The University of San Francisco’s (USF’s) Data Institute (DI) has unveiled the Wicklow AI and Medical Research Initiative (WAMRI), a research lab that the university said would focus on the development of practical applications of AI in medicine.
USF’s new AI lab was funded by Wicklow Capital, a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage investments in the fintech sector “to support research at the intersection of machine learning, AI and medicine”. Established in 2016, the institute serves as the umbrella organization at the university for data science research and programming.
DI executive director David Uminsky said: “The rapid adoption and increased acceptance by the medical research community of tools such as deep learning, AI and machine learning is very encouraging. Medicine is a uniquely favorable field for data scientists to work as the data is often difficult but rich with information and the impacts are far-reaching.
“This support from WAMRI will provide an opportunity to develop the next generation of researchers at the frontier of AI and medicine, accelerate breakthroughs in this space and become a focal point to attract new research partnerships in the ML/AI and medicine space,” Uminsky added.
The USF said that the development of WAMRI “will create a dedicated opportunity for scholars to develop novel AI models to advance critical medical research across areas including oncology, cardiology and neurology”.
Furthermore, USF said that the new lab has already established five joint projects with researchers and students at USF and the University of California in San Francisco.
