T-CAIREM unveils revamped AI in Medicine Resources Hub
“AI has incredible potential to revolutionize healthcare, and we’re only starting to see its impact,” says Muhammad Mamdani, director of the Temerty Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine (T-CAIREM) based at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine.
However, one major challenge for students and clinicians is that AI health education isn’t keeping up with the accelerating advancements in the field. “There’s a real need for educational training and knowledge-sharing,” he says.
This widening education gap is a problem not only for smart students contemplating future AI health careers but also for experienced medical and health science learners, clinicians, and educators who require the latest information to adjust to the new world of AI health applications.
To help learners of all levels and backgrounds, four-year-old T-CAIREM recently launched the revamped Resources Hubon its website. This specially curated online repository makes helpful AI in medicine books, research papers, tutorials, videos, and podcasts widely available to learners from beginners to advanced.
The easy-to-use website was designed to make it unintimidating for new users, says T-CAIREM education lead Laura Rosella. “AI is a complicated field, but having an online library that’s continuously updated with the latest information can really help a lot of learners, clinicians, and educators as the field continues to grow and impact every branch of medicine.”
Once users create an account on the hub and log in, they’re greeted with a start-here page to help navigate the resources and determine where to begin based on their goals and interests. Users of the Resources Hub get access to diverse topics about AI in healthcare. Materials range from introductory primers on Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing all the way to topical issues such as the legal and ethical ramifications of using AI in clinical settings. Each information source is tagged with health-related terms, making it easy for users to search based on their specific interests.
The team has high hopes for the Resources Hub. Ideally, users will be able to update their technical skills, get up-to-speed on the latest developments, and learn about AI in the context of their work without wasting hours hunting down information from questionable sources online.
As the old saying among computer scientists goes, “garbage in, garbage out.” This is even more important to consider when it comes to educational resources in an era of AI-generated misinformation and online scammers. Luckily, the T-CAIREM team has built safeguards to protect the integrity of the resources. A team consisting of T-CAIREM post-graduate trainees led by MD student Julie Midroni and assisted by MD/PhD candidate Gemma Postill and PhD candidate Abhishek Moturu will review and update the resources to remove duplicates and outdated information.
One unique feature that sets the T-CAIREM Resources Hub apart is that users are able to submit helpful resources they come across, including their own research, for it to be read and used by other students and clinicians. “This is a great place to host your educational work—not many places to do that right now that are centralized, easy to search, and primarily dedicated to education,” says Midroni.
“There’s no shortage of material on AI and AI in healthcare out there, and it can be challenging to know what resources to use and what is up-to-date,” says Midroni. “We’ve compiled reputable and up-to-date resources in one location so it's easier to find the resources you need, and you know they’ll be reliable.”
Midroni and the rest of the team are especially proud that they have intentionally selected resources that have educational, and not just scientific, value. “Artificial intelligence isn’t going away, and with better and more accessible education, we'll better be able to guide its development and how it will help patients in the future.”
