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Ethics and Tech Conference 2024

Join Seattle University and key thought leaders from across the country to discuss the ethical challenges and benefits that are ahead of us as businesses and researchers race to harness the powers of AI in the field of healthcare.

Where AI meets humanity in healthcare: What's next?

An abstract boxThe tools of artificial intelligence offer the potential for healthcare to become more effective and equitable. But as we race to embrace these advances, are we truly ensuring that we do no harm? Thought leaders from across disciplines will discuss the complex issues that emerge as we harness AI for health. Join us in an important conversation grounded in Seattle University’s Jesuit tradition of facing challenges with reflection and contemplation.

Meet the Speakers

A photograph of Christof Koch

Christof Koch

Christof Koch, President, Chief Scientific Officer and Meritorious Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, whose writings and investigations integrate theoretical, computational and experimental neuroscience with philosophy and contemporary trends, in particular artificial intelligence. He is known for believing that the mechanisms behind consciousness will be able to be scientifically explained using currently-available tools of neurobiology, among other theories about the nature of consciousness in the context of networked complexity.


A photograph of Vin Gupta

Vin Gupta

Vin Gupta, Critical Care Pulmonologist, Virginia Mason; Chief Medical Officer in Pharmacy, Amazon; Affiliate Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Metrics, University of Washington; and Critical Care Air Transport Physician and Major in the United States Air Force Reserve Medical Corps Sciences, has a multi-faceted perspective on global public health care and critical care response. His systems-oriented experiences give him an interesting perspective on the potential applications of AI in healthcare.


A photograph of Blythe Adamson

Blythe Adamson

Blythe Adamson, Head of Outcomes Research at Flatiron; Founder, Infectious Economics; and Affiliate Professor, UW is a scientist, epidemiologist and health economist using AI to compare drug and policy effectiveness with the goal of accelerating research and improving patient outcomes. Her team has pioneered deep learning language models for data extraction, and she served as lead data scientist in the West Wing of The White House and advised public and private institutions on disease prevention.


A photograph of Ty Kayam

Ty Kayam

Ty Kayam, Principal Corporate Counsel for Health and Life Sciences, Microsoft; Adjunct Professor of Law, Seattle University, advises product, engineering and data science teams on legal issues related to the development of AI and other emerging technologies for the health and life sciences industries. She currently holds leadership positions on the Health Information Technology committee of the American Health Law Association and the eHealth, Privacy, and Security group of the American Bar Association.


A photograph of Mjaye Leslie Mazwi

Mjaye Mazwi

Mjaye Mazwi, Co-Director, Heart Center, Division Head, Cardiac Critical Care Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics at Seattle Children’s Hospital, uses machine learning to computationally model high resolution patient phenotypes and state-based characterizations for critically ill pediatric patients. His work in AI is intimately connected to his patient care.


A photograph of Jay Nanduri

Jay Nanduri

Jay Nanduri is the CTO and Co-Founder of Truveta.

For 20+ years, Jay Nanduri has been a Microsoft Technical Fellow with over 25 patents. He is committed to structuring health data to better support equitable and innovative healthcare. He strives to use AI creatively to enable Truveta’s large consortium of partners to use data productively.


A photograph of Stephanie Simmons

Stephanie Simmons

Stephanie Simmons draws on her background in law, regulatory compliance, ethical thought and technology as she considers the implications of a robust innovation pipeline merging tech, products, research and design in the fields of health and life sciences. Her group pursues interdisciplinary collaborations that drive real-world impact.


A photograph of Alex London

Alex John London

Alex John London, K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies, Carnegie Mellon University

An elected fellow of the Hastings Center, Alex John London is co-lead of the K&L Gates Initiative in Ethics and Computational Technologies, Director of the Center for Ethics and Policy, and Chief Ethicist at the Block Center for Technology and Society, all at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Group on Ethics and Governance of AI among other advisory positions.


A photograph of Joanna Black

Joanna Black

Joanna Black is currently general counsel for Madrona Ventures Group. She has worked with public and venture-backed companies in the software, technology, and biotechnology industries for the last 25 years, including as VP of Xcyte Therapies, Inc.


Register

Schedule of Events

Registration
9:00 a.m. | Campion Ballroom

Welcome
10:00 a.m. | Campion Ballroom | Shane P. Martin, Provost, Seattle University

10:05 a.m. | Director’s greeting | Onur Bakiner, Tech Ethics Initiative Director, Seattle University

Session 1: An Ethical Framework: AI as a Sociotechnical System in Healthcare 

10:15 a.m. | Address: Safe and Effective AI in Healthcare: Challenges and an Approach | Alex John London, Carnegie Mellon University 

Session 2: The Mind-Body Problem in 2024: Philosophy, Science and the Nature of Consciousness 

10:45 a.m. | Address: Neuroscience, AI and Ethics | Christof Koch, Allen Institute

11:05 a.m. | Conversation with Eric Severson & Christof Koch | Christof Koch, Allen Institute | Eric Severson, Associate Teaching Professor, Philosophy, Seattle University

11:20 a.m. | Ethics Prize Presentation | Amit Shukla, Dean, College of Science & Engineering, Seattle University

Session 3: AI in Clinical Applications, From Targeting to Transforming

11:25 a.m. | Lightning Talks | Moderator: Maggie Chon, TILE, Seattle University School of Law

  • Mjaye Mazwi, Seattle Children’s
  • Alex John London, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Ian Haydon, Institute for Protein Design

11:45 a.m. | Roundtable Discussion | Moderator: Maggie Chon

  • Mjaye Mazwi, Seattle Children’s
  • Alex John London, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Ian Haydon, Institute for Protein Design

12:05 p.m. | Lunch | Breakout discussion groups by interest area

Session 4: Designing the Guiderails

1:30 p.m. | Pursuing the Potential while Building Boundaries | Stephanie Simmons, Microsoft Responsible AI

Session 5: Patterns in Healthcare: How Do We Ensure Digital Reflections Help without Harm?

2:00 p.m. | Roundtable Discussion | Moderator: Sheila Oh, Computer Science, CSE, Seattle University

  • Blythe Adamson, Flatiron Health & Infectious Economics
  • Vin Gupta, Amazon, IHME, Virginia Mason
  • Jay Nanduri, Truveta
  • Ty Kayam, Microsoft, Seattle University

2:50 p.m. | Break

3:05 p.m. | Reconvene

Session 6: The Ethical Pacing of Business Agility, Clinical Expediency and Thoughtful Discernment

3:10 p.m. | Roundtable Discussion | Moderator: Eduardo Peñalver, President, Seattle University

  • Stephanie Simmons, Responsible AI, Microsoft
  • Vin Gupta, Amazon, IHME, Virginia Mason 
  • Alex John London, Carnegie Mellon University 
  • Mjaye Mazwi, Seattle Children's Hospital
  • Joanna Black, Madrona Ventures Group

3:55 p.m. | Open floor Q&A | Moderator: Eduardo Peñalver, President, Seattle University

  • Stephanie Simmons, Responsible AI, Microsoft
  • Vin Gupta, Amazon, IHME, Virginia Mason 
  • Alex John London, Carnegie Mellon University 
  • Blythe Adamson, Flatiron Health & Infectious Economics
  • Ty Kayam, Microsoft, Seattle University
  • Mjaye Mazwi, Seattle Children's Hospital
  • Christof Koch, Allen Institute
  • Jay Nanduri, Truveta
  • Joanna Black, Madrona Ventures
  • Ian Haydon, Institute for Protein Design

4:40 p.m. | Closing Remarks | Onur Bakiner, Tech Ethics Initiative Director, Seattle University