2026 AI & Health Symposium-Highlights

AI & Health Symposium

On Friday, September 11, more than 230 participants gathered at the North Campus Research Complex for the annual AI & Health Symposium. Now in its fifth year, the symposium brings together U-M’s AI and health communities to build connections across disciplines, exchange ideas, and explore opportunities for collaboration to advance research and improve health. This year’s event drew participants from more than 14 schools and colleges across the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses, with a program spanning AI research, clinical implementation, and academic-industry partnerships.

The symposium was sponsored by e-Health & Artificial Intelligence (e-HAIL) and Artificial Intelligence & Digital Health Innovation (AI&DHI), with additional support from the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI).

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The event opened with a welcome from Rada Mihalcea, PhD, e-HAIL co-convener, followed by opening remarks from Steve Kunkel, PhD, Executive Vice Dean for Research at Michigan Medicine, who highlighted the tangible clinical impact of joint investments between Medicine and Engineering. 

Jenna Wiens, PhD, co-director of AI & Digital Health Innovation, then introduced morning keynote speaker Byron Wallace, PhD, Sy and Laurie Sternberg Interdisciplinary Associate Professor and associate dean of research at Northeastern University. Wallace presented “What (if anything) can mechanistic interpretability do for healthcare?”

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Attendees then joined 15 interactive tabletop discussions that combined in-depth research conversations with opportunities to connect with campus resources. Research topics ranged from clinical AI implementation and quality improvement to patient-centered AI, trust, and mobile health. Resource tables connected participants with support for collaboration, grant writing, data access, computing, and research partnerships. The full list of topics and presenters is here.

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A poster session where teams of students and postdocs presented impressive, recent work took place during lunch, giving attendees the chance to interact, connect, and ask questions. You can see the full list of posters here.

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The afternoon began with Brahmajee Nallamothu, MD, MPH, co-director of AI & Digital Health Innovation, introducing keynote speaker Karandeep Singh, MD, MMSc, a U-M alumnus and executive director of the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Center for Health Innovation, chief health AI officer at UC San Diego Health, and associate professor of medicine in biomedical informatics at the University of California San Diego. Singh presented “Can we achieve high-quality healthcare without AI and automation?” Following the keynote, Nallamothu led a facilitated discussion with Singh exploring how health systems approach AI strategy, governance, and implementation, as well as the evolving role of automation in healthcare.

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The program concluded with an expert panel discussion, Building Successful Academic-Industry Partnerships, moderated by Mike Ranella, MBA, MPH, interim co-director and senior director of business development at Fast Forward Medical Innovation (FFMI). The panel brought together experts with perspectives from university research and commercialization, startups, and large technology companies, including:

Drew Bennett, MBA, Senior Licensing Strategist—Software at Innovation Partnerships

Shane Emmons, MS, MBA, Co-Founder and CEO of Swept AI

Shoba Subramanian, PhD, Expert Consultant in University-Industry Collaborations and former Head of University Partnerships at Amazon Fulfillment Technologies & Robotics

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In closing remarks, Todd Allen, PhD, associate dean for research in the College of Engineering, emphasized the importance of engineering researchers and clinical practitioners working together to develop solutions to health challenges. He encouraged attendees to carry the day’s conversations forward and build on new connections through upcoming fall events and continued collaboration.

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Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to this exciting event!

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Questions?

Contact Kelly Manthei, Ph.D., e-HAIL Program Manager, at kmanthei@umich.edu.