How DICE’s AI Lab is Shaping Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
By Bryan Sadler
Between electronic health records (EHRs) and personal wearable devices, there’s a huge amount of healthcare data that can be leveraged for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
This information is a data scientist’s dream because it’s copious, standardized and can be easily pulled from a database for building predictive models that can aid in diagnosing and treating diseases.
Unfortunately, this data is not currently being used to its fullest potential, but now’s the time to change that. Instead of letting this information gather dust in some database, we launched the AI Lab to leverage this data for improving patient, student, employee and caregiver experiences in health systems everywhere.
What is the AI Lab?
The AI Lab is a new initiative focused on researching and developing artificial intelligence and predictive analytics in healthcare. Our goal is to create a culture of AI throughout the enterprise and learn to use it as a tool for improving lives and patient experiences.
Our founding members are engineers, designers, physicians and data analysts. In order to be successful, we need to leverage not only our diverse skills, but also those of our colleagues at DICE and throughout Jefferson.
By working together, we can build truly innovative products, rather than artificial intelligence for its own sake. After all, AI doesn’t solve or do anything unless you embed it elsewhere.
For example, a spam blocker AI doesn’t start blocking spam unless you put that layer of technology into a program that reads emails. An algorithm that recognizes your best friends in an image won’t recognize anything unless we write an image uploading program to work simultaneously. We need the help of our colleagues to figure out where to apply AI and use that knowledge to expand our services to all departments at Jefferson.
In fact, efforts to resolve problems with machine learning algorithms are already underway throughout the organization. The AI Lab came about to consolidate them. For example, one effort was the construction of a tool that can predict a patient’s risk of returning to the hospital after 30 days. We are very excited about the successes the AI Lab is already having and are optimistic about what the future holds.
Pushing artificial intelligence in healthcare forward
The AI Lab officially launched in October at The DICE Group’s headquarters in Philadelphia. During our project launch event, we used digital kiosks to explain what artificial intelligence is and demonstrate specific use cases for it.
We wanted to show that artificial intelligence can learn in multiple ways, including from audio, visual and textual input. Some programs showed intelligence by using a camera to learn users’ distinct dance moves and remember them later on.
Other programs could guess what someone was drawing after just a few strokes of their finger on the touchscreen. People were learning, asking questions and getting interested in AI, so overall the event was a success.
After launching, word quickly got out about the AI Lab. Many people throughout Jefferson are already interested in learning more about us and finding ways to incorporate AI in the hospital and university.
There is an obvious demand, and I’ve received tons of messages asking for more information on the lab and ways to contribute. I really get a sense of a hunger around the emerging technology, so I’m excited to see how the AI Lab grows and evolves.
Interested in learning more about the AI Lab? Follow along with us on Medium to be the first to get our insights and updates.
Bryan Sadler
Bryan Sadler is the Lead of the AI Lab, a Full Stack Developer and one of the 20 most influential technologists in Philadelphia. When Bryan isn’t building apps, you might find him brewing his own kombucha or playing rugby.
