New Frontiers for Undergraduate Research in AI and Medicine

“I feel like we’re walking into a frontier of information,” said Joshua Ramsay, a senior economics major and head teaching assistant in Baylor’s Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Scholars (AIMS) program in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Ramsay is one of 18 undergraduate students participating in a new research program in Baylor prehealth, studying the impact of AI in clinical settings, a topic Ramsay said is part of “such a growing field that it’s amazing to be a part of it as 
a student.”

In partnership with Waco Family Medicine, students conduct research on real-world use of artificial intelligence software used by doctors and patients. AIMS students learn interdisciplinary research skills at the intersection of health, technology and communication.

“It’s exciting to see our students get opportunities at the forefront of this as a topic of research,” Rich Sanker, Ph.D., senior director of prehealth, said. “It’s a chance to examine how AI can be utilized to bring about better access to care, better diagnoses and improved outcomes for patients, and a topic our students know will have a big impact on their careers.”

Along with Sanker, Associate Professor of Communication Ashley Barrett, B.A. ’07, M.A. ’09, Ph.D., provides research leadership to help students combine qualitative and quantitative research skills — approaches necessary to get a complete picture of both the perceptions and reality of AI in medicine. These approaches, Barrett says, will burnish research they hope leads to publications that extend AIMS’s impact beyond Waco.

“Undergraduate research like this is a reflection of Baylor’s commitment to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service,” Barrett says. “It’s all connected, and it’s refreshing to see students become active participants in discovery and the development of the fields they’ll enter.”

For students like Abby Christiansen, a sophomore biology major and AIMS lead teaching assistant, that’s an opportunity she doesn’t see elsewhere. 

“I know students from other universities and don’t hear them talking about experiences like this,” Christiansen said. “At Baylor, we have professors who are willing to entrust us with this kind of opportunity as undergraduates and to have connections like Waco Family Medicine that help us take a leadership role now. It’s an inspiring cycle that I’m really enjoying.”