The mission of the Duke Institute for Health Innovation (DIHI) is to catalyze transformative innovations in health and healthcare, and to help cultivate a community of innovation and entrepreneurship across Duke University and the health enterprise.
In alignment with the its mission, the Duke Institute for Health Innovation is constantly seeking out innovations in care delivery. The annual request for applications (RFA) is a mechanism for designing and implementing innovations to address actual and important problems encountered by care providers, patients and their loved ones, and represent urgent health challenges nationally. The RFA is open to all faculty, staff, students, and trainees across Duke University and Duke University Health System.
The 2027 Duke Institute for Health Innovation (DIHI) Request for Applications is now open. We invite you to bring forward bold, practical, and scalable ideas that address high-priority challenges across our clinical enterprise.
This year’s cycle is focused on solutions that can accelerate transformation in the following areas:
| DIHI 2027 RFA Timeline | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sept 3, 2026 | DIHI RFA open for submission | |
| Oct 17, 2026 11:59 PM | Application due date | |
| Feb 2027 | Finalists – Presentation to leadership | |
| May 2027 | Funding start | |
| Nov 2027 | Midpoint reporting | |
Positively impacting clinical care in the real world by putting innovations into practice.
Increasing the speed to deliver value and expanding the potential for achievable innovation.
Expanding the capabilities of the individuals that make innovation possible.
Sepsis Watch is a deep learning model that leverages real-time EHR data to improve detection and treatment of sepsis in the hospital. It was successfully integrated into routine clinical care in November 2018 and has reshaped how local machine learning projects are executed.
Create a chest pain assessment tool which integrates with Epic using FHIR to rule-in or rule-out acute MI.
Implement an RFID system that could be integrated into the OR to measure instrument usage autonomously.
At our institute, we don’t just talk about innovation—we live it. Theories and strategies from some of the greatest thinkers on disruption and discovery guide our work daily. Below, we highlight key quotes from The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Idea Factory, showing how we intentionally follow their advice. Compiled and
Our team at the Duke Institute for Health Innovation published the first AI product label in healthcare in March 2020 in Nature Digital Medicine. The manuscript describing the ‘Model Facts’ label and the initial example are available here. The first Model Facts label was for the Sepsis Watch model. The publication
