Susannah Rose discusses the mission of ADVANCE AI at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Vanderbilt University Medical Center was recently named a leading health system in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), according to Becker’s Healthcare.
According to a list compiled by Becker’s Healthcare and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Health Innovation at the University of California San Diego, VUMC was cited as one of 11 health systems pioneering “demonstrated, outcomes-based AI solutions” thanks to the leadership of Vanderbilt’s Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) and its new AI Discovery & Vigilance to Accelerate Innovation & Clinical Excellence (ADVANCE) Center.
“AI holds great promise for improving health and health care at a time when such improvements are sorely needed,” said Peter Embí, MD, MS, professor and chair of Biomedical Informatics, Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation and co-director of ADVANCE. “We feel it’s the responsibility of institutions like ours to lead in demonstrating how Health AI innovations can benefit our patients and communities and ensure that we do so responsibly and equitably. This is what drives us.”
“It is truly an honor to see our multidisciplinary approach to AI development, implementation and evaluation is being recognized at a national scale,” said Bradley Malin, PhD, Accenture Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Biostatistics and Computer Science, vice chair for Research Affairs in DBMI and co-director of ADVANCE. “We look forward to continuing to lead in this space and changing the face of health care.”
In March, VUMC-DBMI launched the ADVANCE Center to empower health care professionals, scientists, patients, and stakeholders to collaborate, make informed decisions, accelerate biomedical discoveries, and improve clinical outcomes using advanced data analytics, machine learning, predictive modeling and more. Among several initiatives underway, ADVANCE members are working to operationalize “algorithmovigilance” for Health AI monitoring and harnessing novel technologies like generative AI to accelerate biomedical discoveries and improve clinical processes.
ADVANCE members are also working with clinical and operational health care leaders in and outside of the institution to co-create AI innovations and partnering with diverse groups of stakeholders to foster novel and impactful technology developments and evaluations.
“At Vanderbilt, we’re pioneering foundational research on AI and then rapidly moving it into the clinic so we can evaluate its real-world safety and efficacy,” said Adam Wright, PhD, professor of Biomedical Informatics and Medicine, director of the Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center and vice chair of the AI Technology Committee at VUMC. Wright is actively involved in ADVANCE activities related to AI governance. “This bench-to-bedside approach sets our efforts apart and supports VUMC’s mission of making health care personal.”
In addition, ADVANCE leaders Laurie Novak, PhD, MHSA, and Susannah Rose, PhD, MSSW, recently established a VUMC AI Patient and Family Advisory Group to ensure that patient voices are meaningfully integrated into the development and deployment of AI into VUMC policies, operations and research initiatives. They are also in the process of researching and developing safe, ethical and effective AI-powered health chatbots aimed at addressing patients’ questions and needs.
“A key element of ADVANCE is working with groups impacted by health AI, including frontline health professionals, patients and their caregivers, to understand their needs and develop educational and other support resources to assist in the safe and effective use of AI in clinical settings and beyond,” said Novak, associate professor of Biomedical Informatics, AI researcher and deputy director of ADVANCE.
“The mission of ADVANCE is not only to create innovative AI solutions and cutting-edge research. It is also to ensure that these solutions are safe, effective, fair and ethical by supporting strong policies on their use and establishing effective AI governance within VUMC,” said Rose, associate professor of Biomedical Informatics, Health Policy, core faculty in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society and executive director of ADVANCE.
Upcoming ADVANCE events will highlight the latest developments in Health AI and how they are improving health and health care, including a Fall Symposium planned for Nov. 5-6 in VUMC’s Light Hall.