School for AI in healthcare started

MONTREAL – CHUM and Université de Montréal have announced the creation of the first school of artificial intelligence applied to the health sector from a Francophone environment, the École de l’intelligence artificielle en santé du CHUM (EIAS).

Established by CHUM, through its Academy, in conjunction with the Université de Montréal, its faculties and schools, the objective of the EIAS is to support and assist health system stakeholders in the adoption, implementation and promotion of AI, for the benefit of its teams, patients and the general public.

“The school we are opening today with our partners aims to support health system stakeholders in this transformation by providing them with what they need to change the culture, organizational structure and management, as well as by offering support to those involved and by measuring impacts throughout the transformation process,” said Dr. Fabrice Brunet (pictured), president and CEO of CHUM.

“It is the first artificial intelligence school in the world from a Francophone environment to focus on the development of human capacities and the implementation of AI in a real environment,” he added. “It will raise the profiles of CHUM and the Université de Montréal internationally through partnerships with more than 100 university hospitals.”

The EIAS will address topics such as social, legal and ethical acceptability, and the transformation of trades, professions, practices, teams, the organization and the health system.

AI offers unprecedented possibilities in the health sector, through its capacity to analyze massive amounts of data to better understand, detect and treat disease, and through robotization. As a disruptive innovation, AI will rapidly and profoundly transform care, teaching, research and health systems management.

However, the stakes involved in implementing AI in this field are considerable and require a structured approach if the implementation is to be a success and bring real value to healthcare teams and the public.

The EIAS is geared towards all health professionals working in health systems and in companies directly or indirectly involved with health, including all its determinants (environment, nutrition, urbanization, economy, etc.)

As of January 2019, it will progressively deliver programs adapted to a varied clientele and to their level of AI proficiency. “By raising awareness through “lunch and learns” or short videos, skills development through diploma programs, familiarization through practical workshops and simulation, and field experimentation, the EIAS will be able to meet the needs of diverse health stakeholders, and will do so in several languages,” notes Nathalie Beaulieu, Chief Learning Officer of CHUM.

“Nimble and proactive, the school is distinguished by its flexible and contextualized nature. It places the human being at the centre of the transformation to increase its capacity to heal.”

The EIAS is built on five pillars: the training curriculum, the faculty, internship sites, career development and value creation. The departments and services of CHUM are an integral part of it, not only as an internship center, but also as a place of implantation and experimentation of the AI.

As pointed out by Dr. Vincent Oliva, head of the department of radiology and nuclear medicine at CHUM: “AI has already begun to revolutionize medicine. It is now used not only to assess brain volume for the detection of Alzheimer’s disease, but also to evaluate cardiac function, detect lung nodules and predict cancers. It will redefine and enhance the role of medical imaging.”

The creation of the EIAS would not have been possible without the commitment of the Université de Montréal, its faculties and its schools.

“In addition to contributing to advances in artificial intelligence, the Université de Montréal supports its deployment within society, by training workers in its use and by working to ensure that its development is ethical and responsible. Becoming partners with this new school at CHUM enables us to make a positive contribution to the transformation of the healthcare environment, where artificial intelligence has the potential to significantly improve our quality of life,” said the vice-rector of student and academic affairs, Louise Beliveau.

CHUM will begin by working closely with the Université de Montréal’s faculty of arts and science and Mosaic HEC, HEC Montréal’s multidisciplinary training and research centre specializing in innovation and creativity management. Full professors and students from Mosaic HEC Montréal will contribute to developing the content of the school’s activities. The EIAS can also count on support from several other institutional and private partners.

For more information and to consult the program: innoveactionchum.ca.

About Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM)
The Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal is an innovative hospital devoted to serving patients. It provides the highest quality specialized and ultraspecialized care to patients and the general public all over Québec. Through its unique expertise and innovations, its aim is to improve the health of the adult and aging population. As the Université de Montréal hospital, CHUM is dedicated to care, research, teaching, health promotion, and the assessment of technology and health intervention methods in order to continually improve the quality of care and the health of the population. Since the fall of 2017, patients and their families have been able to enjoy a renewed hospital experience at CHUM’s new facilities. For more information, visit www.chumontreal.qc.ca/accueil.