Dr. Jeffrey Keller, Hibernia National Bank/Edward G. Schleider Endowed Chair at LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and Sara Seifert, president of Minnesota HealthSolutions, have received a new National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award to develop an innovative digital health platform that will help parents support teenagers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as they learn to drive. Teen drivers with ADHD represent one of the highest risk groups for motor vehicle crashes.
The Phase I SBIR award of $353,306, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, supports the collaboration between Pennington Biomedical and Minnesota HealthSolutions. The focus of the project is to create a commercialized product to meet the needs of teen ADHD drivers and their parents. The project will develop and test a smartphone-based platform that combines driving data, personalized coaching and parent engagement strategies to improve driving safety for teens with ADHD, who face a significantly higher risk of motor vehicle crashes than their peers.
Driving requires attention, decision-making, memory, multitasking and quick physical responses. ADHD can affect many of these cognitive functions, increasing the likelihood of distracted driving, speeding, hard braking and other risky behaviors associated with crashes.
Louisiana has the highest motor vehicle insurance costs in the U.S., and traffic crashes impose $10.5 billion in economic costs each year. Researchers believe technologies that reduce risky driving behaviors and improve the management of health conditions affecting driving could have a meaningful impact on roadway safety and quality of life for drivers.
The new platform will use smartphone-based telematics to monitor driving behaviors while allowing parents and teens to set shared goals, receive personalized feedback and track progress over time. The app is also designed to provide information that can help physicians better understand driving-related challenges associated with ADHD and support more informed treatment decisions.
Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States, and adolescents with ADHD face an even greater risk. This project will create a commercially available product that gives families practical, data-driven tools to encourage safer driving habits while helping parents and healthcare providers better support young drivers during one of the most important transitions to independence."
Dr. Jeffrey Keller, Director, Institute for Dementia Research and Prevention
The award builds upon a previous NIH SBIR project led by Keller and collaborators from 2022 to 2025 that developed the StreetCoach Safer Driver Program for older adults. That program evaluated more than 11,000 real-world drives and demonstrated the feasibility of using digital technologies to identify risky driving behaviors while delivering personalized interventions. Findings from that work have resulted in multiple peer-reviewed publications and established the foundation for expanding the technology to new populations.
"This new project represents the next step in translating innovative research into commercially available and real-world solutions," Keller said. "By extending StreetCoach to families with teen drivers who have ADHD, we have the opportunity to improve roadway safety, reduce injuries and provide families with greater confidence as teens develop safe driving skills."
Researchers will work closely with parents and teens throughout the development process to ensure the platform meets the needs of families. During the Phase I project, the team will develop a prototype and evaluate its usability and acceptability with intended users before pursuing larger clinical studies and commercialization opportunities. The project is expected to conclude in spring 2027.
"This award reflects the tremendous value of partnerships that bring together academic research and industry innovation to solve real-world health challenges," said Dr. Jennifer Rood, Interim Senior Vice Chancellor and Executive Director of Pennington Biomedical. "Helping teens with ADHD become safer, more confident drivers has the potential to improve the health and well-being of families while reducing the human and economic toll of motor vehicle crashes. Programs like the NIH Small Business Innovation Research initiative are also critical because they help move promising discoveries beyond the laboratory and toward commercialization, ensuring innovative technologies can reach the people who need them most."
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