By 2030 advanced machine learning will change every aspect of Medicine. Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) can already sense, comprehend, act, direct, discover and learn continuously. Will technology really improve health outcomes and increase lifespans? What can go wrong? Dr. Mike Magee will tell you. He’ll track seven decades of progress in technology-driven healthcare, beginning with AI’s forerunner: natural language processing. Then we’ll view a present in which basic Electronic Medical Records have morphed into computer-driven diagnostic aids, reading X-rays and EKGs. Physicians and consumers now use health-assist Apps, and Google’s multimodal Genesis promises to “combine data types like never before to unlock new possibilities in machine learning.” Our last session projects five years out, painting a revolutionized A.I. picture of medical education and research, diagnostics and therapeutics, drug discovery and genetic engineering. Dr. Mike says medical communications and power-sharing—between those delivering and those receiving care—will increase understanding and partnership. But will it negatively impact trust, confidence and compassion? Dr. Mike will present five case studies. You’ll weigh in on the ethics of this fast-forwarding medical world.
Mike Magee, MD, is a medical historian and journalist, and the author of Code Blue: "Inside the Medical Industrial Complex" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2019). He has taught at the Presidents’ College and the C. Everett Koop Institute at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and Jefferson Medical College. He was also an Honorary Master Scholar at the NYU School of Medicine and the 2008 Distinguished Alumnus award recipient from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He lives in West Hartford, Conn., and is the author of the weekly blog Health Commentary.org.
Wednesdays, Nov. 6 and 20 | 2 p.m.–3:30 p.m. | 1877 Club in the Harry Jack Gray Center
Wednesday, Nov. 13 | 3 p.m.–4:30 p.m. | Wilde Auditorium in the Harry Jack Gray Center | $60
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Faculty and staff are eligible to take one Presidents' College lecture for free every semester, or to receive a one-session discount ($20) for a longer course. Contact Laurie Fasciano at fasciano@hartford.edu or 860.768.4495.