Bethesda, MD – The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) is part of a team, led by Tufts University, along with Northwestern Medicine, that has been selected by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) as an awardee of the Sprint for Women’s Health. The three universities will collectively receive a $3 million award over two years through the Sprint for Women’s Health spark track for early-stage research efforts, with USU receiving $900,000 of the total award.
The multi-site collaborative team, with Principal Investigators Dr. Manish Bhomia from USU, Dr. Sameer Sonkusale from Tufts University and Dr. Steven Cohen from Northwestern Medicine will develop a novel multi-modal smart band-aid for quantification of chronic pain in women. Chronic pain conditions disproportionately affect women, and existing methods for pain assessment are often subjective and inconsistent. The smart band-aid seeks to leverage a combination of biochemical sensing and wearable technology to provide clinicians with an objective, longitudinal view of pain responses. By monitoring multiple cardiorespiratory and biochemical markers, and leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, the team aims to develop an objective scoring system for accurate pain management, while also reducing gender bias in treatment.
“Our goal is to empower women to better understand and communicate their pain experiences,” said Bhomia, senior scientist with the Henry M Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine in support of USU, and assistant professor, USU Department of Pathology. “This innovative solution not only offers a new way to assess pain but also aims to bridge the gap in current healthcare approaches, making pain management more effective and accessible for women from all backgrounds.”
“This project is a breakthrough in how we understand and approach pain in women," said Dr. Barbara Knollman-Ritschel, co-investigator and professor of pathology at USU. "By incorporating real-time biochemical and physiological data, we're moving beyond the limitations of subjective pain assessments. This technology has the potential to reshape pain management for women, offering more precise, personalized care and closing critical gaps in how pain is understood and treated."
ARPA-H launched the Sprint for Women’s Health in February, with First Lady Jill Biden announcing the funding as a significant deliverable from the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. The initiative attracted an unprecedented number of submissions, reflecting a national commitment to advancing women's health.
The ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health is conducted in collaboration with the Investor Catalyst Hub of ARPANET-H, the agency’s nationwide health innovation network that connects people, innovators, and institutions to accelerate better health outcomes for everyone. Over the next two years, the collaborative team will work closely with an ARPA-H Program Manager and the Investor Catalyst Hub, receiving milestone-based payments aligned with research activities and performance objectives.
About USU:
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, founded by an act of Congress in 1972, is the nation’s federal health sciences university and the academic heart of the Military Health System. USU students are primarily active-duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who receive specialized education in tropical and infectious diseases, TBI and PTSD, disaster response and humanitarian assistance, global health, and acute trauma care. USU also has graduate programs in oral biology, biomedical sciences and public health committed to excellence in research. The University's research program covers a wide range of areas important to both the military and public health. For more information about USU and its programs, visit www.usuhs.edu.
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