Dr. Martin Citardi Delivers the Wilson Endowed Lecture in Washington, DC
Martin J. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, delivered the invited Wilson Endowed Lecture at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., on May 22, 2024. The lecture is held annually in honor of Dr. William Wilson, who established the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Residency Program at the school of medicine in 1995.
Dr. Citardi, who is vice dean of clinical technology at UTHealth Houston, spoke on the impact of generative AI on surgical practice. “Generative AI has the ability to create new and original content, revolutionizing a number of fields, from art to medicine,” he says. “It has an enormous range of applications in health care, including ambient documentation, electronic health record tools, personalization, and revenue cycle management. For surgeons, generative AI offers productivity enhancements that will allow surgeons to allow them to focus on care delivery and surgical practice, rather than the drudgery of documentation.”
In particular, AI has the potential to transform the way care is delivered by connecting enormous amounts of data across silos and providing a holistic view of individual patients. “The amount of information that can impact a decision for surgery is enormous. In theory, AI facilitates the retrieval and organization of that information so the surgical decisions can be optimized and personalized for specific patients,” Citardi believes.
AI is not without its risks. “At the same time, we have to be aware of the risks of AI, which include bias, hallucinations, and giving it too much control at the risk of the loss of human control,” he observes.