Artificial Intelligence is quickly becoming influential across various industries, with the most significant impact observed in the health and wellness sector. The potential of AI to establish a completely patient-centric model includes personalized nutrition and exercise recommendations, enhanced diagnosis and treatment decisions, and the ability to leverage data to deliver effective treatment options.
In the latest episode of the Analytics Insight Podcast, Priya Dialani dives into these barriers and opportunities with Engy Ziedan, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Protege Data Lab. The discussion covers several key themes, including why the health care industry has been slow to adopt AI technologies and how establishing reliable datasets and evaluating them will help users unleash AI's full potential.
Priya showcases how AI can bring Clinical pathways into the new world, speed up drug discovery, and customize treatment for patients. Engy is on the same page, pointing out how AI can transform healthcare worldwide.
She powerfully states, “I see AI as like a catalyst… allowing us to personalize medicine, detect diseases better, make better expectations about prognosis, and democratize access to medical knowledge.” Yet, given healthcare's highly regulated, risk-sensitive nature, innovation must progress responsibly.
Engy uses her expertise in causal inference and econometrics to argue that having larger datasets alone is not sufficient. The Data Lab of Protege focuses on high-quality, multimodal, de-identified datasets. These models are primarily aimed at promoting better reasoning, fairness, and reliability in AI models. The shift to “useful data” rather than massive volumes is a significant factor in real-world scenarios.
According to Engy, healthcare organizations are reluctant to adopt artificial intelligence and the fundamental factors include legal exposure, inadequate assessment frameworks and a lack of confidence in its reliability. However, individuals are increasingly using AI for their own health-related questions, support for diagnosing illnesses, and guidance on overall wellness.
Engy is optimistic that in time AI will enable access to high-quality healthcare for everyone, extend humans’ average lifespan and enhance the health and well-being of all citizens worldwide. However, it will not happen unless organizations and patients start trusting the industry build systems.