UC San Diego Health has received a $22 million gift to create an artificial intelligence-powered "mission control center."
Joan and Irwin Jacobs' donation to the health system's Center for Health Innovation will also create the Jacobs Chancellor's Endowed Chair in Digital Health Innovation for a physician-scientist to lead the mission control center. Mr. Jacobs is the founding Chair and CEO of semiconductor giant Qualcomm.
"The vision for a hospital-based, AI-enhanced mission control center will be one of the first in the U.S.," said Christopher Longhurst, MD, chief medical officer and chief digital officer at UC San Diego Health, in a Feb. 8 health system news release. "Our goal is to be a leader in all digital health tools that can improve the delivery of healthcare across the continuum, from inpatient rooms to clinic spaces to home environments."
The mission control center will monitor patient health and safety via data from such sources as EHRs, sensors, cameras, wearables, imaging and bedside monitors and develop AI models and algorithms to provide more personalized, proactive healthcare.
Since opening in 2021, the Center for Health Innovation has extended remote telemonitoring to more than 2,500 chronic disease patients and implemented an AI-based sepsis prediction model. The center is also developing AI programs for other specialties and mobile apps for cancer care navigation and student mental health.