At Weill Cornell Medicine, we have a profound responsibility and a societal mandate to engage in groundbreaking scientific research that curbs the spread of disease and translates our discoveries into effective patient care. We use the best methods to develop targeted interventions, refine treatments for individual patients and improve disease management. Few tools to advance this promise are more exciting than artificial intelligence (AI).
Paired with big data, the level of scientific inquiry and insight AI makes available is already unparalleled, and the potential for further breakthroughs in the next five to seven years is extraordinary. The technology will not only change the way we aggregate and process large amounts of data in our clinical trials, but it will help us explore scientific questions in ways we haven’t before, and speed that data to the bedside.
Physicians will increasingly use AI to help interpret critical medical tests — as we have already done with echocardiograms in cardiology — with greater speed and accuracy. AI will help personalize medicine to maximize outcomes for patients. And scientists will be able to use it to study the impact of disease and health outcomes on communities in new and groundbreaking ways, enabling us to enhance the scale and capacity of both medicine and public health.
Here at Weill Cornell Medicine, investigators are using AI to analyze huge data sets so that we can understand mental health status and risks at the population level. Our physician-scientists are also using AI to educate, to train doctors how to communicate better with their patients, because clear, culturally conscious communication is central to successful care. Eventually, endeavors like these can be used to develop targeted interventions, refine treatments for individual patients and improve understanding of disease and how to manage it.
Ultimately, AI and the myriad research it inspires must be subject to the same scientific rigor as existing medical interventions, and the quality of the results must drive how we apply it to healthcare. Our ultimate goal is to integrate these innovations into our practice in ways that enhance, rather than replace, the personal care that our patients value. The true measure of our success will not only be in the discoveries we make and the leadership we show, but in how we apply these advancements to improve the lives of the patients we treat.
Robert A. Harrington, M.D.
Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean, Weill Cornell Medicine
Provost for Medical Affairs, Cornell University
Portrait: Sam Kerr