HHS launches AI initiative targeting chronic disease, pediatric cancer
Caroline MolloyThe Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced July 22 that it will use artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing to accelerate biomedical research into chronic disease, pediatric cancer, and drug development.
“America will lead the next generation of medical discovery by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a department press release. “We are mobilizing the nation’s best researchers to uncover the root causes of chronic disease, accelerate lifesaving breakthroughs, and help Make America Healthy Again.”
According to the release, the initiative includes the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-led Bio Genesis Mission, which aims to cut in half the time it takes for scientific discoveries to reach patients. HHS agencies, including the NIH, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, will contribute biomedical, genomic, public health, and safety data for researchers to analyze using AI. HHS said researchers will use the data with “appropriate security and privacy protection.”
The department also said AI could help researchers analyze large, multidisciplinary datasets, detect previously unseen patterns, generate hypotheses more quickly, and identify potential approaches to disease prevention and treatment.