Ottawa’s AI strategy includes $200M for health

TORONTO – At an event hosted last week at UHN’s Toronto General Hospital, prime minister Mark Carney (pictured) announced his government’s federal AI strategy, AI For All. The plan focuses on expanding AI adoption across Canadian organizations and increasing confidence in the technology by investing in AI literacy training, job opportunities for young people and the development of sovereign infrastructure.

As part of those investments, the federal government announced $200 million for projects to improve healthcare.

“Our strategy, AI for All, is designed to put Canadians back in control, to build trust, to seize opportunities and, above all, to harness AI to improve lives and, indeed, to save them,” said Carney.

UHN, Canada’s largest academic health sciences centre, is at the leading edge of AI adoption, integrating it across research, education and patient care.

“AI is one of the most consequential shifts in the history of healthcare,” says Dr. Kevin Smith, president and CEO of UHN.

“It presents an opportunity for us to supercharge research into groundbreaking therapies and treatments, build new skills and opportunities for the next generation of health workers and, ultimately, improve access and patient care and for all Canadians.”

Prime minister Carney and Evan Solomon, minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation, highlighted UHN’s long-standing history as a hub for healthcare innovation that benefits Canadians and patients globally.

“The world’s first single and double lung transplant happened here. The first external heart pacemaker, first use of insulin all happened right here,” said Mr. Carney.

“That’s what’s possible when good people harness new technologies and deploy them with the right purpose.”

Today, UHN’s AI Hub is at the centre of the next generation of healthcare innovations, delivering AI-driven health solutions responsibly, safely and with patient needs in mind.

“That’s exactly what our national strategy … is all about – AI that serves Canadians, not the other way around,” said Mr. Solomon.

During the event, clinicians demonstrated AI in action across UHN.

Medly, a remote monitoring solution for cardiac patients, was demonstrated by cardiologist Dr. Heather Ross, who co-created the innovative app. It connects Toronto-based cardiologists to patients in remote parts of Canada, providing timely access to care, while increasing hospital capacity and reaching more patients.

Dr. Amin Madani, endocrine and acute care surgeon, demonstrated AI guidance that provides surgeons real-time feedback of “no-go zones” in endovascular surgery, making procedures more accurate and leading to better outcomes for patients.

Using “digital twins” that simulate donor-recipient dynamics in support of organ transplant decision-making and analytics that can predict organ viability in real-time, Dr. Deepali Kumar, medical director of UHN’s Ajmera Transplant Centre, demonstrated how AI is advancing transplantation.

“AI is transforming how we deliver care,” said Dr. Smith. “This is what the future of medicine looks like: smarter, more precise and centred on the needs of every patient.”

UHN’s impact extends beyond Toronto. Working with international partners, including health institutions and private industry partners, UHN is contributing research data to advance new discoveries driven by AI.

LIGAND-AI – which includes partners from the medical and technology industries, in addition to several European academic health science centres and Toronto’s SickKids – aims to accelerate drug discovery.

Mayo Clinic’s Platform Connect, a global network featuring diverse data insights, is helping make research more accessible for a healthier future.

These investments are part of UHN’s commitment to leverage AI for the benefit of Canadians and patients around the world.

Source: UHN