Lung Health Research Grants
Funding Research That Supports Our Mission
Breathe PA provides grant funding for research projects that support our mission to help western Pennsylvanians breathe better and live healthier. Breathe PA funds two tracks of research, each focused on improving the lung health of western Pennsylvania:
- Clinical Research
- Social Innovations
The clinical research track will concentrate on studying lung health to enhance medical knowledge and improve patient care and experiences. Meanwhile, the social innovations track will focus on creating and implementing new processes, ideas, or organizational models to address social issues and improve the well-being of patients with lung disease.
We issue annual request for proposals (RFPs) for the purpose of conducting research leading to improved care and outcomes for patients with lung disease. Funding is made available to individuals, groups, and institutions committed to improving health outcomes for individuals with lung and respiratory disease. Funding announcements are made at the end of June.
2025 - 2026 Awardees
Author: Dr. Georgios Kitsios
Title: AIRWISe: Automated Interpretation of chest Radiographs for Weighting Infection Severity
Summary: The AIRWISe project (Automated Interpretation of chest Radiographs for Weighting Infection Severity) is a cutting-edge initiative to improve how pneumonia severity is assessed using chest X-rays. While chest X-rays are the most common imaging test for lung infections, their interpretation often varies between clinicians, limiting their usefulness for guiding treatment decisions. AIRWISe aims to solve this by creating an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that provides consistent, objective, and easy-to-understand assessments of pneumonia severity..
Unlike many existing AI models that rely on imperfect data, AIRWISe is built using expert-annotated images from over 1,000 patients, ensuring high data quality and clinical relevance. The project will also integrate features from chest CT scans to enhance the accuracy of predictions and create visual overlays—such as color-coded heatmaps—that help clinicians understand and trust the AI’s findings.
Importantly, AIRWISe will be used to analyze chest X-rays taken over time, helping doctors track how a patient’s pneumonia is progressing and whether treatments are working. The goal is to lay the groundwork for future clinical use of this tool, with the potential to improve pneumonia care in Western Pennsylvania and beyond.
This one-year project will deliver a validated, interpretable AI prototype and serve as the foundation for larger-scale clinical studies in the future.
Author: Dr. Tina Ndoh
Title: Mon Valley Environmental Health (MoVE Health) Intiative
Summary: The Mon Valley Environmental Health (MoVE Health) initiative addresses severe environmental health disparities in Southwest Pennsylvania’s Monongahela Valley, where industrial air pollution poses significant risks to residents, particularly near US Steel’s Clairton Coke Works. In partnership with Valley Clean Air Now (VCAN), the initiative will engage 500 community members in a study assessing respiratory health, air quality awareness, and protective behaviors. The project includes spirometry testing, tailored health education, and follow-up evaluations to measure impact. Findings will guide Breathe PA’s outreach, support policy advocacy, and evaluate a replicable environmental health literacy model—empowering residents with tools to reduce pollution exposure and improve health outcomes.
Author: Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD)
Title: Enhanced Video Direct Observed Therapy
Summary: Directly observed therapy (DOT) is recommended by the CDC to ensure completion of active Tuberculosis treatment. Video DOT (VDOT) is an innovative alternative to in-person DOT. VDOT allows for better patient focused care, increased patient compliance, and eases the process of taking daily medication. The Allegheny County Health Department TB Program will implement VDOT capabilities utilizing patient surveys delivered via electronic health record (EHR) EPIC and asynchronous videos uploaded via secure delivery through the EHR.
The anticipated outcome is that by completion of the project, all non-new active cases of TB (non-new being on treatment for greater than one month) will have been transitioned to VDOT with provider approval. Patients will collect medication monthly at clinic and perform either synchronous or asynchronous VDOT with TB program nursing staff daily.
Author: Dr. Franziska Rosser
Title: Air Pollution, childhood asthma, and airway endotypes in Western PA
Summary: The project will utilize preexisting data from children recruited from UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh to better understand how outdoor air pollution is associated with type of childhood asthma, if asthma-type modifies the relationship of outdoor air pollution and asthma outcomes, if reported use of an air quality index is associated with improved asthma outcomes, and to provide insights into healthcare provider discussion of OAP in children with asthma. We expect that our results will provide novel insights into how outdoor air pollution is associated with childhood asthma, thereby leading to improved treatment and intervention strategies to improve outcomes for children.
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