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GrowSmart: Pilot trial of an AI-based obesity prevention tool in pediatric primary care

Award Number: R01DK146305
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES & DIGESTIVE & KIDNEY DISEASES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/07/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2029

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GrowSmart: Pilot trial of an AI-based obesity prevention tool in pediatric primary care - PROJECT SUMMARY Childhood obesity is a significant long-term public health problem affecting nearly 1 in 5 children in the United States and contributing to significant physical and mental health problems, including diabetes and kidney disease. Decades of rigorous research have shown that obesity develops in early childhood and that once a child has developed obesity, treatment is challenging. However, front-line pediatric primary care providers (PCPs) face challenges in identifying children at risk for developing obesity and counseling families on preventive healthy lifestyle behaviors. This project aims to fill this important gap by testing GrowSmart, a tool developed over seven years by our interdisciplinary team to help PCPs understand a child’s predicted growth and risk for obesity using advanced machine learning applied to electronic health record (EHR) data. The current tool has been extensively validated using large-scale data across different periods and geographic regions and tested with PCPs to improve its usability and acceptability. For this project we plan to integrate GrowSmart into the EHR workflow and conduct formative usability testing with PCPs to ensure that the resulting tool is acceptable and useful to PCPs (Aim 1). We will then conduct a pilot cluster RCT at twenty primary care clinics in the Nemours network to test the impact of GrowSmart on PCP discussion of healthy lifestyle behaviors with families using customized natural language processing methods (Aim 2). We will also assess the preliminary impact of GrowSmart on child growth using advanced statistical methods to understand growth trajectories (Aim 3). Throughout the pilot study, we will employ community- engaged strategies to ensure the design and implementation of the study are feasible and that findings from the study can be used to improve clinical practice. Having a reliable predictive tool that is integrated into the clinical workflow of PCPs can facilitate timely discussions between PCPs and families to promote healthy lifestyles and healthy growth in early childhood. Because of the interoperable design of GrowSmart, this pilot trial will be easily scaled for larger multi-site studies to support childhood obesity efforts in multiple healthcare systems.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2027 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2027	2026	THE NEMOURS FOUNDATION	1600 ROCKLAND RD	WILMINGTON	DE	19803	NEW CASTLE	USA	Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research	000	1	10/14/2026	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $358,144 )
2026	2026	THE NEMOURS FOUNDATION	1600 ROCKLAND RD	WILMINGTON	DE	19803	NEW CASTLE	USA	Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research	000	1	9/7/2026	NEW	$358,144
														Subtotal = $358,144

Grand Total All Awards = $358,144

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GrowSmart: Pilot trial of an AI-based obesity prevention tool in pediatric primary care

Award Number: R01DK146305

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES & DIGESTIVE & KIDNEY DISEASES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/07/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2029

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