What Septic Shock and Tiger Sharks Can Teach Us About Healthcare AI
A private leadership roundtable conversation on AI in health systems
Hosted by Dr. Jay Shah
As a cancer surgeon whose clinical practice centers around doing 8-10 hour-long robotic operations on sick 70 and 80-year-olds, I have learned firsthand the tremendous pressure of making life or death decisions. As the Physician-in-Chief of a medical staff with over 5000 providers, I have also learned that decisions made by healthcare leaders today often have unforeseen consequences that may not become evident for months or years to come. In short, I've spent my career making decisions where being wrong isn't recoverable. I bring my clinical perspective and my leadership experience to help guide the conversation on how large health systems can deploy AI.
Last year, I found myself on the other side of the surgical scalpel. I ignored a medical condition that led to emergency surgery, septic shock, and a months-long recovery at home. Less than a year after that event almost killed me, I paddled 25 miles of open ocean off the New Jersey coast, through shark-infested waters.
In the hospital, my life depended on trusting other people's judgment. Out in the ocean, it depended entirely on my own. AI asks healthcare for a third kind of trust, in judgment that belongs to no humans at all. That unprecedented trust is why I'm setting this table: as healthcare leaders, how do we balance the tension of enthusiasm and skepticism when it comes to AI? There is no longer a world where AI won't find its way into every sector of society. What should health system leaders do now to reap the benefits of AI on our terms? How can we plan for the unintended consequences of AI that we can't even see yet?
I'm purposely limiting this table to senior executive leaders in healthcare to trade lessons, examine mistakes, and sharpen judgment among peers. My express motivation here is honest human connection among leaders in healthcare as we each navigate the choppy waters of AI.
Attendance is by invitation only. Dinner is included.
This event is organized by Amigo.