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Microsoft collaborates with Mass General Brigham and University of Wisconsin–Madison to further advance AI foundation models for medical imaging
REDMOND, Wash. — July 24, 2024— Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced collaborations with leading academic medical systems Mass General Brigham and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health along with its partnering health system, UW Health, to accelerate solving some of the biggest challenges in radiology and further advance AI in medical imaging to drive clinician efficiency and enable better health outcomes. The collaborations will foster research and innovation tied to the advancement of high-performing multimodal AI foundation models that empower the entire radiology ecosystem to build on top of the secure Microsoft Azure AI platform and extend the Nuance (a Microsoft company) suite of radiology applications, delivering a wide array of high-value medical imaging copilot applications.
Medical imaging plays a crucial role in healthcare. Health systems spend an estimated $65 billion each year on imaging,[1] and approximately 80% of all hospital and health system visits include at least one imaging exam related to more than 23,000 conditions.[2] Faced with challenges that the overall healthcare industry grapples with, including physician burnout and staffing shortages, healthcare organizations are looking to generative AI to help reduce workloads, enhance workflow efficiencies, and improve the accuracy and consistency of medical image analysis for care delivery, clinical trials recruitment, and drug discovery. Generative AI in radiology also may help enhance patient experiences by reducing wait times for imaging results, further opening up access to care and improving the quality of care.
With the right multimodal data-enriched medical imaging foundation models, Microsoft and its partners will explore how advanced algorithms and applications can help radiologists and other clinicians interpret medical images as well as assist with report generation, disease classification, and structured data analysis.
Microsoft has long been focused on providing high-performing first- and third-party advanced foundation models across ecosystems to empower everyone on the planet to achieve more. Additionally, Microsoft has been an innovator in medical imaging research collaborating with experts in medicine to democratize AI for researchers, hospitals, life science organizations, and healthcare providers.
Through these collaborations, researchers at Mass General Brigham; UW School of Medicine; Public Health; UW Health will work with Microsoft to advance state-of-the-art multimodal foundation models. They will collaborate on developing technology deploying real-world use cases into clinical workflows3 including via Nuance’s PowerScribe radiology reporting platform used by most U.S. radiologists.
“Generative AI has transformative potential... As healthcare leaders we need carefully responsibly develop evaluate tools ensure high-quality care is no way compromised,” said Keith J Dreyer DO PhD chief data science officer chief imaging officer Mass General Brigham leader Mass General Brigham AI business “Foundation models fine-tuned Mass General Brigham’s vast multimodal longitudinal data assets enable shorter development cycle AIML-based software automate segmentation organs abnormalities increase radiologists’ efficiency consistency.”
“Our institutions have reputation embracing technical innovations opportunities lead transformation field new scientific discovery improvement clinical care,” said Scott Reeder MD PhD chair Department Radiology University Wisconsin School Medicine Public Health radiologist UW Health “We excited collaborate Microsoft development validation thoughtful clinical investigation generative AI medical imaging space focus bridge gap within innovation patient ways improve outcomes make innovative care accessible.”
“We proud announce expanded collaborations leading institutions like Mass General Brigham UW Along other industry partners joint efforts aim leverage power foundation models improve experiences workflow efficiency across ecosystem reliable transparent secure,” said Peter Durlach corporate vice president Microsoft Health Life Sciences “Together advancing helping deliver more accessible better-quality patient very resource-constrained environment.”
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1 JAMA 2012;307(22):2400-2409 doi:10 1001/jama 2012 5960
2 Healthcare Definitive “Healthcare Analytics Provider Data Definitive Healthcare ” Definitive Database Hospitals Providers www definitivehc com
3 Subject appropriate regulatory approvals
