Major academic health system reveals plans for dedicated AI department

U.S. healthcare will soon welcome the country’s first hospital department focused on applying AI to biomedical research and clinical medicine.

Eight-hospital Mount Sinai Health System in New York City announced its intentions Oct. 11.

Part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the division will occupy four floors of renovated real estate in Midtown Manhattan, a resource its planners say they hope will help recruit top talent among researchers, scientists, physicians and students.

The announcement follows the school’s addition of a new PhD concentration in AI and emerging technologies in medicine, courses for which are set to begin in the fall of 2022.

The activities signal Mount Sinai’s intention to aggressively build on the academic health system’s “expertise and early adaptation of various forms of artificial intelligence, including machine learning, to develop novel diagnostics and treatments for diseases,” according to the announcement.

The endeavor has been gathering steam since 2019, when Mount Sinai joined forces with Germany-based Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering to form the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health at Mount Sinai.

The organizations’ joint stated aim is to “expand capabilities and create new tools of data science, biomedical and digital engineering, machine learning and AI, including wearable technology.”

Meanwhile the mission of the burgeoning department is to “lead the AI-driven transformation of healthcare through innovative research, apply that knowledge to treatment in hospital and clinical settings, and provide personalized care for each patient, which will expand Mount Sinai’s impact on human health across the health system and around the world.”

Click here for the full announcement plus an accompanying video.