Feature Story | 4-Dec-2024

The AI will see you now? Hopes for emerging technologies in health care

Texas A&M College of Medicine dean says the university is striving for early adoption of AI, emerging technologies on a variety of health care fronts

Texas A&M University

Someday, a visit to a hospital could include a robot recording your vitals and asking how you’re feeling. That information is relayed to human health care professionals who’ve saved time and resources by utilizing artificial intelligence to complete basic tasks. Dr. Amy Waer, Jean and Tom McMullin endowed dean of the Texas A&M University College of Medicine, hopes that day is sooner rather than later.

“We’ll have to make sure the AI tools have a good bedside manner,” she joked.

But it’s in all seriousness when she speaks about emerging technologies in health and medicine, the need for early adoption and how the College of Medicine hopes to utilize AI.

Leading With Early Adoption

With technology that includes wearables3D-printed medication and robot-assisted surgeries, the possibilities are seemingly endless when it comes to innovations that improve human health. As one Mays Business School professor recently noted, it’s imperative to train college students in the use of AI in all fields.

Waer says she’s an advocate for the early adoption of technologies, especially in medical education, finding a key example from her own time in medical school.

“When I was a general surgery resident in the ’90s, laparoscopic surgery was just coming on board,” she said. “Some of the general surgeons — the faculty who trained me — said, ‘this will never catch on, we’re not doing that.’ But the OB-GYNS where she trained said, ‘this is fantastic, we’re going to lead this.’ And they did, and now laparoscopic surgery is the standard of care.

“I am convinced that emerging technologies, particularly generative AI, will revolutionize the way health care is provided, not only for learners in medical schools, but also patients and physicians. And we need to ride that wave and be in front of it, rather than behind it,” Waer said.

Established in 1977 and approaching its 50th anniversary, Waer says the College of Medicine is uniquely suited for early adoption because of its dispersed regional campus model.

“The College of Medicine has four campuses currently: a campus here in Bryan-College Station, a campus in Houston, a campus in Round Rock, and one in Dallas,” Waer said, noting out of all the state’s medical schools, A&M has the largest regional footprint. “The integration of these technological advancements into our academic medical curricula, on multiple campuses, is not only a priority but truly a necessity to fully prepare our students for the environment in which they will be practicing.”

Exploring AI

Waer says the college has focused initial AI efforts on its educational mission with tools designed for students. “Specifically, we’re investigating the potential use of AI-generated personal assistants for incoming first-year medical students to further their academic success through individualized tutoring and knowledge testing.” The hope is to launch a pilot project in the next year.

“They’d all like individual human tutors,” Waer said. “But we don’t have enough senior medical students and or faculty to do that, so we thought, how could they have that type of support that walks them through medical school and into their careers? There are opportunities there for AI.”

Waer said at some point, she’d like the college to add patient digital assistants for their health hub in Bryan.

“We’re looking into how we can leverage AI to help our patients navigate the very complex health care system,” she said. “Innovation is a word that’s thrown around all the time, but we truly want to put our money where our mouth is, training our Aggie doctors to be very facile at using these technologies to supplement and enhance the health care system.”

By Lesley Henton, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications

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