Why Rural Health Needs a Different Approach to AI

In this episode of AMIA Unpacked, host Karmen Williams, DrPH, MBA, MSPH, MA, CPH, welcomes Dr. Kathryn “Katie” Brown, a postdoctoral research fellow in Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt Health, to discuss her journey into informatics and her research at the intersection of AI and rural health. Brown shares how her engineering and computer science background led her to explore the real-world impact of machine learning on patient care, including early work with sensor-enabled knee replacements, and how mentorship and the JAMIA Student Editorial Board helped connect her with the informatics community. Looking ahead to her presentation at AMIA’s Annual Symposium in Dallas, Brown explores the unique challenges of deploying AI in rural healthcare settings, from limited staffing and computing infrastructure to hospital closures, smaller datasets and changing demographics. She explains why these differences can affect model performance and potentially deepen health inequities, and emphasizes the importance of validating AI in rural settings, incorporating the perspectives of rural clinicians and patients, and recognizing that when it comes to healthcare AI, one size does not fit all. This episode is sponsored by Oracle Health & Life Sciences.   AMIA Unpacked is produced by Association Briefings.