Willcoxon Innovation in Health Sciences Summit focuses on precision health care and AI

Health care technologies and trends shaping the industry’s future were the focus Friday of Missouri Southern State University’s Willcoxon Innovation in Health Sciences Summit.

Crystal Lemmons, dean of the College of Health and Life Sciences Education, said the summit was open to everyone in the community. The theme centered around precision health care, which means what works for one person might not work for someone else, she said.

“Precision health care is an integral part of what medicine is and where we’re headed in the future,” Lemmons said. “The term means we are looking at personalized health care. We are moving away from a one-size-fits-all medicine model and getting into looking at an individual’s life, their genetics, their environment and lifestyle. We are understanding that is the key to tailoring treatments to get a much better diagnosis with our technology.”

In addition to speakers, there was a lunch presentation on the Roy Blunt Health Science Innovation Center under construction on the campus, displays, students presenting research from the summit’s scholar program and a virtual reality section for people to tour the new building.

With construction of their new facility, MSSU continues as the educational cornerstone for the region, Lemmons said.

“We know regionally we’re experiencing shortages in our health care workers,” she said. “We are try to meet that demand by bringing awareness. Secondly, education is the cornerstone to closing that gap. Learning is the key for that.”

The summit’s keynote address featured Marilyn Heine discussing “Strengthening the Focus on Precision Healthcare with an AI Twist.”

She is a member of the American Medical Association’s board of trustees, an emergency medicine and hematology oncology physician in southeast Pennsylvania, and clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Heine said precision health care and artificial intelligence continue to shape the future of health care.

Precision health care improves effectiveness, enhances patient safety to lessen potential risks and side effects, and has better outcomes to improve quality of life. For example, Heine said this takes the form of looking at someone’s personal factors, like a history of substance abuse, and external factors, such as living in an area of high pollution, to diagnose and treat a patient.

AI can help with examining and monitoring these factors at a much higher level than humans can. AI doesn’t supplant the physician, it guides them, Heine added.

“AI is crucial and drives precision health care,” Heine said. “As clinicians, we rely heavily on pattern recognition, but AI does that to a different level. AI augments our human ability to analyze and interpret data that is complex and has patterns. It also efficiently helps clinicians to develop and deliver a tailored approach.”

Heine used the example of a doctor seeking to improve care for a diabetes patient in a rural area without easy access to health care. The doctor can use AI-based mobile health to continuously monitor the patient’s glucose and use an AI-based wearable to monitor the patient’s heart rate. In the future, AI may be able to determine if the patient is following their medication regime.

Heine continued that it’s important to realize AI’s limitations, including limitations on access to appropriate data and present bias that is not fully addressed in the AI models. The AMA also realizes the need to establish the issue of liability if an AI model is wrong.

In the end the potential benefits to patients are worth addressing these concerns, she said.

“Through effective policy and advocacy, education and collaboration we can work to overcome barriers and strive to realize the potential of precision health care,” Heine said.

Lincoln Greek, a MSSU junior and nursing major, said the summit was a good opportunity to learn about new things happening in the medical world.

It’s important for students to learn and grow as nurses, Greek said, and it’s good practice for their future to engage in continuing education. He plans on starting out as a nurse with a local ICU and possibly becoming a practitioner in the future.

“This summit is technology based, so I’m looking forward to understanding the trend of technology and how we can implement it in the future for nursing,” Greek said. “I think things like AI will play a bigger role, especially with diagnosing accurately. We live in the here and now, so people might not understand where the future is headed.”

Did you know? In addition to Heine, the summit featured Haval Shirwan, with MU Nextgen Precision Healthcare, talking about cancer prevention; R. Gabe Linke, 3D Imaging and Advanced Visualization program manager at Children’s Nebraska, talking about the evolving role of 3D imaging; and Jeffrey Staudinger, from Kansas City University, talking about genomic insights and colon cancer.