June 15, 2023 — Every day, millions of patient data points are captured by physicians and their teams, providing insights into medical histories, predispositions and health trajectories that can be valuable in driving medical decisions. Understanding how this data is collected and synthesized is an important component of that decision-making process.

With these goals in mind, the UF College of Medicine is taking steps to prepare its physicians-in-training to remain curious and informed through its Artificial Intelligence in Medicine track of the Research and Discovery Pathways Program, which aims to teach students the main domains relevant to AI in medicine and introduce them to the tools used to develop and interpret results.

The College of Medicine has nearly a dozen Research and Discovery Pathway Programs, which cover areas like global health equity, business and innovation in medicine and medical ethics and law. Through the program, medical students complete ten weeks of research during the summer between their first and second years. The tracks also offer field experiences to students in the form of workshops, courses and meetings with other participants and faculty.

“AI has quickly become ubiquitous in many fields, particularly in medicine,” said François Modave, Ph.D., a professor of AI in the department of anesthesiology who is involved in the research track. “Our current cohort of students will learn how AI can enhance their ability to incorporate large amounts of data to make better clinical decisions. At a time when medical knowledge doubles every 73 days, it is critical to have the technological means to digest large amounts of information to be able to provide quality, precision care to patients.”

The AI in Medicine pathways track began in fall 2022 with an initial cohort of 12 students. In addition to Modave, Chris Giordano, M.D., chief for the division of liver and transplant anesthesiology and a professor of anesthesiology; Meghan Brennan, M.D., an assistant professor of anesthesiology; and Ben Shickel, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of medicine, serve as program faculty.

Taylor Calibo, a medical student in the class of 2026, was interested in becoming involved in the program, in part due to his graduate research as an electrical engineer and his time spent as a nuclear submarine officer.

“When colleagues began using words like neural networks and machine learning, my ears automatically perked up,” he said.

He wanted to work alongside a physician using AI and machine learning to better understand how to combine research and data with patient care. He contacted Sanjeeve Kumar, M.D., an associate professor of anesthesiology and medical director of UF Health Pain Medicine – Springhill, who was happy to allow Calibo to work in his lab.

Calibo and other medical students are conducting supervised learning on data sets, during which an AI system is trained on how to interpret data so that it can learn and independently make decisions on new data sets in the future. The data being collected in Kumar’s lab are images of patients’ spines, which are used to create alerts for physicians on whether they are well-positioned for steroid injections.

“As a medical student, you’re gaining exposure to the process of how this research is going to take place in a clinical setting,” Calibo said.

Through the AI in medicine track of the program, Calibo and his peers have been able to connect with other UF physicians and researchers, as well as stakeholders outside the university. This spring, Calibo attended AI4Health: Improving Health Through Artificial Intelligence, the university’s inaugural AI-centered health conference, where he had the opportunity to hear from and speak with industry leaders, including a representative from NVIDIA. The California-based technology company previously formed a public-private partnership that resulted in the development of UF’s HiPerGator supercomputer.

Students, faculty and staff at the College of Medicine have additional chances to learn about the ethics and applications of AI in medicine through a series of online courses available to the community, with insights from seasoned UF Medicine faculty.

Calibo said one aspect he appreciates about the UF College of Medicine is the way it has made learning about new technologies and developments accessible to students.

“The faculty have a vested interest in both students and physicians who are attempting novel solutions to real world problems using AI, and they are enthusiastic about our project ideas and proposals,” he said. “UF also has a vast network of physicians and data scientists to help provide us with the training we need. I think all you really have to do is how you can get involved. The Artificial Intelligence in Medicine track of the Research and Discovery Pathways Program is great for that.”