Launch Catch-Up — Grants Announced October 21, 2026.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst and UMass Chan Medical School announced four pilot research awards for digital health technologies, each providing $100,000 for a 12-month project.
The October 21 announcement marks the first awards through the Riccio Digital Medicine and Health Technology Initiative, a collaboration pairing engineering and computing researchers with medical specialists.
One team will study whether pulse-oximeter readings can help predict respiratory deterioration in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Another will examine whether AI-assisted analysis of retinal images can help identify progression toward advanced age-related macular degeneration.
The other projects focus on a wearable sensor for monitoring biomarkers relevant to gout and a ring-based blood-pressure device that could help identify changes associated with lupus flares.
The awards fund feasibility research. They do not establish that the devices already predict illness reliably or are ready for routine clinical use. The universities hope the pilot work will support larger collaborations and future external funding.
Sources UMass Amherst — October 21 Awards Announcement: https://www.umass.edu/news/article/riccio-digital-medicine-and-health-technology-initiative-awards-inaugural-pilot-grants