Inaugural AI Symposium Explores Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Biotech Industry

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the healthcare industry and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University looks to lead the conversation on preparing the next generation of biomedical engineers for its potential use in devices, therapeutics, and data.

In April, the Department held its first-ever symposium on the subject. The BIO-STAR AI Symposium brought together leading experts in healthcare and artificial intelligence to discuss AI’s current role in improving patient outcomes and its potential in the clinical setting.

Led by Prof. May Wang, Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Fellow, Kavli Fellow, and GCC Distinguished Cancer Scholar, the symposium builds the framework for the Department to establish academic programming and research in biomedical data engineering and develop critical industry partnerships to discover solutions that transform the healthcare system for all stakeholders, including patients, physicians, and administrators.

Wang says an emphasis on the ethics of using AI to conduct clinical research and engineer treatments is key to developing a sustainable research and education program in the Coulter Department. The name of the symposium, BIO-STAR, further emphasizes that vision of Safe, Trustworthy, Actionable, Responsible (STAR) artificial intelligence.

Keynote speakers at this year’s symposium included Dr. Evan Orenstein, Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. He was joined by Dr. Naveen Muthu, director of Health Informatics Core Innovation Services at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University, to discuss how to implement and evaluate artificial intelligence in real clinical settings.

On Day two, Dr. Michael I. Miller, Darling Massey Professor and Director of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, spoke about using AI to conduct multi-scale brain mapping.

A series of panel discussions focused on impact-driven research, developing industry-based academic partnerships, and AI tools and resources for biomedical engineers. The symposium also featured a student poster presentation for undergraduate and graduate biomedical engineering students to present their research in the AI realm.

Wang says a summary report will be developed from the symposium and she looks to build on the symposium in the next year.

View a photo gallery of the symposium.