Clinicians, researchers, and industry leaders convened at the Secchia Center in Grand Rapids on September 10 for the interdisciplinary research forum, The Future of Health: AI’s Role in Precision Medicine.
Featuring presentations from industry and academic perspectives, as well as a panel discussion on ethics and policy, this forum included MSU faculty from several colleges, as well as representatives from Corewell Health, Henry Ford Health, and outside companies including Atman Health, DigiTx Partners, and 7wire Ventures. Moderating the event was Charles Hong, Chair of MSU Department of Medicine. Following a special welcome message from Vice President for Research and Innovation Doug Gage, the afternoon progressed with several presentations and rich discussions about the advancement of AI in healthcare applications.
Industry Insights
Three presentations provided insights on the impacts of AI and healthcare from an industry perspective. Presenters were Rahul Deo, Co-Founder, Chief Medical Officer, and Chief Product Officer of Atman Health, a venture-backed startup whose mission is to redefine clinical workflows through artificial intelligence and technology; David J. Kim, Managing Director of DigiTx Partners, an investment firm focused on early-stage digital health investments; and Tiffany Yu, Principal at 7wire Ventures, with a focus on investments in digital health and technology-enabled healthcare services businesses.
Together, the individual presentations highlighted areas of interest for industry: improving clinical and administrative workflows, the data and collection of data from consumer wearables, and helping consumers to be more informed and connected about their healthcare outcomes. Consistent benchmarks for success continue to focus on improving data accuracy and security, protecting consumer privacy, and achieving better outcomes at lower costs by enhancing the overall efficiency of the healthcare system.
Academic Research
The academic presentations offered a glimpse into the many ways researchers are working with artificial intelligence in health care applications. The four departments that presented were radiology, kinesiology, computer science and engineering, and statistics and probability. Immediately addressing concerns within healthcare, Dr. Chad Klochko, Vice Chair of Informatics and Translational Research within the Department of Radiology at Henry Ford Health and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology at MSU, described the limitations of AI within the radiology specialty, particularly how the patient’s history can paint a more complete picture for radiologists and other technicians who are removed from the patient.
Rajiv Ranganathan, an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Michigan State University, with a joint appointment in Mechanical Engineering, gave a presentation on the impacts of AI in the field of neurorehabilitation, specifically among stroke patients. With these advances in technology, the goal is to be able to tailor rehabilitation to the individual, strengthening recovery efforts.
Mohammad Ghassemi, Professor of Computer Science at Michigan State University and the founding partner of Ghamut, a boutique AI innovation incubator, described the challenges when using low-resource languages in LLM models and ways to solve communication barriers with vulnerable populations who have language barriers. While best practices call for high quality data, Ghassemi stresses the importance of context that comes with data, be it cultural or clinical.
Yue Xing is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics and Probability and presented information about the reasoning ability of large language models and how it impacts the safety of the data and models. Access control with LLM-based agent systems can be a problem that can lead to severe privacy issues, which Xing is conducting research to find mitigation strategies and strengthen privacy.
Ethics and Policy
The final part of the program featured an ethics and policy panel discussion with Bree Holtz, professor in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences and director of the MSU Ethics Institute, and Cortney Schaffer, Corewell Health’s deputy chief privacy officer and director of information security governance, risk, compliance and privacy. Klochko, who presented earlier, also joined the panel. Moderated by Ghassemi, the panel discussed how can we ensure AI augments rather than replaces human learning and judgment in a clinical environment and the criteria for trading off that decision-making authority. Other questions explored by the panel included: Will there come a time when AI is good enough, or should we continue to ensure a human is in the loop, equipped with the foundational training necessary to make decisions when there is no AI? What are the risks when something goes wrong, and how can patients advocate for themselves when they do not want AI to be used? If policymaking cannot keep up with the pace of technology, should there be some sort of ethical guidelines to be able to reflect upon and respond with?
Interdisciplinary research forums like these demonstrate the transformative potential of AI in healthcare, while underscoring the importance of collaboration, transparency, and ethical responsibility. By bringing together academic and industry leaders, the forum fostered meaningful dialogue on how to shape the future of precision medicine.