2025 HBHI Truveta Pilot Grant – Phase II Awardees
HBHI is excited to announce the 2025 Truveta Pilot Grant – Phase II awardees. From the many strong applications from across Johns Hopkins University, HBHI has awarded 6 projects with staffing support and 5 with data fee support.
Full Awards
Project title: Effectiveness and Heterogeneity of Response to Second-Generation Anti-Obesity Medications and Metformin for Antipsychotic-Induced Weight Gain in Real-World Settings
PI(s): Ariana Marie Chao (SON & SOM) and Eric Slade (SON & BSPH)
Co-I(s): Gail Daumit (SOM); Jiayi Tong (BSPH); Joe Levy(BSPH); Kimia Ghobadi(WSE)
Project Description:
Strategies for mitigating antipsychotic-induced weight gain are urgently needed. There is currently limited research on GLP-1 RA use and outcomes among people taking antipsychotics. This HBHI pilot study will utilize a nationwide sample of over 1 million adults prescribed antipsychotics from Truveta to further develop evidence on the comparative safety and effectiveness and long-term sustained use of GLP-1 RAs and metformin.
Project title: A real-world data-informed approach to optimize telehealth care for cancer patients
PI: Elham Hatef (SOM & BSPH)
Co-I(s): Klaus Wilhelm Lemke (BSPH); Christopher A. Kitchen (SOM)
Project Description:
This HBHI-supported phase II project will test the feasibility of using large-scale EHR data and advanced analytics to characterize cancer care (e.g., care settings, clinical features) alongside individual and community attributes. It will identify which post-diagnosis cancer patient cohorts are most likely to benefit from telehealth services. By linking EHR and community-level data and applying supervised machine learning, the team will build models to predict outcomes such as case resolution and healthcare utilization (hospitalizations and emergency visits) after symptom and toxicity management delivered via telehealth versus in-person care. Findings will guide data-driven decisions about when telehealth is appropriate and effective in cancer management.
Project title: Leveraging Truveta Data to Study Transfemoral and Transcarotid Artery Stenting Use and Outcomes
PI: Caitlin W. Hicks (SOM)
Co-I(s): David P Stonko (SOM); Chen Dun (SOM); Jesse A. Columbo
Project Description:
This proposal leverages Truveta’s uniquely detailed electronic health record and linked claims data to study transfemoral (TFCAS) and transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR) procedures—two approaches to carotid stenting that differ markedly in technique and risk profile. The investigators will compare utilization trends and perioperative outcomes of TFCAS versus TCAR and develop a machine learning algorithm to distinguish between the two procedures in national claims datasets. This work addresses a critical data gap that currently prevents accurate claims-based research in carotid stenting. The resulting insights and analytic tools will enable future large-scale studies of long-term stroke risk and comparative effectiveness, directly informing clinical practice and policy.
Project title: Epidemiology, Diagnostic Pathways, and Outcomes of Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) in a Multi-System EHR Network
PI: Johannes Thrul (BSPH)
Co-I(s): Amrit Baral (BSPH); Janardan Devkota(BSPH); Matthew Eisenberg (BSPH); David Wolinsky (BSPH)
Project Description:
Our Phase II Truveta project will investigate the epidemiology, diagnostic pathways, and clinical management of Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) using Truveta’s multi-system electronic health record network. CHS is a condition characterized by recurrent episodes of severe nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain among individuals who use cannabis frequently. It is an increasingly recognized complication of chronic cannabis use, yet remains understudied, often misdiagnosed, and inconsistently treated in emergency care settings. By examining patterns of diagnosis, imaging, treatment, and readmissions across diverse health systems, this project will generate the first large-scale evidence to inform diagnostic stewardship and improve patient care for CHS.
Project title: Antifungal therapy in the intensive care unit
PI: Robbert Flick (SOM)
Co-I: Theodore J Iwashyna (SOM, BSPH; Carey)
Project Description:
Septic shock from fungal infections has higher mortality and diagnostic complexity compared to bacterial pathogens, but contemporary estimates of the incidence of fungal infections in septic shock are lacking and the role of empiric antifungal therapy in septic shock patients is unclear. We aim to leverage both the large, nationally representative study population offered by Truveta and the highly granular nature of its data to better understand the current epidemiology of fungal infections in critically ill patients with septic shock. Our work also seeks to understand heterogeneity of provider practices in the diagnosis and management of fungal infections among septic shock patients. This work will directly inform a future project using Truveta data to develop and validate a bedside-ready clinical risk prediction tool to guide more precise administration of empiric antifungal therapy in the intensive care unit.
