In this seminar, Michael Pencina, PhD, will examine the ongoing revolution in health data science and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in medicine. Dr. Pencina serves as Chief Data Scientist for Duke Health, and Vice Dean for Data Science, Director of Duke AI Health, and Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics for the Duke University School of Medicine. He will trace the evolution of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered technologies being leveraged for patient care and clinical research and describe the challenges and opportunities they present. The seminar will focus on the urgent need for robust oversight of health AI tools through their entire technology lifecycle from development through validation and deployment. Dr. Pencina will explain how robust review and continuous oversight frameworks – including those being developed by Duke and our partners – are critical to ensuring current and future applications of AI in healthcare and clinical research are safe, accurate, trustworthy, and equitable.
The seminar will emphasize Duke University’s contributions to the field of data science which is rapidly reshaping the practice of healthcare and biomedical science for the coming century. Dr. Pencina will touch on the history of applied health data science at Duke and the tradition of research innovation dating back to the pioneering efforts of Duke Cardiology Professor Eugene Stead, MD, who created seminal computer-based predictive tools for improving patient care and founded the physician assistant (PA) profession. The seminar will acknowledge the legacy of multi-disciplinary collaboration between medical and computer science experts at our university. Looking to the coming century, Dr. Pencina will share how Duke continues to play a major role in the AI revolution, transforming medicine and clinical research by developing frameworks for governance, review, and oversight to ensure health AI technologies are safe, trustworthy, and equitable.