- Microsoft recently announced it has set up a new $40 million five-year program called AI for Health as part of its AI for Good initiative.
Microsoft recently announced it has set up a new $40 million five-year program called AI for Health as part of its AI for Good initiative — which is a $165 million commitment to empower people and organizations working to create a positive impact on society that address the world’s toughest issues. This program will utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technology to empower researchers and organizations addressing some of the biggest challenges in health.
“Artificial intelligence has the potential to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges, like improving the health of communities around the world,” said Microsoft president Brad Smith. “We know that putting this powerful technology into the hands of experts tackling this problem can accelerate new solutions and improve access for underserved populations. That’s why we created AI for Health.” In a new era of tech intensity, in which technology is reshaping every organization and becoming embedded in the fabric of every aspect of our lives, digital advances will continue to reshape our world in profound ways. AI represents one of technology’s most important priorities, and healthcare is perhaps AI’s most urgent application. However, the talent and resources required to equip health researchers with tools to deploy AI and data science is unevenly distributed. Less than 5% of the world’s AI professionals today work in health and nonprofit organizations. It is crucial to provide these mission-driven researchers with the tools they need to accelerate and expand their work.
AI for Health, Microsoft is going to work to ensure that nonprofits, academia, and research organizations have access to the latest technology, resources and technical experts in order to help implement AI to accelerate research, generate insights and improve access to care.
And the AI for Health initiative will focus on three key areas, including quest for discovery (accelerating medical research to advance prevention, diagnoses and treatment of diseases.), global health insights (increasing the shared understanding of mortality and longevity to protect against global health crises), and health equity (reducing health inequity and improving access to care for underserved populations).
The company’s efforts will build on existing collaborations with organizations to help solve important issues such as discovering the cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), eliminating leprosy, detecting diabetic retinopathy for preventing blindness, and building an ecosystem that allows safe and secure sharing of biomedical data.
Some of the grantees include BRAC, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems (IRIS), Novartis Foundation, PATH, and Seattle Children’s Research Institute.
BRAC was founded in Bangladesh and the organization made major strides in health equity in the last three decades. And BRAC executive director Asif Saleh pointed out that unfortunately, half the world’s population still lacks access to essential health services.
“Across our outreach areas in Asia and Africa, we see massive potential in using advanced data analytics and AI to bridge the gap between ‘health for some’ and ‘health for all,’ and we welcome Microsoft’s commitment in making this happen,” stated Saleh.
Dr. Raphael Gottardo, scientific director at Translational Data Science Integrated Research Center at Fred Hutch, pointed out that unlocking and sharing data is critical for discovering new ways to treat and ultimately cure cancer.
“Working in close collaboration with Microsoft, we will be able to harness new advances in AI, machine learning and cloud computing to spur innovation and open up new avenues for preventing and treating cancer and related diseases,” commented Dr. Gottardo.
Dr. Sunil Gupta, founder and chief medical officer at Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems (IRIS), noted that diabetes is the leading cause of adult-onset blindness in the U.S. But 95% of vision loss is preventable due to modern therapies such as the diabetic retinal exam (DRE).
“We can make a huge impact on people’s lives through the early detection of sight-threatening disease, and advanced technologies can accelerate these efforts,” added Steve Martin, chief executive officer at IRIS. “Through the use of AI, we can scale our diagnostic software to reach underserved communities and help end preventable blindness.”
Dr. Ann Aerts, head of the Novartis Foundation, explained that leprosy is one of the oldest diseases known to humans. And there are an estimated 2 to 3 million people who are still living with the disease.
“Around the world, we are working to accelerate efforts to eliminate leprosy by focusing on interventions that aim to interrupt transmission. The use of AI is transformative and a game-changer in how we can accelerate progress and scale our work to reach the people in need,” noted Dr. Aerts.
Jeff Bernson, MPA, MPH, chief data officer and vice president of Technology, Analytics, and Marketing Innovation at PATH said that his organization is focused on using innovation to remove barriers so that everyone can receive the healthcare needed to thrive.
“Along with Microsoft, we believe there is tremendous power in using AI to help us see all communities, identify the diseases that affect them, and ultimately improve the way they deliver care. Only when every community has the opportunity to transform their health can all of humanity advance,” Bernson pointed out.
Dr. Nino Ramirez, director of the Center for Integrative Brain Research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, said that recent collaborations with the Microsoft data science team already showcased how artificial intelligence can bring a deeper quality of research by helping uncover important answers about breathing disorders and causes of infant mortality such as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
“We are excited by the opportunity to continue our work together, combining our shared talents with cutting-edge computing tools that have the power to transform our field and ultimately save lives,” revealed Dr. Ramirez.
Microsoft’s AI for Good initiative also includes AI for Accessibility, AI for Cultural Heritage, AI for Earth, AI for Health and AI for Humanitarian Action.
