Patient Experience
Adoption Curves: Managing Change in Healthcare AI
Change has always been uncomfortable. Clinicians trained for decades to master their craft often find new technologies disruptive, slowing down well-established routines. Patients, too, hesitate when asked to manage their health differently, even when change promises...
Building the AI Social Contract
The idea of a “social contract” is as old as political philosophy itself. Thinkers from Hobbes to Rousseau argued that individuals willingly surrender some autonomy to governing bodies in exchange for protection and order. The contract legitimizes authority by...
Why I Ride: 41 Years for Cancer Research
On August 2–3, I will once again ride 192 miles across Massachusetts in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), an extraordinary event that raises critical funds for cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This year marks my 41st consecutive PMC ride.It also marks...
What We Learned from Future Healthcare 2050
For the past 21 weeks, we have explored how artificial intelligence can reshape the healthcare system—if we lead it with intention. We began with a foundational question: Can AI support—not replace—the patient-physician relationship? What followed was a...
Aligning Healthcare AI with Human Judgment and Ethics
In 1847, Hungarian physician Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis made a life-saving discovery: handwashing reduced maternal deaths during childbirth. Yet the medical establishment rejected his findings for decades. His evidence gained the respect it deserved only with the later...
Balancing Risk and Reward in Healthcare AI
In 1976, U.S. health officials launched an unprecedented national vaccination campaign against a newly identified swine flu strain at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Fearful of a pandemic, the federal government quickly vaccinated millions. However, the rapid deployment—driven...
Can AI Make Healthcare Safer and More Reliable?
In 1904, Dr. Ernest Amory Codman began advocating for a radical idea: healthcare institutions should track every patient's outcome to understand whether treatments were successful. His “End Result System” was the first structured attempt to evaluate healthcare...
How AI Drives Discovery: Faster Trials, Smarter Insights
In 1747, aboard the HMS Salisbury, Scottish physician James Lind conducted what is now recognized as the first controlled clinical trial. Faced with the deadly scourge of scurvy among sailors, Lind divided twelve afflicted crew members into pairs, administering...
Why Virtual Assistants Belong in Healthcare
In 1966, Joseph Weizenbaum of MIT developed ELIZA, one of the first computer programs to mimic human conversation. Though primitive by today's standards, ELIZA simulated a Rogerian psychotherapist using scripted prompts to reflect user input. It was a groundbreaking...