PHORA: a decision tool for pulmonary arterial hypertension
Official title: PHORA-Pulmonary Hypertension Outcome Risk Assessment
Funded at Sentara Health · NIH-11386746 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project is building a computer tool to help doctors choose treatments and design better clinical trials for adults and children with pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Sentara Health NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Virginia Beach, United States) |
| Project start | January 5, 2024 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $543,703 |
| NIH project number | 7R01HL164906-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11386746 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adults and children diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension who receive care at or are enrolled through participating PAH centers, registries, or biobanks.
✕Less likely to help
People without pulmonary arterial hypertension or those whose care and data are not captured by the participating centers or registries are unlikely to directly benefit from this project.
What this research studies
You would be part of creating PHORA, a decision-support tool that combines data from many past PAH clinical trials, ongoing adult and pediatric registries, and biobanks to guide care. Doctors, engineers, data scientists, and palliative care experts will work together and include input from clinicians and patients so the tool fits real-world needs. The team will use advanced statistical and machine-learning methods, including Bayesian models, to predict outcomes and suggest treatment options. After development, PHORA will be tested across multiple centers in a prospective registry to see whether it improves treatment choices and long-term outcomes.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, PHORA could help doctors pick better treatments sooner and make clinical trials more efficient, which may improve health and reduce costs for people with PAH.
How similar studies have gone: Registry-driven decision-support approaches in related cardiovascular and pulmonary fields have shown promise, but applying multi-source Bayesian modeling across adult and pediatric PAH populations is a novel approach.
Where this research is happening
-
Sentara Health
Virginia Beach, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Benza, Raymond Louis — Sentara Health
- Study coordinator: Benza, Raymond Louis
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.