Pittsburgh Alliance, Amazon drive AI product development in Steel City

A large health data-sharing consortium based in Pittsburgh is bringing in Amazon Web Services to help drive research and product development around machine learning and cloud computing in numerous areas of healthcare.

The Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance (PHDA) announced the arrangement Aug. 7, saying scientists from PHDA member institutions—namely the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon—will leverage AWS support to accelerate AI activity in cancer risk scoring, mental healthcare, diagnostic accuracy and other concentrations.

For example, a research team led by U of Pitt bioengineer David Vorp, PhD, is developing an algorithm that will guide surgeries for abdominal aortic aneurysms performed before symptoms show up.

The PHDA’s membership also includes the 40-hospital UPMC integrated health system.

Dave Pearson

Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.

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Given the precarious excitement of the moment—or is it exciting precarity?—policymakers and healthcare leaders must set directives guiding not only what to do with AI but also when to do it. 

The final list also included diabetes drugs sold by Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck. The first round of drug price negotiations reduced the Medicare prices for 10 popular drugs by up to 79%. 

HHS has thought through the ways AI can and should become an integral part of healthcare, human services and public health. Last Friday—possibly just days ahead of seating a new secretary—the agency released a detailed plan for getting there from here.