Photo credit: AACOM
Faculty from the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) have earned national recognition and a $30,000 award through the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) All In! Vegas Pitch Showdown, held at AACOM’s annual conference in April.
The VCOM team was selected as a top innovator among osteopathic medical schools for its approach to technology-enabled medical education. The award-winning faculty team includes:
Fred Rawlins, II, DO, senior associate dean for Simulation and Technology and associate professor for Emergency Medicine at VCOM-Virginia
- Gunnar Brolinson, DO, VCOM’s vice president for research and professor of Family Medicine and Sports Medicine
- Alexis Stoner, PhD, MPH, assistant dean for campus research at VCOM-Carolinas and discipline chair of Epidemiology, Public Health, and Preventive Medicine
The team has directed the award to support AAICE Labs, part of the Alabama Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AAICE), a long-standing VCOM partner.
This recognition highlights the innovative work of our faculty and their commitment to leveraging technology to improve medical education and patient care. By investing this award into AAICE Labs, we are strengthening the infrastructure that enables collaboration, research, and expanded healthcare access in rural and medically underserved areas.
The funding will support the expansion of AAICE Labs’ technical capabilities, including the establishment of a dedicated facility in Auburn, Alabama. The lab is developing a secure data room with enhanced servers, storage systems, and network infrastructure. As part of this effort, AAICE is scaling its high-performance computing platform to support increased demand.
These upgrades enabled by this funding will:
Enable multiple users to simultaneously access advanced computing resources
- Support the development of an efficient billing and user management system
- Improve customer and research support capabilities
- Expand capacity for collaborative academic and clinical projects
The AAICE Labs platform already supports VCOM’s Via Learning Management System (VLMS), which integrates medical education, patient monitoring, and care delivery. The platform also supports research collaborations with institutions including Tuskegee University, the University of South Alabama, and others, which have engaged with AAICE over the past three years.
Directing this award to AAICE Labs allows us to accelerate the technological backbone that supports both education and research at VCOM. This infrastructure is essential for enabling even more innovation across additional institutions and expanding access to healthcare.”
As a founding partner of AAICE, VCOM continues to play a central role in shaping collaborative initiatives that bridge medical education, research, and emerging technologies. “VCOM’s decision to channel this award into AAICE Labs reflects exactly the kind of partnership that drives our mission forward,” said Alyssa Hall, executive director at AAICE.
This latest investment reinforces VCOM’s commitment to innovation-driven partnerships that improve outcomes for both learners and patients.