S1 E1: Generative AI in Medicine w/Dr. Sofia Valanci

How is AI reshaping the future of clinical medicine? In this episode, we explore the transformative power of generative AI in healthcare with Dr. Sofia Valanci, Physician Program Advisor at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Dr. Valanci shares insights on using AI to address diagnostic uncertainty, ethical concerns when using AI for scribing, protecting patient privacy and confidentiality, the impacts of AI on planetary health, and the importance of AI literacy and education in clinical practice.DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of UBC or the Faculty of Medicine.Host: Dr. Chris MorrowProducer:  Craig FergusonMusic: "Stand With Me" by Adrian Walther licensed via SoundStripe(C) 2025 UBC Medicine Learning NetworkEpisode Timestamps[00:00] – Introduction and episode overview[02:08] – Generative AI and how it applies to clinical medicine[03:19] – Are clinical applications of AI effective and safe?[05:06] – How AI is being used in clinical medicine today[06:56] – AI scribes - what are we learning about it and how is it being received?[10:27] – AI and why detailed prompts, context, and tone matter[14:09] – AI hallucinations and outputs[15:25] – Effectiveness of AI in patient education and medical literature[17:17] – Ethical concerns and issues[17:57] – Planetary health impacts[18:49] – Protecting patient privacy and confidentiality[21:39] – Navigating incorrect AI-generated patient diagnoses[22:29] – Getting started with AI and practical tips for clinicians[23:58] – Closing thoughtsResources & ReferencesStudies & Research MentionedLi P, Yang J, Islam MA, Ren S. Making AI less "thirsty": uncovering and addressing the secret water footprint of AI models. arXiv. Published online April 6, 2023. doi:10.48550/arXiv.2304.03271  Doctors of BC. Reducing physician burdens: AI Scribes Pilot results. Doctors of BC website. https://www.doctorsofbc.ca/technology-digital-health/2025/reducing-physician-burdens-ai-scribes-pilot-results. Published2025. Accessed November 4, 2025.Rajpurkar P, Irvin J, Ball RL, et al. Deep learning for chest radiograph diagnosis: a retrospective comparison of the CheXNeXt algorithm to practicing radiologists. PLoS Med. 2018;15(11):e1002686. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002686 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.