Project Grant K01HL186236

Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) awarded a $170,892 Project Grant (CFDA 93.837 – Cardiovascular Diseases Research) to Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai on June 22, 2026, for a five-year performance period concluding May 31, 2031. This training grant supports Dr. Oren Cohen's development as an independent investigator through structured, mentored instruction in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI)-based clinical research methodologies applied to cardiovascular outcomes in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) populations.

The primary deliverables under this award include: (1) development of clinically actionable ML models using causal survival forests to generate individualized treatment effect scores that stratify OSA patients by likelihood of cardiovascular disease benefit from continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy; and (2) execution of in silico trial emulation to identify patient inclusion/exclusion criteria and treatment-responsive outcomes that will inform the design of future randomized controlled trials. Upon completion, the research is expected to clarify whether prior null findings in CPAP efficacy trials reflect uniform treatment response or mask clinically significant heterogeneity, thereby advancing precision cardiovascular risk stratification and treatment personalization in the OSA patient population.