Mercy gets grant for AI chemo assistance initiative

The Washington, D.C.-based Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute has awarded a grant to Mercy.

The four-year funding award from PCORI's Health Systems Implementation Initiative goes toward Mercy's Chen Chemotherapy Model, according to a news release. The grant amount was $2.5 million.

With the assistance of artificial intelligence, the Chen Chemotherapy Model is a smart-texting platform that helps chemotherapy patients with their symptoms and follow-up care.

“I know Mercy’s cancer patients will be thrilled to learn of the program expansion, though it will take time to build,” said Dr. Jay Carlson, Mercy oncology medical director, Mercy Research clinical chair and co-principal investigator for the project, in the release. “There are many behind-the-scenes technology builds that we will need to complete before we can implement this exciting expansion.”

The Chen Chemotherapy Model is named for Jiajing Chen, who served as its lead data scientist for Mercy but died to cancer in 2023.