In many ways, artificial intelligence is already integrated into our daily lives — from search engines and social media to transportation and text editing. However, its most transformative potential lies ahead in health care.

Much like earlier waves of technological innovation transformed medical practice, AI is poised to push the boundaries even further. This is where Johns Hopkins Medicine must lead. And — I’m proud to say — we are already paving the way.

Our innovations span Johns Hopkins Medicine’s tripartite mission of clinical care, research and education. Over the past year, for example, a group of our physicians tested an AI scribe tool that takes notes during their appointments. This technology has freed them to focus on their patients — an important step forward in clinical care.

But tools like these are just the beginning of what’s possible. As Dr. Vasan Yegnasubramanian, director of Johns Hopkins inHealth, recently shared: “Right now, the AI tool takes the information from that conversation to help write a physician’s note. As we go forward, it might also be able to remind the physician of questions they need to ask — and integrate data from labs and other testing to provide decision support on appropriate treatments, follow-up care and specialist referrals.”

There’s exciting progress across our research and education missions too. In October, the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Whiting School of Engineering joined the Cancer AI Alliance, a groundbreaking new partnership with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Through this federated network, these institutions can utilize responsible AI to safely share data — all with the goal of potentially transforming oncological care (see p.2).

At the same time, we’re making data science and AI centerpieces of one of our most significant internal investments: the Life Sciences Building, currently under construction at the southwest corner of Broadway and East Monument Street in East Baltimore.

Dr. Alexis Battle, director of the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare, helped direct these innovations. “As we went through the initial stages of planning for the new Life Sciences Building, there was a lot of thought put into: What are the next 10, 20, 30 years of life sciences and medicine going to look like?” she told me.

One focus, on data science and AI, emerged as a clear consensus. Once the Life Sciences Building is complete, it will have two major investments in data-powered machine learning: first, a technological hub dedicated to emerging computational methods. And second, well-resourced interdisciplinary spaces will enable collaboration across divisions — from the Data Science and AI Institute to faculty members from our schools of medicine, public health, engineering, business and nursing.

“Hopkins has a really unique interdisciplinary community in the AI space,” Dr. Battle has noted. “This is really bringing them together. Learning about, and educating people about, data science and AI — it has to be a joint effort.”

This research could very well change the future of drug discovery and testing, helping researchers target more specific gene mutations and assess therapy candidates more efficiently. It also enables Johns Hopkins to lead conversations on the intersection of AI, policy and research. Our Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C., for example, has hosted trainings for U.S. Congress staffers, and our Berman Institute of Bioethics held a symposium to discuss the latest innovations in AI policy and governance.

As we make more and deeper discoveries, we’ll be able to share them with leaders across fields — and, eventually, with patients. This is all an extension of the unique role, responsibility and capability Johns Hopkins Medicine has always held.

 As Dr. Yegnasubramanian shared, “Not many places can bring together an incredible research university — the first research university — with the world’s best health care delivery and health system.”

AI tools, powered by the unparalleled innovation of Johns Hopkins, will help shape the future of modern medicine and once again set new standards for care, discovery and education.