Harrington Lecture: AI Can Be Game Changer for Health Care

By Dirk Hoffman

Bertagnolli, president-elect of the National Academy of Medicine and the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery Emerita, Harvard Medical School, delivered the keynote lecture May 2 at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences as part of the University at Buffalo’s Alumni Weekend and 180th anniversary.

Jessica A. Donhauser, MD ’13, president of UB’s Medical Alumni Association, welcomed guests by noting “this year’s lecture is especially meaningful as we celebrate 180 years of the Jacobs School, a legacy that began in 1846 and has been shaped by generations of physicians, scientists, educators and partners.”

“It is wonderful to see so many alumni, distinguished guests, faculty, students and friends here today,” she said. “This room reflects the very best of our community. Your leadership, generosity and engagement continue to elevate the Jacobs School and expand our impact far beyond Western New York.”

In her opening remarks, Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School, said the medical school was founded to serve the community and train doctors, noting the school had just graduated 183 new doctors the day before.

“We are on our way to deepening our commitment to primary care by launching a three-year pathway to a medical degree that is scholarship-funded and recipients will commit to service on the East and West side of Buffalo for five years.”

“Our commitment is to strengthen the health care workforce in Western New York and to be a model for the rest of the United States on how a medical school and an R1 university contribute to the overall mission and change of the community,” Brashear said.

Bertagnolli, who previously served as director of the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, began her speech titled “Where Innovation Meets Care: The Power of Learning Health Systems,” by saying “UB’s vision is exactly what our nation needs right now.”

“The United States spends more on health care than any other country and leads the world in medical innovation. We’ve mapped the human genome, produced vaccines in record time and we routinely perform medical miracles that would have seemed like science fiction a generation ago,” she said. “But, in the richest nation in the world we have not found a way for all people to receive the care that we already know will save lives.”

Bertagnolli said “all health is local,” noting that health outcomes vary dramatically across communities.

She cited an example that for people who live in Summit County, Colorado, the age-adjusted cancer death rate is the lowest in the nation at 64 per 100,000 population. In Union County, Florida, a rural community that contains several correctional institutions, the death rate is four times higher.

“We know these disparities are not driven by health care access alone, but by a complex mix of environmental, social, and economic factors,” Bertagnolli said.

Compounding the problem, she said the populations most affected are often underrepresented in clinical research, limiting our understanding and ability to respond effectively.

“Simply put, we cannot improve what we cannot measure.”

Bertagnolli said since its founding in 1970, the National Academy of Medicine has been taking on the challenge of transforming U.S. health care.

Two decades ago, leaders called for a “learning health care system” that continuously integrates research and care. The goal was to ensure that clinical decisions are grounded in the best available evidence.

“Yet we have fallen short of that ambition,” she said. “Today, we still lack a system where evidence consistently guides care, improves outcomes, reduces costs, and earns the trust of patients — especially around how their data is used. Trust is critical.”

Bertagnolli said a true learning health system would empower clinicians and patients with timely evidence, enable innovation in treatments and diagnostics, and guide policymakers with reliable data. It would learn from every patient interaction and continuously feed that knowledge back into care.

“Medicine never stops changing. We need to continually learn, and we need to learn from the patients we see in front of us every day,” she said.

Bertagnolli said advances in AI represent a turning point, offering the potential to overcome longstanding barriers to learning and coordination.

She said AI can improve outcomes, increase efficiency, and reduce costs — but only if it is built on high-quality, representative data and designed with people’s needs in mind.

“If we build systems that earn trust and harness data responsibly, we can finally realize the promise of a learning health system — one that delivers better care for everyone,” Bertagnolli said.

Following the lecture, a panel discussion titled “AI and the Future of Academic Medicine” was held.

Contributing their expertise alongside Bertagnolli and Brashear, were Marc Halterman, MD, PhD, senior associate dean for research at the Jacobs School; Thomas D. Grant, PhD, assistant professor of structural biology; Vincent M. Tutino, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences; and Siwei Lyu, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and SUNY Empire Innovation Professor of computer science and engineering, and IAD director.

The discussion was moderated by Yijun Sun, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology, and biomedical engineering, and associate director of AI and health science at UB’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (IAD).

Later that evening, several Jacobs School distinguished alumni and leaders were honored during a “Night of Distinction” awards reception and dinner at The Powerhouse in Buffalo:

John J. Bodkin II, MD ’76
Michael O’Mara
Edward Rutkowski

Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes
Majority Leader, New York State Assembly District 141

Renier J. Brentjens, MD ’96, PhD
Deputy director and chair of medicine
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

David S. Kountz, MD ’85, MBA
Chief academic officer
Hackensack Meridian Health

Elinor R. Schoenfeld, PhD ’88
Research professor and associate vice chair of research
Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University

Recipient: Satish K. Tripathi, PhD
President, University at Buffalo