To accelerate the collaboration between VinUni and Illinois (UIUC) in researching novel sensing and informatics to provide widely accessible health monitoring, screening, and diagnostics for people all over the world. The VinUni-Illinois Smart Health Center “VISHC” will be formed and funded by about ten selected projects, each led by at least one faculty member from VinUni and one faculty member from Illinois. With this program, VISHC will seek to become a hub of groundbreaking collaborative research on digital health, forging vital connections among researchers, students, staff from two institutions, and external partners. This research funding aims to bring ideas and powerful innovations that positively impact healthcare for people worldwide.

We would like to announce the following projects have been selected for funding by the VISHC Committee for the last call in 2024. This VISHC award is within the 10 years funding of VISHC by 2032, and will support up to 5 PhD students and 1 Postdoc, or until VISHC has reached the total target of training 50 PhD students and 10 postdocs. Please note that the final list will be asked for approval by the VinUni’s President.

1. “The Future of Rehabilitation Robotics: A Framework for Human-Robot Interaction for Complete Training and Assessment”. PIs: Nguyen Vu Linh (VinUni), Tran Trung Dung (VinUni, Vinmec), Ho Ngoc Minh (Vinmec), Yih-Kuen Jan (UIUC), Manuel Enrique Hernandez (UIUC), and George Heintz (UIUC).

2. “Enhancing Precision Digital Pathology with an AI-powered Platform Accelerated by Supercomputers”. PIs: Ravishankar Iyer (UIUC), Phuong Cao (UIUC), Volodymyr Kindratenko (UIUC), Minh Do (UIUC), Hieu Pham (VinUni), Mary Pietrowicz (UIUC), Thai Mai Thanh (VinUni), Hang Nguyen (Vinmec), Dung Tran (VinUni, Vinmec), Bui Giang (VinUni, Vinmec), Huynh Dinh Chien (VinUni), Lisa Boardman (Mayo Clinic), Aaron Mangold (Mayo Clinic), Karl Kochendorfer (UI Hospital & Clinics), Duy Hoang (VinUni), Huyen Le (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)

3. “Accelerating Patient Rehabilitation via Wearable Filament Sensor Networks”. PIs: Mai Thanh Thai (VinUni), Van Dinh Nguyen (VinUni), Ngoc Minh Ho (Vinmec), Hung Manh La (University of Nevada), Phuong Cao (UIUC), Elizabeth T. Hsiao-Wecksler (UIUC), Girish Krishnan (UIUC).

4. “Developing a unified, low-cost, self-care mobile health application for common disease screening and early detection in low-and middle-income countries”. PIs Mark Hasegawa-Johnson (UIUC), Minh Do (UIUC), Hieu Pham (VinUni-VISHC), Dinh Nguyen (VinUni), Huyen Nguyen (VinUni), Vo Thanh Nhan (Vinmec), Ngoc-Minh Ho (Vinmec), Nghia Nguyen (Vinmec).

5. “Autonomous and Knowledge-guided Health Misinformation Defender Platform”. PIs: Heng Ji (UIUC), Khoa D. Doan (VinUni). Co-PIs: Wray Buntine (VinUni), Hieu H. Pham (VinUni) Andrew W. Taylor-Robinson (VinUni), K. David Harrison (VinUni) Bach Tran (HMU).

6. “From Causal Understanding of Healthy Longevity to Smart Health”. PIs: Lav R. Varshney (UIUC), Pablo D. Robles Granda (UIUC), Minh Do (UIUC), Khoa Doan (VinUni), Hieu Pham (VinUni), Wray Buntine (VinUni), Pranee Liamputtong (VinUni), Nguyen Thi Hoa Huyen (VinUni), Giap Thi Thanh Tinh (VinUni), Dung Trung Tran (VinUni, Vinmec).

7. “Ultrasensitive Lateral Flow Immunochromatography for Low-Cost Cancer Screening”. PIs: Joseph Irudayaraj (UIUC)< Minh Do (UIUC, VinUni), Tung Nguyen (VinUni), Tu Phan (VISHC), Phuong Doan (Vinmec), Hang Nguyen (Vinmec).

Congratulations to all PIs and Members. We are excited to see the potential of your team’s project to research novel sensing and digital technologies to provide widely accessible health monitoring and improvement for people all over the world, as well as training students from Vietnam and fostering a long-term academic and research collaboration between VinUni and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Please email Minh Do (minhdo@illinois.edu) or Hieu Pham (hieu.ph@vinuni.edu.vn) if you have any questions about the VISHC Award or need support in recruiting PhD and Postdoc students.

Congratulations again!

VISHC Team