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Funded Projects

Podiatric Health Equity Enhancement Trial (PHEET)

Awarded in 2026
Collaborative Health Sciences Program
Updated Oct 13, 2026

At a Glance

Rural patients face a greater risk of major amputation from diabetic foot ulcers, in part because of limited connections to advanced specialty care. Building on a previously developed triage system, this project will bring rural patients and clinicians together with urban specialists to create a coordinated pathway that connects patients to specialty care when needed. The approach aims to improve coordination between rural and urban health systems, expand access to timely care and reduce preventable amputations across rural areas.

Collaborators: Kristen Pecanac, PhD, associate professor, School of Nursing, UW—Madison; Emmanuel Sampene, PhD, senior scientist, Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, UW—Madison

More Funded Projects

research icon: microscope and stethoscope
Collaborative Health Sciences Program

The Missing Link in Home-Based Hospital Care: Building Systems that See, Support and Sustain Caregivers

Awarded in 2026
As hospital-level care increasingly moves into patients’ homes, family members and loved ones often take on essential caregiving responsibilities without having their own needs formally assessed or supported. This project will partner with caregivers to develop a practical tool, integrated into the electronic health record, which helps care teams identify caregiver needs and connect them with appropriate health and community resources. The work could establish a new model for recognizing and supporting the unpaid caregivers who make home-based hospital care possible. Collaborators: Jennifer Woodard, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine; Peter Kleinschmidt, MD, associate professor, Department of Medicine
research icon: microscope and stethoscope
Collaborative Health Sciences Program

Implementation of Opportunistic Cardiovascular Risk Prediction Using Explainable AI-driven Abdominal CT Biomarkers

Awarded in 2026
CT scans performed for routine medical care can contain valuable information about a patient’s risk for heart attack or stroke, but this information often goes unused. This project will integrate a computer-based tool that automatically identifies cardiovascular risk from existing scans, into routine care and study whether alerting physicians leads to more patients receiving preventive treatment. The approach could transform patient scans into a powerful tool for preventing heart disease and expanding preventive care. Collaborators: Perry Pickhardt, MD, professor and chief, Department of Radiology; Matthew Kalscheur, MD, FHRS, associate professor, Department of Medicine; Sarina Schrager, MD, MS, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health; Mary Henningfield, PhD, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health; Mary Ryan Baumann, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Population Health Sciences and Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics