AI Rounds by the Cumming School of Medicine

What happens when artificial intelligence collides with centuries-old academic traditions? In this thought-provoking episode, Dr. Heather Jamniczky, Associate Dean of Graduate Science Education and 3M National Teaching Fellow, tackles the seismic shifts reshaping how we train the next generation of medical researchers.

From late-night worries about academic integrity to bold visions of AI-ready graduates, Heather shares candid insights on navigating uncharted territory. We explore the faculty hesitations to embracing AI, reimagine what authentic assessment looks like when AI can write and analyze, and dive deep into the ethical minefields emerging in AI-assisted research.

But here's the kicker – in a mic-drop moment that will make you question everything, Heather poses the ultimate challenge: "Should we even examine a written thesis anymore?" This isn't just about adapting to new tools; it's about fundamentally rethinking what graduate education means in an AI-ubiquitous world.

Whether you're supervising students, designing curricula, or simply trying to keep pace with the AI revolution in academia, this episode will challenge your assumptions and equip you with practical thoughts for the road ahead. The future of graduate education isn't coming – it's here.

Join us for a conversation that's equal parts challenging and inspiring, as we explore how to prepare medical graduates not just to use AI, but to lead its ethical implementation in research and clinical practice.

Our institution now has campus-wide access to scite.ai, an AI-powered research tool that's fundamentally different from traditional databases. In this episode, we explore how medical faculty can leverage this powerful platform to transform their research workflows, enhance teaching, and support evidence-based clinical decisions. Whether you're writing your next grant, preparing tomorrow's lecture, or answering a resident's question during rounds, this episode provides concrete strategies to work smarter, not harder with scite!

Links from this episode:

scite can be accessed at https://scite.ai

For UCalgary users if you are on the UCalgary network you will automatically have full access to all features, no log in required. From outside of the network you an log in via the UCalgary library ezproxy. No account is required but if you make one you will have the advantage of being able to save your work.

In 2025, artificial intelligence has achieved an unexpected milestone: it's become too good at taking tests. From medical knowledge exams to complex reasoning tasks, AI systems are now scoring 90%+ on benchmarks that were designed to challenge them, rendering these assessments meaningless for comparison or evaluation. This "benchmark crisis" has profound implications for medical faculty evaluating AI tools for research, education, and clinical applications. When vendors claim their AI scored "95% on medical benchmarks," what does that actually tell us about real-world performance? This episode explores why perfect scores might be misleading, how the benchmark arms race mirrors challenges in medical education assessment, and what questions faculty should ask when evaluating AI tools for their institutions. Understanding this crisis is crucial for making informed decisions about AI integration in academic medicine.

The Game Has Changed! Forget everything you know about AI "search." In the past few months GenAI tools have released "deep research" capabilities which can spend up to 45 minutes autonomously investigating complex medical questions, synthesize findings from hundreds of papers in minutes, and generate comprehensive literature reviews that used to take weeks. See how you can save hours per week while maintaining rigorous academic standards. But can you trust the results? How do you verify AI-generated citations? And what does this mean for research integrity in academic medicine?

This week Jessalyn sits down with Dr. Jordan Engbers, who works with AI both in industry and academia. The conversation explores how our relationship to intellectual work could (and should!) change as we incorporate AI into our workflows. The discussion continues thinking about what we are teaching in higher education regarding AI use and what employers are looking for these days in industry related to AI skills.

This week Jessalyn has a fascinating conversation with guest Dr. Zack Marshall, an expert in Community-Based Participatory Research and Responsible AI. The conversation explores gender bias in AI, how to engage patients and the public in AI development, and transdisciplinary thinking and collaboration in AI. Check the links below for the projects mentioned in this episode.

• Shirin Seyedsalehi, Amin Bigdeli, Negar Arabzadeh, Batool AlMousawi, Zack Marshall, Morteza Zihayat and Ebrahim Bagheri (2025), "Understanding and Mitigating Gender Bias in Information Retrieval Systems", Foundations and Trends® in Information Retrieval: Vol. 19: No. 3, pp 191-364. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1500000103)

• AbSPORu
• PaCER
• NotebookLM
• Data Nutrition Project
• Responsible AI Project

On this episode, Jessalyn sits down with Dr. Nonsikelelo Mathe (Scientific Director, Health Equity & Implementation Science, Health Equity & Systems Transformation Lab, CSM) to discuss equity, ethics, and privacy when thinking about using AI in the healthcare system.

On this episode, we explore essential AI prompting techniques. Whether you're a health sciences professor, medical educator, or practicing clinician, you'll learn practical strategies to get better results from AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini in your professional work. We cover five core prompting principles and advanced techniques including Chain of Thought reasoning with examples.

You'll also discover how to avoid common prompting pitfalls, understand machine psychology to leverage AI's information processing patterns, and explore Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology for enhanced reliability in healthcare applications. Designed for busy healthcare professionals, this episode offers immediately actionable insights to help you save time, improve AI interactions, and get more clinically relevant outputs for your practice, teaching, and research.

On this episode, Jessalyn sits down with Dr. Fareen Zaver, Associate Dean, Office of Faculty Development to discuss why faculty members should prioritize AI literacy in their professional development.

Take a deep dive into large language models and generative AI like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini.

On this episode, Jessalyn will dig into how these systems actually work, discuss their current capabilities and limitations, and share some practical tips for leveraging them effectively.