It has been estimated that 70-80% of decisions made in a hospital or medical practice are driven directly or indirectly by pathology, laboratory medicine and radiology. These fields are essential for everything from identifying heart attacks to pinpointing growing tumors or detecting hidden injuries.
“It’s not surprising that pathology and lab medicine emerged as the epicenter of medical AI,” says Hooman Rashidi, associate dean of AI in medicine in the School of Medicine. “Because these critical decisions touch so many patients with different diseases and conditions, AI-enhanced imaging tools are now present throughout all health care disciplines. That growing presence is what drives innovation.”
“Because these critical decisions touch so many patients with different diseases and conditions, AI-enhanced imaging tools are now present throughout all health care disciplines. That growing presence is what drives innovation.”
Rashidi directs the Computational Pathology and AI Center of Excellence (CPACE), where researchers are working on many collaborative projects, some of which are unrelated to imaging. For example, CPACE scientists are working with plastic surgeons to improve the use of embedded AI tools in surgical instruments.
Perhaps CPACE’s most significant achievement so far has been in medical education: In collaboration with the School of Medicine, CPACE scientists have created a fully interactive suite of educational apps known as the . The goal of the Pitt-AI-cademy is to democratize AI literacy for health care professionals through an approach that does not require coding. These educational tools are designed to help clinicians effectively integrate cutting-edge AI tools into their clinical practice responsibly and efficiently, with a low barrier to entry.
“We have built a fully interactive educational application with resources bundled under one umbrella, and it’s an environment that is easy to interact and play with,” Rashidi says. “There is nothing like this on the entire planet, as far as I am aware.”