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Dubai, United Arab Emirates: The Jameel Clinic, the epicentre of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), hosted yesterday a one-day conference titled ‘AI Cures MENASA: Clinical AI and data solutions for health’, in partnership with the UAE Artificial Intelligence Office, Community Jameel, and Wellcome. Held at the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai, the conference was attended by H.E. Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.
The conference brought together pioneers in AI and health from the Jameel Clinic, including MacArthur ‘genius grant’ Fellows Professor Regina Barzilay and Professor Dina Katabi, Dr Adam Yala and Dr Shrooq Alsenan, a Jameel Clinic research fellow from Saudi Arabia, together with representatives from major hospitals and public health agencies across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA) region. The conference marks the first international venture of ‘AI Cures’, the Jameel Clinic’s platform for collaboration that launched in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fady Jameel, vice chairman of Community Jameel, said: “We are excited to be able to help bring together such an inspiring gathering of scientists, policymakers, public health officials and hospital leaders at the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai. The work of the Jameel Clinic has the potential to transform healthcare for millions of people around the world, and we are excited to see the Jameel Clinic AI Hospital Network expanding in the MENASA region and rolling out clinical AI tools around the world for equitable impact for all.”
Professor Regina Barzilay, AI faculty lead at the Jameel Clinic, said: “Ensuring that the cutting-edge clinical AI research being done at MIT can be utilised in diverse clinical settings is critical to our mission at the Jameel Clinic. We look forward to combining the expertise of Jameel Clinic researchers with the expertise of local clinicians and public health officials in the MENASA region to maximise the impact of clinical AI tools on patient lives.”
Tariq Khokhar, head of data for science & health at Wellcome, said: “AI tools have an exciting role to play in transforming healthcare for patients around the world and advancing health research. But first, researchers, policymakers, clinicians and healthcare managers must work together to test them in diverse settings rigorously, so we know they work for different people and under different circumstances. This will ensure they’re safe for everyone and maximise their potentially life-saving potential.”
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For Media Liaison
Contact: Azar Al Kilani
Email: Azar.Alkilani@rpr.ae
About the MIT Jameel Clinic:
The Jameel Clinic is the epicentre of artificial intelligence (AI) and healthcare at MIT. It works to develop AI technologies that will change the landscape of healthcare. This includes early diagnostics, drug discovery, care personalisation and management. Building on MIT’s pioneering history in artificial intelligence and life sciences, the Jameel Clinic works on novel algorithms suitable for modelling biological and clinical data across various modalities, including imaging, text and genomics. While achieving this goal, the team strives to make discoveries in machine learning, biology, chemistry and clinical sciences. The Jameel Clinic was co-founded in 2018 by MIT and Community Jameel, the independent, global organisation advancing science to help communities thrive in a rapidly changing world.
About Community Jameel:
Community Jameel advances science to help communities thrive in a rapidly changing world. An independent, global organisation, Community Jameel was launched in 2003 to continue the tradition of philanthropy and community service established by the Jameel family of Saudi Arabia in 1945. Community Jameel supports scientists, humanitarians, technologists and creatives to understand and address pressing human challenges in areas such as climate change, health and education.
The work enabled and supported by Community Jameel has led to significant breakthroughs and achievements, including the MIT Jameel Clinic’s discovery of the new antibiotic Halicin, critical modelling of the spread of COVID-19 conducted by the Jameel Institute at Imperial College London, and a Nobel Prize-winning experimental approach to alleviating global poverty developed by the co-founders of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT.
About Wellcome:
Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. We support discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and we’re taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.
