The Zimin Institute for AI Solutions in Healthcare, a joint initiative between the Zimin Foundation and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, is seeking to accelerate the integration of AI into the life sciences. Although it is pursuing a wide range of opportunities from precision medicine to therapeutic discovery, its primary focus is on addressing real-world problems and conducting translational research. We spoke to Shai Shen-Orr, director of the Zimin Institute for AI Solutions, about the challenges the institute seeks to address, how it operates, and how it aims to bridge the gap between academic research and commercial applications in healthcare AI.