The Harvard Medical School is offering a month-long introductory course on AI in healthcare. By Jonathan G. Yuan In her first course at Harvard Medical School this fall, Kayton E. “Katie” Rotenberg ’23 wasn’t taught anatomy or biochemistry.
Instead, she learned how to be a physician-scientist in a world that is beginning to depend on artificial intelligence for research and medicine.
The month-long introductory course on AI in healthcare is required of all students in HMS’ Health Sciences and Technology track — an inter-institutional M.D. and Ph.D. program between Harvard and MIT that focuses on translational medicine and engineering.
But the class — the first of its kind offered at a medical school — is just one of the ways HMS is adapting to the changing medical landscape and AI’s increasing role in healthcare. ‘Need to Evolve’
HMS Dean for Medical Education Bernard S. Chang ’93 is one of several senior administrators pushing to integrate AI into the training curriculum at the school.
AI is being introduced in three broad categories, Chang said.
The first is as an educational tool. Chang pointed to HMS’ flipped classroom model — in which students learn content on their own, practice cases during class, and take quizzes on the material afterwards — as one case already benefiting from AI.
“AI can take all of these however many hundreds of responses each day. And the pilot tool allows faculty to determine the level of granularity that they want to get the feedback,” Chang said.
Students and faculty across the University have already incorporated AI into the classroom.In 2023, Computer Science 50: “Introduction to Computer Science” integrated artificial intelligence via a “CS50 bot” that finds bugs and offers feedback on projects. Earlier this year, Economics 50A: “Using Big Data to Solve Economic and Social Problems” introduced a similar chatbot, called “ec50.ai,” which answers students’ questions.In August, the University also began providing Harvard College students with access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Edu as part of a broader set of initiatives to probe the use of AI in teaching and research.Chang said HMS is also trying to develop an AI “tutor bot,” aiming to roll […]
AI Is Changing Healthcare. Harvard Medical School Is Following Suit.
