In this episode of Transforming Health Insights, we will learn from Dr. Raymond Ng and Dr. Anita Palepu about AI-driven decision support that is working on streamlining triaging for breast cancer patients in BC, with the goal of identifying high-risk patients earlier so they can access care.
In this episode of Transforming Health Insights, we will learn from Dr. Raymond Ng and Dr. Anita Palepu about AI-driven decision support that is working on streamlining triaging for breast cancer patients in BC, with the goal of identifying high-risk patients earlier so they can access care. AI is advancing rapidly in healthcare, raising important questions about ethics and responsible use. We will explore how AI can be used to address complex health system challenges when deployed responsibly, while keeping humans at the center of decision making. UBC researchers are working to harness the power of AI in health care while building safeguards around privacy and ensuring that humans, not AI, make crucial health decisions and use AI for good. AI has the potential to reimagine health care if used responsibly and thoughtfully.
HOST: Chantal Moore, Scientific Communications and Engagement Strategist, UBC Office of Research
GUESTS: Dr. Anna Blakney, Assistant Professor, Michael Smith Laboratories and School of Biomedical Engineering at UBC and Dr. Pieter Cullis, Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Produced by
EdTech: Digital Solutions for Education and Office of Research, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Story Editors and Associate Producers
Neha Manjari Akella, Research Network Manager, MS Research Network, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Chantal Moore, Scientific Communications and Engagement Strategist, Office of Research, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Technical Production by
EdTech: Digital Solutions for Education, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Sound Recordist
Sam McGuinness, EdTech: Digital Solutions for Education, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Sound Editors
Sam McGuinness and Vanessa Reuter, EdTech: Digital Solutions for Education, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Associate Director, Research Programs & Administration
Shelly Au, Office of Research, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Executive Director
Dr. Michelle Wong, Canada’s Immuno-engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub and Office of Research, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Senior Producer, Creative and Distribution
Stephen Gillis, EdTech: Digital Solutions for Education, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Executive Producer
Zachary Rothman, EdTech: Digital Solutions for Education, UBC Faculty of Medicine
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Episode Chapters
· [00:00] – Introduction and episode overview
· [01:36] – Personal pathways into AI and Health
· [03:57] – Expediting breast cancer triaging
· [08:02] – Scaling AI models across health settings
· [09:28] – AI’s role in clinical care
· [11:06] – Equity, access and marginalized populations
· [12:38] – Education and training around AI best practices
· [15:44] – Responsible use and UBC AI and Health Network
· [22:29] – Sustainability and environmental responsibility
· [25:50] – Improve patient experience and healthcare impact
· [28:16] – Future vision
· [31:03] – Closing remarks
· [31:31] – Knowledge nugget
Resources & References
· Learn more about
o AI and Health Network: https://aihealth.med.ubc.ca/
o Dr. Raymond Ng: https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~rng/
o Dr. Anita Palepu: https://datascienceandhealth.ubc.ca/people/anita-palepu
· Ng, Raymond. New data centres need to be built for the right reasons (September 21, 2026).https://www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/6f8ae90c134057a9373d4be8ee82374724bed37d8e992ba94cb5f4fc67883df2/XGRAG74R35CNFK7CW7TDCZQ7RI/.
· Gondara, Lovedeep, et al. "Small or large? zero-shot or finetuned? guiding language model choice for specialized applications in healthcare." Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction 7.4 (2025): 121.
· Al-Najafi, Dheyaa, et al. "Psychometric performance and student perceptions of AI-versus student-generated multiple-choice questions: a single-center randomized controlled trial." BMC Medical Education 26.1 (2026): 1376.