Dr. Michael Dunham, Professor and Section Head of Pediatric Otolaryngology at LSUHSC, was recently awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) collaborative grant titled Collaborative Research: SaTC 2.0: RES: A Privacy-Preserving Framework for Sharing and Learning from Scarce Medical Data. The multi-institutional grant brings together researchers at Kansas State University, Louisiana State University, and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. The award totaling $1.2 million over three years will support development and improvement of patient safety using AI supported-medical surveillance tools. This collaborative research effort addresses a pressing challenge in modern healthcare: enabling secure and privacy-preserving access to patient video data for research and clinical applications. The project seeks to develop novel AI frameworks that protect patient privacy while facilitating meaningful data-driven insights across institutions. The project aligns with NSF’s increased emphasis on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, particularly in domains like healthcare where data sensitivity is paramount. Dr. Dunham will employ his Eyes-On Decannulation Detector (E-O-DD), a patented technology designed to enhance remote visual monitoring of tracheostomy-dependent infants to reduce the risk of serious complications resulting from tracheostomy-tube dislodgment.