AI is going to transform healthcare - but how do we ensure it does so responsibly, equitably and ethically? Google’s former Chief Health Officer, Dr. Karen DeSalvo, says that AI could be public health’s new best friend - if we use it in the right ways. Karen  sits down with Claudia at Aspen Ideas Health to talk about her longtime career as a public health leader and where she sees a role for AI in helping to take some heat off public health communicators. She’s interested in how AI can support - not replace - our human values. 

We discuss:

• How AI health agents could personalize and simplify care, especially for patients navigating complex health challenges
• Why government should act as both regulator and convener to shape the future of how we use AI in health
• Our failure to scale and implement big ideas because we keep adding new layers instead of simplifying

Karen underscored that AI-enabled robots will bring new ethical challenges:

“I think when robotics becomes more commonplace, that also raises some of the need for us to be very thoughtful as a society about the ethical challenges when there's a physical manifestation of the models that's not just in a computer screen or even through your glasses, but as the robots get more and more humanoid.”

Relevant Links

• Read the Forbes article on Karen’s tenure at Google 
• Watch a Video where Karen introduces “Check Up”
• Read the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials’ spotlight on Karen
• Read Karen’s article about “Public Health 3.0”
• Check out Karen’s Health Affairs article on the future of public health 

About Our Guest

Dr. Karen DeSalvo is a physician executive working at the intersection of medicine, public health, and information technology to help everyone, everywhere, live a healthier life. She leads a team of experts at Google who build helpful products, develop AI solutions focused on some of the biggest health challenges and bring information and insights to consumers, caregivers and communities with the aim of democratizing access to health and healthcare. She provides clinical leadership for Google employee health, including as part of the company COVID response team. Prior to joining Google, Dr. DeSalvo was National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and Assistant Secretary for Health (Acting) in the Obama Administration. Dr. DeSalvo served as the New Orleans Health Commissioner following Hurricane Katrina and was previously Vice Dean for Community Affairs and Health Policy at the Tulane School of Medicine where she was a practicing internal medicine physician, educator, and researcher. She is co-founder of the National Alliance to Impact the Social Determinants of Health. Dr. DeSalvo serves on the Council of the National Academy of Medicine and the Board of Directors for Welltower.

Source

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