Aster CMI Hospital partners with Indian Institute of Science to launch AI lab

Established to conduct research and upskill healthcare professionals on AI

Aster CMI Hospital in association with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI) lab. The Aster-AI lab is a collaborative lab, set up with the aim to build cutting edge AI products in the healthcare domain and bridge the gap between clinical medicine and technology by training healthcare professionals in AI.

Speaking on the need and how technology is transforming the healthcare system in India, Dr Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director, Aster DM Healthcare said, “At Aster, we have always believed in staying closely connected with the pulse of our patients and our people to be able to adapt as per their needs and stay ahead of the curve. We have been at the forefront of adopting digitisation, technology and innovation into our core operations which is now essential to support patients as per their needs. With the use of AI, doctors and medical providers will now be able to deliver more accurate diagnosis in the fastest possible time which can aid the treatment journey. Also, AI would be a big leap towards predictive and proactive data analytics which will improve preventive care recommendations for patients. We are really glad to partner with IISc, which will open doors for healthcare professionals to undertake research and better utilise AI tools to understand their patient’s disease patterns and improve treatment outcomes significantly.”

Prof. Phaneendra K Yalavarthy has been instrumental in setting up the lab by providing the computational infrastructure and expertise.

“Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered medical technologies have been rapidly evolving and have become powerful adjunct tools in clinical practise. The broad spectrum of digital medicine, especially to enable the 4P model of medicine (Predictive, Preventive, Personalised, and Participatory) involves natural collaboration between academic institutions and medical institutions. This Artificial Intelligence lab is a collaborative effort to develop these AI technologies in the hospital settings, such that the translation to clinic will be seamless. The initial focus of this collaborative lab will be in neurology and will later be expanded to other clinical specialities. We are thankful to Aster CMI for providing space to establish this lab at their hospital to enable co-development of some of these AI technologies for healthcare. This collaborative lab will enable the development of highly impactful research and technologies with a focus on translation to the bedside”, he added.

Aster CMI will be working with Prof. Phaneendra and his team on ‘Development of Deep Learning Methods for Automated Tracking and Segmentation of Nerves in Ultrasound Images’. Dr. Sriram Ganapathy, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IISc has been collaborating on ‘Automatic Acute Stroke Symptom Detection Using Mobile Health Technologies’ and also on audio analytics in neurological disorders. These initial projects have a direct impact on the current clinical practise in neurosciences. The problem-solving requires deep technical and clinical knowledge, which the Aster-AI lab aims to bring together.