Bringing AI & data science to medicine in Hawai‘i & the Pacific
PAC-AID — the Pacific Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in Medicine.
Advancing AI and data science to improve health in Hawai‘i and the Pacific.
Supported by NIH / NIGMS award P20GM161995.
A nucleating site for AI in Pacific health
The Pacific Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in Medicine (PAC-AID) is an NIH / NIGMS Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE, Phase 1) at the University of Hawai‘i. Hawai‘i is one of the most ethnically diverse places on Earth, with no majority group — yet data from indigenous and Pacific populations have too often been missing from the datasets that train modern AI. PACAID exists to change that.
Our long-term goal is to build self-sustaining shared cores and an AI and biomedical data-science program that continually trains investigators to use advanced data science across all available biomedical data — improving health outcomes in the diverse communities of Hawai‘i and the Pacific.
How we do it
- Train a next-generation workforce to conduct biomedical research with artificial intelligence and advanced machine learning.
- Build state-of-the-art cores and research projects that create real training opportunities for local investigators and foster collaboration across the national IDeA network.
- Mentor through a national-caliber Advisory Committee and Mentoring Team, guiding research project leaders toward independent, sustained funding.
Services for every affiliated investigator
From data curation to AI modeling to mentoring — PACAID's cores are resources you can draw on, not just org-chart boxes.
Administrative Core
Integrates all Center operations — fiscal administration, the External Advisory Committee and Mentoring Team, evaluation, the Pilot Projects Program, and the annual workshop series.
- Mentoring & career-development planning for project leaders
- Pilot Projects Program administration and review
- Evaluation, metrics, and NIH reporting support
- Annual workshops, seminars, and site visits
Core Leads: John A. Shepherd, PhD · Youping Deng, PhD
MEDAI Core
The center's technical engine: curates and harmonizes clinical, imaging, and multi-omics data, then builds and applies AI/ML and large-language-model methods so investigators can take on problems that were not solvable before.
- Data curation, de-identification, and harmonization
- AI/ML model development and interpretation
- LLM / NLP methods for clinical text
- Imaging analysis and deep-learning computer vision
- Hands-on ML/AI workshops and tutorials
Core Leads: Yuanyuan Fu, PhD · Peter Sadowski, PhD
Four projects, one mission
Early-career investigators lead the Center's inaugural research projects, each paired with internal and external mentors.
AI triage of skin lesions via 2D photography
Trains a deep-learning computer-vision platform to triage skin lesions from ordinary 2D photographs, with dermatologist and pathology ground truth.
Lead: Kevin Cassel, PhD
Multi-omics of pancreatic cancer in NHPI & Asian populations
Integrates clinical and molecular data — transcriptional subtypes and the tumor microenvironment — to study pancreatic cancer in Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Asian populations.
Lead: Elizabeth Nakasone, MD, PhD
Systems functional genomics of congenital heart disease
Combines GWAS/omics analyses with hiPSC-cardiomyocyte validation to dissect the genetic basis of congenital heart disease.
Lead: Yiqiang Zhang, PhD
AI/ML causal discovery of environmental toxicants on fetal outcomes
Applies causal-inference and machine-learning methods to uncover how environmental toxicant exposures affect fetal outcomes.
Lead: Jonathan Huang, PhD, MPH
Pilot Projects Program
The PACAID Pilot Projects Program funds early-stage projects that apply AI and data science to human health in Hawai‘i and the Pacific. The Fall 2026 cycle will make up to two awards of $50,000 each — pairing direct funding with hands-on access to the MEDAI Core, Hawai‘i's first biomedical AI data center, and curated representative datasets, to help investigators build toward independent research funding.
Leadership, investigators & advisors
Leadership
MEDAI Core Directors
Research Project Leaders
Mentoring Team
Built with our community
Latest from PACAID
Jun 22, 2026
Coming soon: Fall 2026 Pilot Projects Program call for applications
PAC-AID will soon announce a call for applications for the Fall 2026 cycle of its Pilot Projects Program — and we want investigators across...
Jun 21, 2026
University of Hawaiʻi AI data center aims to improve healthcare
More than $12 million in federal funding has spurred researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center and the John A. Burns School of...
Jun 14, 2026
PACAID program website launched
The PACAID COBRE program website is live. Check back here for pilot grant calls, workshop announcements, and program news.
Contact PACAID
Questions about the Center, the pilot program, cores, or collaborating? We'd love to hear from you.
PAC-AID — Pacific Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in MedicineUniversity of Hawai‘i Cancer Center, Honolulu
701 Ilalo Street · Honolulu, HI 96813
Contact PD/PI: John A. Shepherd, PhD · MPI: Youping Deng, PhD