BRC part of new centre to create next generation of AI leaders

The GOSH Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) will form part of a new centre to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to healthcare and support the development of future leaders in AI.The new Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) will focus on ‘AI-enabled Healthcare Systems’ and will involve the GOSH BRC along with National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) BRCs at Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College London Hospital (UCLH).

The CDT, which will be led by Professor Geraint Rees, Professor of Cognitive Neurology (UCL Life Sciences), will be established with funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). 
“We will not only apply AI to healthcare but also apply healthcare to AI. This will drive innovation in the AI field while also using AI to transform healthcare by extracting more information from patient data to accelerate diagnosis and improve patient outcomes,” said Professor Rees.

The CDT will also be supported by several commercial partners, including Benevolent AI, the Whittington and Royal Free Hospitals and Public Health England.

“Graduates will work in the NHS and receive training from world-leading academics who combine clinical with AI expertise and have commercial connections. This integration will enable rapid real-world piloting of AI on hardware embedded in hospitals and GP practices,” Professor Rees added.

Overall UCL was awarded £12.6m to establish two new CDTs. The other new CDT at UCL specialising in ‘Foundational Artificial Intelligence’ will be led by Professor David Barber, Professor of Machine Learning (UCL Computer Science) in collaboration with the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit and the UCL Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience.

The announcement of the UKRI funding award was made by the government this week as part of a wider initiative to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of emerging technologies and the global revolution in AI.

The new CDT award follows the opening of GOSH’s DRIVE unit (Digital Research, Informatics and Virtual Environments) last year - a state-of-the-art centre which will explore the use of technology in healthcare.