Peking University Health Science Center-Michigan Medicine Joint Institute held online Trusted Conversations on data science and AI on April.22, 2021.

“With increasing digitalization, health AI has become a hot topic,” said Zhang. “Despite the fact that current AI technology has challenges to overcome, many believe this has the potential to solve multiple medical problems.”

The United States and China lead the world in the numbers of scholarly publications on health AI, and the Chinese National Science Foundation is investing heavily in the subject, with annual awards in AI rising from around $100 million in 2012 to more than $350 million in 2019, Zhang showed. For its part, the JI has declared Precision Health and AI a strategic priority of future collaborations between Michigan Medicine and PKUHSC.

Current medical applications for AI include the screening of X-rays or CT scans, allowing the machines to scan for anomalies faster and more efficiently than people can. “But the future possibilities expand far beyond imaging,” Zhang said.

“Firstly, AI can help physicians to reduce workloads in areas that are labor intensive, but the next step is really about population health,” Zhang said. “With wearable devices, I think it is feasible to use AI products to do health promotion and encourage healthy behavior at home. We could expand healthcare far beyond the hospital.”

Moderated by Brian Athey, U-M Chair of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, the discussion was the fourth in the Joint Institute’s Trusted Conversations roundtable series. The regular sessions are intended to foster an environment for colleagues from both institutions to come together outside a formal, in-person meeting in order to discuss trends, big ideas, and potential new areas of exploration.

“Like most conversations among friends, we want to return and talk more,” said JI Co-Director Joseph Kolars, U-M Senior Associate Dean for Education and Global Initiatives. “I would like to see us create opportunities in this area because I think we can do things together that neither one of us can do alone.”