Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) awarded a $722,773 Project Grant to The Leland Stanford Junior University on July 15, 2026, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to support research on explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) for predicting depression in people with HIV (PWH). The project, scheduled for completion by March 31, 2031, addresses the critical clinical need to improve depression identification and management in PWH, a population experiencing major depressive disorder (MDD) at rates 3 times higher than the general population. The research will deliver an innovative XAI framework using knowledge graphs and multimodal data integration to elucidate the neurobiological, cognitive, sociodemographic, and environmental determinants underlying depression in PWH, with particular emphasis on interpretability to support clinical decision-making.

The project leverages prospective longitudinal data from 3,962 PWH across multiple existing studies, which will be harmonized to the National NeuroHIV Tissue Consortium repository to maximize research efficiency. By moving beyond conventional single-study analyses, the Stanford team will create an integrated, interpretable predictive model that captures bidirectional associations between depressive symptoms, immune dysregulation, and inflammatory markers in virally suppressed individuals. The deliverables will advance understanding of the overlapping symptomatology between depression, HIV infection, and antiretroviral therapy side effects, ultimately enabling more accurate identification and management of depression in this high-risk population.