, seminars, and formal training activities.
- Innovation: Create AI-driven solutions that have a tangible impact on healthcare delivery and translate research findings into practical applications.
Highlighted News
On Thursday, October 10, CAIR held its annual Colloquium at Biotech Place in Winston-Salem, bringing together researchers, clinicians, and industry leaders to explore the theme: “Streamlining Remote Monitoring of EHRs”.
The event opened with a welcome address from CAIR director Metin Gurcan, PhD, setting the tone for a day of innovation and collaboration. The morning featured two flash talks from CAIR faculty members. Ibrahim Karabayir, PhD presented on how artificial intelligence can analyze ECG data to predict cardiovascular outcomes and support remote monitoring, offering a proactive approach to heart health.
Arezoo Movaghar, PhD, shared how AI is being used to detect and treat rare diseases, highlighting its potential to close diagnostic gaps and improve care for underserved populations.
The keynote address was delivered by Majid Afshar, MD, MS, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His talk, “Bedside Implementation and Evaluation of AI Systems Focused on Electronic Health Record Notes”, explored real-world applications of natural language processing and large language models in clinical settings, emphasizing their role in enhancing decision-making at the bedside.
Epic Systems also joined the event to present their latest AI innovations in healthcare, showcasing how their tools are being integrated into clinical workflows to improve efficiency and patient outcomes.
Following a networking lunch, attendees explored 17 poster presentations highlighting research from trainees and early-stage investigators. The afternoon concluded with a panel discussion featuring Dr. Afshar, Epic Systems representatives, Dr. Karabayir, and Dr. Movaghar, who answered audience questions and expanded on themes from earlier sessions.
The event wrapped up with the announcement of two Trainee awards and two Early-Stage Investigator awards. Congratulations to Ava McKane and Gabriella Puchall for winning the Early-Stage Investigator award and to Brad Rowland, MD and Mostafa Rezapour, PhD for winning the Trainee award! All award winners received $1,500 to be used to attend and present at an AI-related conference or to enroll in an AI certificate program.
Atalie Thompson, MD, an ophthalmologist at the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Eye Center at Davie Medical Center, has been selected as the inaugural recipient of a $50,000 joint pilot award from the Wake Forest Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s AI4Health Center.
Dr. Thompson leads a multidisciplinary research team including Minhaj Nur Alam, PhD, Shaketa Gillis, Sina Gholami, Tania Haghighi, and Ahammed Sakir Nabil. Their project, titled Vision-Language Model Integrated Point-of-Care Diagnostic Tool for Diabetic Retinopathy Using Color Retinal Imaging, aims to revolutionize how diabetic retinopathy is detected and managed.
Diabetic retinopathy is a serious complication of diabetes that can lead to vision loss or blindness if not diagnosed early. Dr. Thompson’s team is developing a portable vision-language model (VLM) integrated with a handheld retinal camera. This innovative tool is designed to generate clinical summaries and predictions at the point of care, enabling healthcare providers to screen patients wherever they are, especially in rural and underserved communities.
The team will use the funds to support clinical performance evaluation of the algorithm, feasibility testing in community-based screening settings, and feedback collection from healthcare providers and patients to refine the tool for real-world use.
This pilot award marks the beginning of a promising collaboration between CAIR and UNC Charlotte’s AI4Health Center, two institutions committed to harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to improve healthcare outcomes.
We are proud to support Dr. Thompson’s innovative research and look forward to the impact her team’s work will have on the future of accessible eye care.
Da Ma, PhD, Assistant Professor of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine and a faculty member at the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research has been awarded a prestigious R01 grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant totals $770,558 and will support groundbreaking research into the genetic and neurological factors driving Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Ma’s multi-year project will harness the power of artificial intelligence to integrate genomic risk factors with brain imaging data, aiming to uncover how distinct biological subtypes of Alzheimer’s develop and progress. By analyzing a large and diverse dataset that includes genetic, neuroimaging, and clinical information, the research seeks to explain why Alzheimer’s manifests differently across individuals and how these differences can inform more personalized and effective treatments.
“Alzheimer’s disease is a multifactorial disease with markable heterogeneity in neurodegeneration and neuropathological patterns as well as clinical presentations, yet the genotype-phenotype connection remains poorly understood,” Dr. Ma says. “Our study aims to bridge this gap by linking genomic risk factors to distinct neuropathological subtypes and clinical trajectories, enabling precise prediction of disease progression. This integrated approach could lay the groundwork for truly personalized interventions and disease-modifying treatments.”
This research has the potential to transform how Alzheimer’s and related dementias are diagnosed and treated, moving the field closer to early interventions that could slow, or even prevent, disease progression.
Congratulations to Dr. Ma and his team for this significant achievement and their continued commitment to advancing Alzheimer’s research through innovation and collaboration.
The Wake Forest Center for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR), in partnership with the Wake Forest Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), proudly wrapped up the 2025 Summer Research Internship Program with its annual Internship Symposium at the end of July. This capstone event brought together 39 interns – 17 from CAIR and 22 from BME – who spent 10 weeks over the summer immersed in hands-on scientific research.
The symposium served as an opportunity for interns to showcase their work across five themed sessions, highlighting diverse areas such as artificial intelligence in medicine, biomechanics, and simulation technologies. Each intern presented their findings to peers, faculty, mentors, and community members, sparking thoughtful discussion about the future of healthcare and technology.
Attendees selected winners by scanning QR codes and rating projects, making the symposium interactive and engaging. Congratulations to all award recipients and to every intern for their dedication, curiosity, and perseverance. throughout the program.
We want to give a special shoutout to the following CAIR interns for placing in the top 3 of their presentation categories.
Session #1: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning in Biomedical Applications
1st Place: Ian Liu, “Harmonized Neuroimaging-Based Graph Neural Network to Improve
Personalized Diagnosis for Alzheimer’s Disease”
2nd Place: Ashlyn Melichar, “Ensemble Deep Learning for Tissue Segmentation in Breast Cancer Histopathology”
3rd Place: Jillian Griffith, “AI-Enhanced Detection of Coronary Artery Calcium Levels Using ECG and Clinical Data”
Session #5: Medical Devices & Simulation Technologies
1st Place: Bryan Ramillano, “Development of a Wireless Epidermal Skin Patch for Melanoma Detection”
Behind the scenes, the success of this summer experience would not have been possible without the commitment of our mentors, who provided invaluable guidance, expertise, and encouragement. Special recognition also goes to project managers Latrice Harris and Jaelyn Holmes from CAIR and Thea Smith from BME. Their thoughtful planning, organization, and leadership ensured a meaningful and impactful program for all participants.
