For University of North Texas professor Rita Patterson, it's all about balance. The way a body sways is governed by a huge variety of factors, including a person's visual, somatosensory, and auditory systems, their physical ability, the medications they take, and various comorbidities. A sudden change could signal physical or cognitive decline, something especially relevant for aging patients.
So what if, in addition to weight and blood pressure, doctors measured a patient's sway during check-ups? In Patterson's lab, a new artificial intelligence tool is bringing this idea closer to reality.
Image caption: Rita Patterson
Image credit: University of North Texas
"We're working on another dynamic measurement," Patterson says. "The physician could plug in the numbers for the person and [have] it spit out a green, yellow, or red score immediately in real time at point of care. Then the physician can go off and look at the person's profile. Did they just change a medication? Did they just fall? Did they have another risk factor happen?"
Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death for Americans age 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One in four older Americans experience a fall each year, resulting in nine million injuries and three million emergency department visits. In many cases, these falls are directly related to a patient's cognitive decline; one 2024 study found that 10.6% of elderly adults who receive medical treatment after a fall are diagnosed with Alzheimer's or another type of dementia within the next year.
Regularly measuring sway could help doctors get patients the treatment they need faster, including Alzheimer's medication.
Patterson's research has already shown a connection between cognitive decline and balance issues. But for her, that just raises more questions.
"Is it balance problems first and then cognitive problems, or is it cognitive problems then balance problems?" she says. "We're thinking cognitive problems may precede balance, and if that's the case, I think that's a game changer for Alzheimer's research."
Key Takeaways
- In four years, the JH AITC has funded research projects in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- Researchers have published 42 research papers and brought seven new products to market.
- They've garnered a collective 54 awards and $11.7 million in follow-on funding.
With such serious stakes, it's no wonder that Patterson feels drawn to the potential of AI. According to Peter Abadir, co-principal investigator of the Johns Hopkins Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratory for Aging Research, or JH AITC, the rapidly advancing technology has opened up a growing frontier of medical possibilities.
"We are already seeing massive impact from AI on medicine in ways that were not expected," Abadir says. "The pace at which things are happening is extremely fast. ... I want to remind you, a few years ago, we had not heard of ChatGPT. Now we are in version five."
Patterson's team isn't the only group harnessing AI to help aging patients with JH AITC support:
- 100 miles away at Baylor University, a group of researchers is using disruptions in WiFi signals, or lack thereof, to detect when an at-home patient may be in crisis.
- More than 1,000 miles away at Case Western Reserve University, scientists are testing the feasibility of "robotic assistants" in private homes.
- Even farther, at Johns Hopkins University, Abadir and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering Najim Dehak are working with the FDA to develop floor sensors that can characterize gait patterns for older adults.
All of these projects, and many more like them, received pilot funding from the JH AITC. The center—along with similar ones at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst—received $20 million in 2021 from the National Institute on Aging to fund the development of AI technology for older adults. This money did not stay at Hopkins. Instead, the vast majority was distributed to teams across the country, funding cutting-edge research wherever it was most promising.
Over the past four years, the JH AITC has funded research projects in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As of December 2025, these projects have collectively resulted in 42 published research papers and brought seven new products to market, receiving a collective 54 awards and $11.7 million in follow-on funding.
According to Abadir, there is currently a 13-year gap between the average person's lifespan and healthspan, or the years they are able to live independently and in good health.
"We want to use AI technology to increase independence and eliminate the gap between the healthspan and lifespan of our older adults," he explains. "[The JH AITC] was a seed that we planted, and the seed has produced fruit."
The center currently funds research covering a wide range of topics, including cognitive decline, caregiver support, independent living, and end-of-life care. At Hopkins alone, one research team is developing a chatbot to serve as a digital care navigator, helping patients with dementia find and understand solutions to their problems. Another uses AI to build optimized models for neighborhood caregivers, enabling professionals to assist more at-home seniors at lower costs. A third is creating a prediction model to identify which Alzheimer's patients are most in need of palliative care. All of this research is made possible by the AITC.
According to Abadir, Hopkins is uniquely qualified to run a center like this, even compared to the other National Institute on Aging-funded AITC centers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, which have less of a focus on geriatrics.
"There's no place like Hopkins," he says. "Here, our vision is clear: Use science, engineering, and technology to transform aging from a period of decline into a stage of life defined by independence, resilience, and health."
