Illinois Medicine

Illinois Medicine | 17 PhD, MBA, MHA '19, "and we believe that we should take a leadership role in bringing AI/ML tools to bear on the pressing health disparities that face our communities, providers and patients." UIC is working with researchers across the country at institutions such as the Mayo Clinic, Stanford University, the University of Utah, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Yale University to advance the use of AI and ML in addressing health disparities. For the most part, other universities have relatively homogeneous patient populations, which limits their ability to conduct the type of equity assessments that are possible at UIC. "I think we're emerging as an important partner for some of these groups because they have become more aware of the kinds of structural disparities that exist in the broader healthcare system," says Karnik. Big Data From Big Business Many companies—including tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft—are developing algorithms that will function as the computational tools needed to work in this broad space. Because no single entity or organization can harness the enormous potential of AI, CHEMA is working with other units and departments in the UI system to AI-Powered Research and Partnerships Over the next three to four years, the Center for Health Equity using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence plans to hire eight to 10 College of Medicine faculty members to partner with the center through their departments. It is also establishing new postdoctoral positions to be funded through CHEMA with the goal of growing junior investigators in this space and developing faculty research strength. identify and develop strategic AI partnerships and alliances that will advance the work of the College of Medicine and the entire university system. Karnik notes that the University of Illinois is building on a long history of partnering with the tech sector. "In fact, parts of the university helped develop some of the technologies that are driving AI and ML today," he points out, alluding to the groundbreaking collaboration between the university's Computer Science Department and the National Center for Super- computing Applications in Urbana. That partnership gave rise to Mosaic, the first graphical web browser. A catalyst for the World Wide Web's explosive growth, Mosaic was hailed as "the first killer app of network computing" upon its introduction in 1993 and described by The New York Times as "a map to the buried treasures of the Information Age." Reevaluating Algorithms in Real Time Researchers are beginning to understand that, if an algorithm works well and is doing its job, it will actually change the object that it is examining. "If you change the base of what you're looking at enough, your algorithm will stop working well, so you have to

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