The Institute Researchers Awarded $7M ARPA-H Grant

A team of Vanderbilt University researchers has been awarded up to $7 million in funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) through its UPGRADE program to develop ARMOR-H, an autonomous cybersecurity system designed to protect hospitals and life-critical medical devices from cyberattacks.

The project is led by Himanshu Neema, principal research scientist at Vanderbilt’s Institute for Software Integrated Systems, with Sandeep Neema, director of the institute, and James Weimer, assistant professor of computer science and biomedical engineering, serving as co-principal investigators. Together, the team is developing innovative tools that use digital twins, emulated hospital environments, and human-in-the-loop machine learning to proactively detect and remediate vulnerabilities without disrupting patient care.

Additional Vanderbilt researchers contributing to the project include Yu Huang and Kevin Leach, assistant professors of computer science, who bring expertise in vulnerability discovery and assured patching. The effort is further strengthened through close collaboration with experts at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, as well as industry partners and Microsoft, ensuring the research is grounded in real-world hospital operations and scalable for deployment.

ARMOR-H represents a significant step forward in securing healthcare infrastructure while prioritizing patient safety and operational resilience.