Mysuru: JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (JSS AHER), Mysuru, a deemed to be University, signed a Collaborative Research Agreement on July 5 to establish a “Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Health Sciences” at JSS AHER with iMERA.ai Limited, a London (UK) based health care company focused on developing clinical decision-making tools using Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

Dr. B. Manjunatha, Registrar, JSS AHER, signed the agreement on behalf of JSS AHER and Dr. Sandesh Lakkol, COO, on behalf of  iMERA.ai Limited. 

Dr. C.G. Betsurmath (Executive Secretary, JSS Mahavidyapeetha), Dr. B. Suresh (Pro-Chancellor), Dr. H. Basavana Gowdappa (Vice-Chancellor), Dr. P.A. Kushalappa, Director (Academics) of JSS AHER and Dr. (Col.) Dayananda, Director, JSS Hospital, were among the dignitaries present during the occasion.

Artificial Intelligence is seen as the machine’s ability to learn and improvise as an aid to natural intelligence showed by the humans. Artificial Intelligence is expected to play a key role in revolutionising the healthcare sector and majority of Healthcare Technology is expected to be linked to Artificial Intelligence in the near future. 

A  few of the areas which may see a major change are automated image diagnosis, virtual assistants for patients and healthcare workers, robot-assisted surgery, rare diseases detection, early cancer detection among others. 

NITI Aayog in its recent National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence has also stressed on the importance of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and has detailed out how AI is going to transform the care of human beings. Health Universities in UK and USA have already taken up the initiative of starting dedicated Centres for Research and Technology on Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare. 

This Centre will be one among the few dedicated centres for Artificial Intelligence in Health Universities in India and will function from JSS Hospital. 

Dr. Vikram Patil is the coordinator of the Centre with technical assistance from team SJCE, JSS Science & Technology University. 

 Vice-Chancellor Dr. Basavana Gowdappa said that the Centre will train sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms from medical images and patient data to provide tools for clinicians to speed up and improve diagnosis and care across a number of patient pathways. 

The Centre will also collaborate with industry partners working on Artificial Intelligence and Technology in healthcare sector to develop new medical technology-based tools.