May 1, 2025
Potent Precision Medicine
Pitt's partnership with Vizzhy, Inc. will use AI and multiomics to improve lives and reduce health care costs.
Designs on Aging-Ready
By Strategic Communications
The University of Pittsburgh’s partnership with Vizzhy Inc., a global artificial intelligence company, will tackle disease prevention and early detection through a patient-centric initiative that not only should improve lives but reduce the massive costs in treating chronic conditions.
Each year, the United States spends more than $3 trillion on managing conditions like obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s—a price tag that continues to climb. Early detection and prevention would not only help mitigate these costs but also lead to longer, healthier lives for patients.
The new partnership will create a new AI platform called GAINMED, which will use its own generative (like ChatGPT) and agentic (adaptable and proactive) intelligence to navigate “multiomics” data (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc.). The platform will advance what’s known as P5 medicine—care that’s predictive, preventive, personalized, precision and participatory.
“We’re using cutting-edge technology to create not only better understanding of diseases and health, but we’re also going to be able to provide better care to maintain health.”
Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean, School of Medicine
The initiative will also establish the Pitt-Vizzhy Longevity Labs, in partnership with the sequencing company Illumina, providing laboratory services to expand precision medicine across the United States and globally. By combining data analyzed at Pitt-Vizzhy Longevity Labs with AI, GAINMED will deliver comprehensive care plans, empowering clinicians and patients to make more informed and personalized treatment decisions.
The project’s first phase involves recruiting 20,000 participants and 200-plus primary care providers worldwide to garner and sequence samples. Pitt-Vizzhy Longevity Labs will expand across Europe and Asia to support data collection and analysis. One long-term goal is to deliver top-tier health care to underserved populations.
“We’re using cutting-edge technology to create not only better understanding of diseases and health, but we’re also going to be able to provide better care to maintain health,” says Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean, School of Medicine.
Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel says the effort marks an important moment for Pittsburgh—and for patients. “There are challenges that we’re all facing, but none more so than those who should be given access to the most innovative ways to receive treatment and care.”