(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – Researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital have been awarded a 2025 Amazon Web Services (AWS) Imagine Grant: Children’s Health Innovation Award, a funding opportunity designed to accelerate innovation to improve children’s health outcomes with the use of advanced cloud services.
The grant – a combination of funding and AWS computing credits – will support researchers in how they interpret and integrate rapid genome sequencing in their work to diagnose illness and disease for patients and their families.
With the support of the Children’s Health Innovation Award, Nationwide Children’s is launching GENiUS: GENomic analysis with enhanced AI for Understanding and Swift diagnosis. This project unites the Nationwide Children’s Office of Data Sciences with the Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine, the Division of Clinical Genetics and Genomics, and the Division of Neonatology. The goal is to combine electronic medical record (EMR) data with comprehensive genomic sequencing data, maximizing genetic testing’s use for the most vulnerable neonatal intensive care unit patients.
The AI-powered platform will identify which infants need rapid genome sequencing, automate complex interpretation, and will review past cases as new science emerges. GENiUS aims to cut delays in diagnosis by more than half and will double the number of NICU patients who receive a genetic diagnosis within two weeks. This more rapid diagnosis will allow health care providers to act more quickly to help improve outcomes, advance health equity, and cut avoidable costs.
“Signs of genomic diseases can often elude clinicians, and any tools we can add to their toolbox to catch them sooner are valuable – not only to care providers, but to families who are searching for answers,” said Peter White, PhD, chief data sciences officer at Nationwide Children’s. “Just because a diagnosis may not be immediate, does not mean we give up. Integrating data science within biomedical research is extremely complex, but worth the journey to improve outcomes.”
The launch of GENiUS is representative of the four areas of focus in the Office of Data Sciences: data lake, data intelligence, data translation and data mastery. All four of these strategic initiatives share an aspect of AI application, which holds remarkable promise for transforming the health care sector and offering innovative solutions to complex challenges.
“This year's AWS Children's Health Innovation Award recipients are truly inspiring,” said Allyson Fryhoff, Managing Director, Global Healthcare and Life Sciences at AWS. “These leading pediatric institutions are using AWS technology to transform how we care for children worldwide. From using generative AI for personalized treatment decisions to creating predictive analytics for disease prevention, their projects share a powerful vision: making high-quality care more accessible, predictive, and effective for every child. At AWS, we're proud to support this collaborative innovation that's building a future where every child can access the best possible care, informed by data and delivered with precision and compassion.”
About The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-25 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit free-standing pediatric health care systems providing unique expertise in pediatric population health, behavioral health, genomics and health equity as the next frontiers in pediatric medicine, leading to best outcomes for the health of the whole child. Integrated clinical and research programs are part of what allows Nationwide Children’s to advance its unique model of care. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s faculty train the next generation of pediatricians, scientists and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities in the U.S., supporting basic, clinical, translational, behavioral and population health research. The AWRI is comprised of multidisciplinary Centers of Emphasis paired with advanced infrastructure supporting capabilities such as technology commercialization for discoveries; gene- and cell-based therapies; and genome sequencing and analysis. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org/Research.
About the AWS Imagine Grant Children’s Health Innovation Award
Now in year two of a three-year, $10 million commitment by AWS to advance children’s health outcomes, CHIA recipient organizations will receive a total of over $2.5 million in cash funding and AWS computing credits, alongside expert technical guidance, to advance their projects.
To learn more about each organization’s vision in more detail, visit the AWS Imagine Grant CHIA webpage and sign up to be notified about future cycles.