Daniel Rus
Prize event
In some recent news this week, Daniela Rus, Director of MIT’s CSAIL lab and an accomplished computer scientist and educator, was inducted into the French National Academy of Medicine (ANM) on January 7th.
The Académie Nationale de Médecine is the leading French institution for research on medical science and public health. It has existed since 1820 when it was called the Académie Royale de Médecine.
ANM provides expert advice on public health issues, shapes national health policy, provides research for innovation and issues best practices and ethical guidelines for healthcare providers. This office also organizes educational events, and publishes important medical findings that contribute to public awareness.
I asked ChatGPT what the American equivalent is, and he identified the US National Academy of Medicine, as well as the American Medical Association and the National Institutes of Health, while specifying that the AMA is more of a professional group.
Receipt of the Prize
Daniela is a friend and colleague, and I was thrilled to hear about this honor from the French organization.
In her acceptance speech, she went over some of the AI highlights that we’re seeing in the industry right now, specifically, things that apply AI to healthcare and medicine.
Two of them were AI for preventive healthcare and AI for better diagnosis.
She gave the example of sepsis, which is a fast-acting condition that can kill within days. Healthcare providers and hospitals often struggle with diagnosis, which can leave patients more vulnerable to serious illness and death, so applying AI here could have a big impact.
AI and Cancer Research
Addressing the assembly, Daniela also mentioned new situations of proton therapy, where the innovation is the movement of the patient in space, instead of moving the laser beam.
Here again, we apparently have medical evaluation of new practices and how they benefit clinical outcomes.
In addition, Daniela talked about new “caretaker” systems where AI helps people do their jobs better. A prominent example is caregivers for surgeons, where the system is watching a surgeon physically work on a patient and then helps train doctors to avoid mistakes.
Medical AI at the Nanoscale
There is another type of innovative research that Daniela mentioned that I didn’t want to overlook. It’s the idea that we can use tiny nanorobots for procedures that were once invasive.
“Micro/nanorobots are micron-scale, nano-scale functional devices that enable efficient propulsion through chemical reactions or external physical fields, including ultrasonic, optical, magnetic, and other external fields, as well as microorganisms,” the researchers write. in a paper published by the National Library of Medicine. “Compared with traditional robots, micro/nanorobots can perform various tasks at the micro/nano scale, which has the advantages of high precision, strong flexibility and wide adaptability. Furthermore, such robots can also perform tasks in a group manner.”
New innovations here are saving countless lives. Instead of entering the human body with a scalpel, nanorobots can move through veins and arteries to do things like treat aneurysms or occlusions, or prevent cardiac events.
All this is extremely useful for medicine, and Daniela noted how her experience, in her words, “enriched my professional development and deepened my appreciation of the contributions of the French medical and scientific teams to global health.”
In other ways, too, she established herself as a longtime Francophile.
“I have always attached great importance to the transatlantic relationship,” she said. “France has a special place in my heart, not only for its rich history and culture, but also for its wine and cuisine. And more seriously, her significant contributions to medicine and her history of innovation. Becoming a member of the National Academy of Medicine is an unparalleled honor. I plan to visit France, attend meetings and contribute to the activities of the Academy as much as possible. I am committed to being a responsible and active member, utilizing my network and international experiences to further the goals of the Academy.”
So congratulations Daniela, and I’m glad to be able to showcase this important milestone for her and think about how it relates to the work of the AI community as a whole.
