Last year, with a $10 million gift, John F. Brock III, his wife, Mary, and their three adult children established the Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The center seeks to accelerate translation of Vanderbilt discoveries and know-how into the public domain through commercialization and industry partnerships.
On Sept. 20, artificial intelligence experts from industry and from Vanderbilt gathered at Langford Auditorium on the VUMC campus for the first annual Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Sessions, or HAIS 23, sponsored by the Brock Family Center.
Among the day’s presenters was Peter Embí, MD, MS, professor and chair of Biomedical Informatics and senior vice president for research and innovation at VUMC. Embí, who serves on the steering committee for the National Institute of Medicine’s health care AI code of conduct initiative, also provided brief remarks to conclude the daylong program.
“We had presentations that covered real-world development and innovation efforts across use cases from imaging, to diagnostics, to treatment, to the complex socio-technical factors that have to be considered and reconciled in order to address what it is we we need to accomplish,” Embí said from the podium.
“The diversity and depth of the expertise, the thought leadership and collaborative spirit that has been exemplified here today I think is going to end up being a driving force for change and improvement — not only in our region, but there’s absolutely no reason why we can’t become a hub of innovation and advance beyond anyone else in the nation. I feel very strongly that we’re well positioned to do that.”
The companies represented by speakers at the event included Blattner Technologies, Ampersand Partners, Switchpoint Ventures, Ardent Health, Annalise-AI, XSOLIS, The Innovation Studio, Darvis, Nference, and UnityAI.
Besides Embí, speakers from Vanderbilt included Jeff Carr, MD, MSc, Jules White, PhD, Jesse Spencer-Smith, PhD, and Laurie Novak, PhD, MHSA. Todd Gary, PhD, from Meharry Medical College, and Charlie Apigian, PhD, from Belmont University, also spoke.
Serving as MC was Ken Holroyd, MD, MBA, lead of the Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation, Vice President for Technology Transfer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and medical director of Vanderbilt University’s Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization.
