The head of Children’s National AI discusses her role and the many demands that come with it
Editor’s note: This is the third in our series, Chief AI Officers in Healthcare. To read the first: an interview with Dennis Chornenky at UC Davis Health, click here. To read the second, with Dr. Karandep Singh of UC San Diego Health, click here.
As artificial intelligence transforms healthcare – more vendors introducing AI into their systems, more departments in hospitals and healthcare systems setting up AI projects and using their own use cases – someone needs to be in charge of it all and help ensure the responsible use of the technology to guarantee. toward producing reliable results.
For a steadily increasing number of healthcare provider organizations, that someone is the Chief AI Officer. This is an executive, usually a doctor, who is given full authority at the C-suite level to oversee all things AI.
Alda Mizaku was named Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC last summer. Healthcare IT News spoke with her for an extensive interview about her role as Chief AI Officer.
Today in part one of this two-part interview, she will talk about how Children’s National Hospital approached her to become Chief AI Officer and what they were looking for, what was a good fit in her background, what skills everyone is looking for to become a Chief AI Officer should be, and the AI part of her role.
Q. How did Children’s National Hospital approach you to become Chief AI Officer? What were they looking for and who would you report to?
A. Children’s National was looking for a leader to lead data analytics and AI capabilities. This is something they have been looking for for a while. When the new CEO joined the organization, many of these plans were put into motion.
When we had some of those early conversations, it was with the clear vision of bringing in artificial intelligence, bringing in individual leading capabilities in data analytics and AI, and wanting to combine that with operations to address the situation. improve. patient experience, improve operational efficiency and incorporate some of these more advanced capabilities as part of daily work.
They were interested in bringing in someone with a strong background in healthcare AI and bridging the gap with some clinical needs. So someone who can talk about technical capabilities and understand the clinical needs and bring in technology to meet those needs. My role is Chief Data and AI Officer and I report to our CIO.
And we have an alignment, which ensures alignment with the overall strategic goals and technical direction of the organization.
Q. This is your first position as Chief AI Officer. What in your background makes you suitable to become Chief AI Officer? And what skills should someone have who wants to become a Chief AI Officer?
A. A little bit about my background. I started as a biomechanical engineer. I focused on computer-aided diagnostics. I built predictive models in the field of colorectal cancer and developed a new method to make a three-year prognosis.
From there, I moved on to some work in high-throughput genotyping to build software that solved specific problems with a high-throughput genotyping lab to create efficiencies there. From there I worked in healthcare for eleven years, all in data analytics in different roles and in different departments. Looking at my background, I would say it combines extensive knowledge of healthcare and healthcare technology with a strong foundation in data science and machine learning.
I have also been involved in several AI-driven projects aimed at improving patient outcomes and streamlining healthcare operations. I would say to anyone aspiring to become a Chief AI Officer, make sure they have a deep understanding of AI technologies and understand the clinical-operational aspect of the area they are working on.
They must also have very strong leadership qualities and effective communication skills, and the ability to talk to a diverse group of stakeholders. That’s one of the things that’s very common in my role: data and AI can be applied to every department and every division. We need to be able to take that hat off a lot of times, from talking to someone in HR, someone in finance, someone in clinical.
One more thing, especially in this area, would be to have a passion for patient-centered care to be able to make a meaningful change in effectiveness there.
Q. Please describe the AI portion of your job at Children’s National Hospital. What, in broad terms, is expected of you? And in more specific terms, what does a typical day look like for you?
A. At a high level broadly, my role involves developing and implementing AI strategies, ensuring they are aligned with the mission and strategic direction of the organization, and all in line with our mission to deliver exceptional care can offer to those children who are interested in our care.
This includes identifying potential applications that may exist in the market that we need to implement to create efficiencies in our environment. It may mean overseeing specific projects. If we don’t see something in the market, can we develop it within our team and create those efficiencies in our space?
The ethical considerations when using AI are examined, and can we do so in a responsible and effective manner. A typical day for me involves a lot of collaboration and a lot of meetings, both with clinical teams and technical teams. I need to understand and meet their needs every day.
I meet with data scientists and review projects and can represent many of their findings and have opportunities through the management team to help make decisions and drive some of the data-driven decision-making processes in our organization.
Click here to watch a video of this interview that contains BONUS CONTENT not included in this story.
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