Project title: Real-World Evidence of Amyloid-related Imaging Abnormalities (ARIA) among Patients Prescribed Lecanemab for Alzheimer’s Disease
PI: Ravi Gupta (SOM)
Co-I(s): Joe Levy (BSPH); Caleb Alexander (SOM)
Project Description:
This pilot study will generate real-world evidence on the safety of lecanemab, a new Alzheimer’s treatment, by examining the incidence, timing, and patient characteristics associated with brain bleeding or swelling (known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities or ARIA) in treated versus untreated patients. This work builds on a Phase 1 Truveta Pilot Award characterizing patterns of lecanemab initiation and discontinuation. Because ARIA represents a clinically significant adverse event associated with anti-amyloid therapies, our findings will provide critical real-world evidence to inform both clinical decision-making and policy regarding the safe and effective use of lecanemab. As lecanemab and other anti-amyloid treatments become increasingly integrated into routine care, this work will be essential to ensuring that their benefits are realized while minimizing patient harm.
Data Fee Awards
Project title: Population-Level Outcomes of Rituximab Therapy in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis
PI: Brendan Antiochos (SOM)
Co-I: Brendan Denvir(SOM)
Project Description:
Our project uses Truveta to examine the comparative effectiveness and long-term safety of immunosuppressant therapies in ANCA-associated vasculitis. In particular, we are investigating the relationship between chronic rituximab use, secondary immunodeficiency, and infection risk. Truveta enables longitudinal analyses in this rare disease population, where evidence on long-term outcomes remains limited.
Project title: Establishing an Analytic Powerhouse for Risk Prediction Models in Nationwide Clinical Data: A Pilot Study in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation
PI: Kunihiro Matsushita (BSPH & SOM)
Project Description:
Our project leverages Truveta data to evaluate the real-world performance of two widely used risk prediction tools, CHA₂DS₂-VASc for stroke risk and HAS-BLED for bleeding risk, in patients with atrial fibrillation in the US. If their performance is suboptimal, we will try to develop and validate new prediction models. The ultimate goal is to help patients and clinicians make evidence-based decisions for the use of anticoagulation, balancing the conflicting risks of stroke and bleeding.
Project title: Using Real-world Data to Understand the Intersection of Heart Failure and Cognitive Impairment
PI: Martha Abshire Saylor (SON)
Co-I(s): Eric Slade (SON & BSPH); Katherine A. Ornstein (SON); Quan Qi (SON); Aaron L. Troy (SOM); Zhang Zhang (BSPH)
Project Description:
Our phase 2 project will improve understanding of clinical management of persons with heart failure and cognitive impairment. We will investigate use of guideline directed medical therapy and palliative care and their impact on healthcare costs and utilization. We seek to leverage our experiences with Truveta to examine real world clinical data from hospitalizations, subsequent pharmacologic and palliative care management and the cost of this care. We expect that this study will inform future studies to understand best practices for pharmacologic and palliative care management of heart failure with cognitive impairment.
Project title: Beyond survival: Developing and validating patient-centered quality metrics for long-term outcome and utilization in cardiac surgery
PI: Hanghang Wang (SOM)
Co-I(s): Gordon Gao (Carey); James S. Gammie (SOM); Weiguang Wang (Carey); Leon Fan (SOM); Arshana Welivita (Carey)
Project Description:
This project plans to develop a comprehensive, graded quality measure for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) outcomes and validate the measure against existing benchmarks. Furthermore, they aim to explore how the graded outcome measure can be integrated into AI models to generate risk-adjusted treatment recommendations and counterfactual recovery comparisons across surgical approaches.
Project title: The evaluation of health information technology in dementia care to promote adoption and sustained use among individuals with MCI/ADRD
PI: Zhang Zhang
Co-I(s): Dan Polsky (BSPH; Carey; SON; SOM); Nancy Schoenborn (SOM)
Project Description:
This project investigates how health information technology (HIT) is adopted and used among individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Using Truveta’s nationwide Electronic Health Records data across 30+ U.S. health systems among over 2 million individuals with MCI/ADRD, the study will identify who adopts HIT, the types and intensity of use, and factors influencing sustained engagement. The project will develop novel algorithms to identify HIT adoption in EHR data and apply rigorous econometric methods to assess utilization patterns. Findings will inform targeted clinical interventions and policy strategies to advance equitable access to technology-enabled dementia care.