Karen Feinstein Moderates Session with Dean Anantha Shekhar and Dean Ramayya Krishnan at the AI & Healthcare Symposium
Type: News
Focus Area: Patient Safety
Panelists discuss the region’s potential to become a leader in AI and health care.
The AI and Healthcare Symposium 2024 held August 16 in Pittsburgh showcased the region's potential to become a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) for health care and included a screening of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation’s (JHF) documentary The Pitch: Patient Safety’s Next Generation, followed by a highly anticipated fireside chat.
JHF President and CEO Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD moderated the discussion between two of the region's most influential leaders: Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD, Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, and Ramayya Krishnan, PhD, dean of Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
The conversation emphasized the region's leadership in big data, AI/ML, safety innovation, robotics, and healthcare advancements, and stressed the need for integrating technology into medical education. The speakers discussed the importance of interdisciplinary research, particularly in light of military-funded projects like “Medical Device Interoperability Reference Architecture” and “Trauma Care in a Rucksack,” and highlighted the critical role of data and health information technology systems in advancing AI. Challenges such as the fear of AI among healthcare professionals, the need for electronic health record redesign, and the region's potential to become a global tech hub were also addressed. The discussion concluded with a call for top leadership to commit to investment, data accuracy, ongoing education, and a positive outlook to drive AI innovation in healthcare forward.
The event was hosted by The Biotechnology Board, led by President Susan Catalano, Ph.D., and Executive Director Kanak Iyer, Ph.D., and chaired by Rema Padman, Ph.D., a distinguished professor at Carnegie Mellon University and JHF Board member.
From left to right: Dean Anantha Shekhar, Dr. Kanak Iyer, Dr. Feinstein, Dr. Rema Padman, and Dean Krishnan.