There is an urgent need for more sustainable health care systems. The tech-revolution is changing the face of public health and health care: e.g. new medical devices, nanomedicine, eHealth and of course, we are on the brink of an AI revolution in the health sector. AI technologies can be deployed for arguably every aspect of healthcare and public health: from AI-software to detect breast cancer in screening mammograms and AI-algorithms predicting outbreaks of infectious diseases, to AI-powered wearable devices for remote patient monitoring and fully autonomous robotic surgeons. AI holds the promise to save billions of lives. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides opportunities for greater efficiency, while improving access to healthcare and its quality and safety through the automation of routine and simple tasks, including decision support tools. However, the emergence of AI-technology in the sphere of health harbours poses numerous threats to individual fundamental rights and health providers’ professional autonomy. We work on these challenges in the context of these projects: 

1. Health AI & patients rights
2. Health AI & professional autonomy

Societal Impact

The findings from this research line can have a broad impact on policy and practice. Key findings will be used to evaluate whether there are sufficient regulatory guarantees in the current laws and policy to at the EU level provide sufficient protection to the end-users of AI in health – patients. Other results will also provide insights for the future development of new AI models and their clinical implementation.

Links in the UvA community

This research line contributes to one of UvA’s prestigious interfaculty Research Priority Areas: AI Health decision making, coordinated by the AmsterdamUMC together with the Faculty of Science (Informatics) and Humanities. It interlinks with the Human AI UvA programme.