Systems Medicine Program Introduces AI-Focused Concentration
As artificial intelligence (AI) unlocks new capabilities and concerns in data-driven health, Georgetown’s Systems Medicine master’s program is introducing a novel concentration to prepare students to take the lead in a new era of biomedicine.
The Concentration in Applied AI in Systems Medicine complements the master’s curriculum with three courses that address the emerging applications of AI in systems medicine and structural biology, as well as ethical and policy considerations. Systems medicine, the use of mass data to identify health trends and develop personalized treatments, stands to benefit from AI’s ability to process large-scale -omics data sets.
“My goal is always to introduce students to cutting-edge technologies in the curriculum so they are prepared to tackle real-world problems,” said Professor Sona Vasudevan, founding director of the Georgetown Systems Medicine Program. “It was the right moment to add and integrate a concentration focused on AI principles, and especially because Georgetown is leading the AI CoLab center, it is very timely to bring in the expertise needed to lead this effort. It takes a village to lead this effort, and we are well positioned with experts in this village.”
Georgetown and MedStar Health opened their Collaborative Center for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Research and Education (AI CoLab) in 2024 to advance AI research and education. AI CoLab members Omar Aljawfi and Gongliang Zhang are teaching the course “AI Applications in Systems Medicine” as part of the new concentration. And the center’s founding co-directors, Nawar Shara and Peter McGarvey, will provide AI-focused research internship opportunities for concentration students.
The AI applications course “offers a unique opportunity to explore how cutting-edge AI is revolutionizing health care,” Shara said. “This is an essential step for students who want to learn about the implications of AI in how it will re-engineer the way we learn and think about problems in health care.”
The concentration’s ethics and policy course is taught by Professor Beth N. Peshkin, an associate faculty member at the university’s Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics.
“A thorough understanding of ethical and policy issues in systems medicine is vital to ensuring that emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, are used responsibly,” Peshkin said. “By engaging with these complexities, we aim to empower our students – future leaders in the field – to uphold patient autonomy and advance equitable access to care in this era of rapid innovation.”
The Concentration in Applied AI in Systems Medicine is ideal for students with a pre-medical background and quantitative skill sets, Vasudevan said. The curriculum does not teach coding, but is geared toward the applications of AI in biomedicine.
Professor Anna Riegel, vice president for biomedical graduate education and research at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC), said: “This is a great addition to the Systems Medicine Program, and I think it will help lay the foundation for future AI-in-health offerings in many programs including the School of Medicine.”
To learn more about the Concentration in Applied AI in Systems Medicine and the Georgetown University Systems Medicine Program, please visit the Systems Medicine website or contact Professor Sona Vasudevan.