U of T launches new Temerty Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine
The T-CAIREM leadership team: Top row: Anna Goldenberg, Muhammad Mamdani, Vinyas Harish • Centre row: Mjaye Mazwi, Laura Rosella, Alistair Johnson • Bottom row: Sean Hill, Felipe Morgado, Zoryana Salo.
The immense amount of data being created and collected each day by our daily interactions with technology are defining this era as the Artificial Intelligence Revolution. A new research centre at the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine promises to ensure the incredible promise of AI is used to improve medicine and healthcare in the future.
Professor Muhammad Mamdani has been appointed the Director of T-CAIREM for a five-year term. “Toronto is uniquely positioned to lead globally in artificial intelligence in healthcare,” says Mamdani. “Our expertise in medicine and allied health sciences, computer science, statistics, mathematics, and engineering is among the best in the world. The goal of T-CAIREM is to create a forum that brings together this multidisciplinary expertise so members can share their experiences and collaborate through common interests and a cutting-edge data and compute environment that will transform healthcare in innovative and exciting ways.”
Mamdani is well placed to bring together the worlds of AI and medicine as a professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, the Department of Medicine of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation of the Dalla Lana Faculty of Public Health. He’s also the Vice President of Data Science and Advanced Analytics at Unity Health Toronto where his research team develop and deploys advanced analytics solutions into clinical practice to improve patient outcomes and hospital efficiency.
Based in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, T-CAIREM’s work will focus on three pillars: Research, Education, and Data Infrastructure. The centre brings together some of North America’s brightest researchers, including:
• Research co-leads: Professor Anna Goldenberg (Computer Science/SickKids) and Professor Mjaye Mazwi (Pediatrics/SickKids)
• Education lead: Professor Laura Rosella (DLSPH) and learner co-leads Vinyas Harish (MD/PhD student) and Felipe Morgado (MD/PhD student)
• Infrastructure co-leads: Professor Sean Hill (Psychiatry/CAMH) and Dr. Alistair Johnson (SickKids).
To ensure T-CAIREM’s programs fulfill its education mandate, two students are crucial members of the centre’s leadership team. Felipe Morgado who is in a combined MD/PhD program, is one of them. “The world has adjusted to AI so quickly,” says Morgado. “And this rate of adoption will continue to increase as the tools and data become more available. Today’s students will need to know how to use these tools effectively if we’re going to use them to improve patient care.”
The T-CAIREM team is launching several initiatives this month for students in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. The Trainee Rounds, aimed at graduate students across faculties as well as MD students, will give selected students the opportunity to showcase their work to leaders in the AI and healthcare research communities. In addition, a Summer Research Studentship Program will pair undergraduate and medical students with a U of T faculty supervisor to explore AI in medicine.
There are also opportunities for experienced researchers. Two $200,000 Temerty Innovation Grants for AI in Medicine will be awarded for up to two years to multidisciplinary teams working on projects with the potential to transform healthcare using AI over the coming decades.
T-CAIREM’s future plans include a data platform where members can share data sets and online interest groups, which will allow members to discuss their research interests with others.
“Our first priority is to build a strong community in the Toronto area and then collaborate extensively globally,” says Mamdani. “By bringing together brilliant clinicians and researchers and making it easier for them to collaborate and access data, we hope to enable advances in AI in healthcare that will radically change how we interact with the healthcare system, the care we receive, and the outcomes we achieve for future generations to come.”
