• Masters in Science, Health Informatics-AI Emphasis (in progress)
• Doctor of Medicine, Western University
• Bachelor of Engineering Sciences, Western University
This month we caught up with Dr. Rashmi Nedadur, a cardiac surgery resident with Toronto General Hospital who also researches Artificial Intelligence in cardiovascular medicine.
What inspired you to pursue a career as a cardiac surgeon?
I went to Western University for medical school, and from the moment I went on my surgical rotations, I knew I wanted to be a surgeon. When I got the chance to rotate in cardiac surgery, I was immediately hooked on the complexity, collaborative approach, meticulousness, and focus of this specialty.
How did you become interested in AI?
My initial interest came from my desire to make medicine more streamlined and efficient. There are many aspects of medicine that are repetitive. The workflow can be cognitively taxing and there's a need to improve medicine using digital technology.
I was also fortunate to be introduced to my supervisor Dr. Bo Wang, who showed me how intelligence design could improve mundane processes and provide novel insights. These insights can help us deliver personalized medicine, ultimately allowing clinicians to spend more time with their patients and feeling less rushed.
What’s the best part of doing the research that you do?
AI research requires extensive collaborations with scientists who are subject-matter experts in data science, computing and mathematics, and clinicians. The greatest part of this collaboration is seeing how AI scientists work, and learning about their approach to problem-solving and decision-making. What I have enjoyed the most is the cultural translation that I hope to bring back to medicine.
What’s the number one piece of advice you’d give to students following in your footsteps?
Speak to lots of people and get to know the people at your institutions, at all levels. It's also important to gain an understanding of the scope of their role and their daily challenges. This way, when you're developing AI solutions, you can tailor them to the needs of the people and the system in which it is embedded.
