In late 2025, Vanderbilt Health joined a multi-institutional collaborative, Multimodal AI for Type 1 Diabetes, to develop AI for Type 1 diabetes prediction and prevention. Researchers will use advanced datasets to map disease progression from immune system changes through diagnosis.
DAX Copilot, an AI-powered documentation tool that listens to patient encounters, achieved widespread adoption in 2025 at Vanderbilt Health, with an initial 1,300 users reporting reduced burnout, improved efficiency and enhanced patient experience.
The Section of Surgical Sciences has partnered with LG AI Research to advance Vanderbilt Health’s Molecular AI Initiative. A team led by Tae Hyun Hwang, PhD, will apply microscopic imaging technology and machine learning to create AI that produces predictive molecular-level disease models for personalized cancer treatment and other clinical applications. In related news, Hwang helped organize a methods workshop at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025; during the workshop, he spoke on 3D spatial mapping of tumor microenvironments.
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) empaneled experts to make recommendations to the incoming presidential administration on health policy, including safely integrating AI throughout health care. From Vanderbilt, Michael Matheny, MD, MS, MPH, served as lead author of the report published in Health Afffairs, and Peter Embí, MD, MS, was among the report’s 12 authors.
In a separate project, in 2023 NAM convened health, technology, research and bioethics leaders to produce a code of conduct for the development and use of AI in health, medical care and health research. Embí is among the project’s 21-member steering committee, and Matheny was among four editors of the project’s 2025 NAM publication, “An Artificial Intelligence Code of Conduct for Health and Medicine: Essential Guidance for Aligned Action.”
VUMC joined Microsoft’s Trustworthy and Responsible AI Network, a consortium of leading academic centers that will seek to operationalize responsible AI principles, share best practices, and develop tools enabling measurement of AI outcomes across diverse health care settings and populations.
The Department of Biomedical Informatics launched the ADVANCE Center, co-directed by Peter Embí, MD, MS, and Bradley Malin, PhD, to accelerate biomedical discovery and improve clinical outcomes through generative AI, machine learning and predictive modeling.
Becker’s Hospital Review, in collaboration with the Center for Health Innovation at the University of California San Diego, recognized Vanderbilt Health as one of 11 health systems pioneering outcomes-based AI solutions. Becker’s cited the Department of Biomedical Informatics and its ADVANCE Center for responsible AI innovation, which was established in 2024.
