AIM Symposium 2017 at the Estates of Sunnybrook
Teamwork is a significant part of AIM’s foundation. Louisa May Alcott said it best, “It takes two flints to make a fire.” Likewise, it takes a team of engineers, doctors, programmers, and other professionals to use artificial intelligence to improve medicine. Teamwork requires trust, communication and leadership, which is why AIM hosts initiatives to develop synergy between staff members and departments. One of these initiatives is the AIM Symposium which takes place at the Estates of Sunnybrook Coach House every year. The Symposium is comprised of guest and in-house speakers, food, team building activities, company updates, talks of future endeavors, and a mandatory review of AIM’s Privacy and Security Policies and Procedures.
This year’s first guest speaker was Dr. Trevor Heritage, Senior Vice President of Inspirata Inc. He leads the development of Inspirata’s Cancer Information Data Trust. Dr. Heritage’s talk was titled, “Inspirata’s Cancer Information Data Trust and Our Experience with NLP”. NLP stands for “Natural Language Processing” and Inspirata uses it for case finding.
The second speaker was Dr. David Hodgson, Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) Chair of Childhood Cancer Control at the University of Toronto. Dr. Hodgson is a Professor and Clinician Scientist in the Department of Radiation Oncology, and the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Additionally, he is a staff Oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. Dr. Hodgson topic was, “Change has its Enemies: Opportunities and Barriers in the Adoption of A.I. in Oncology”.
After lunch, AIM’s George Cernile, Director of A.I. Technology and R&D followed as the in-house speaker. He discussed, “A.I. at AIM: What’s New and What’s Next!” We will discuss each of the aforementioned speakers and topics in upcoming editions of AIM Decoded.
The speakers were followed by an intense scavenger hunt on Sunnybrook Hospital’s grounds. The objective was to take a “selfie” with objects and people on a list. Each object or person was worth a set number of points. The list included everything from easy items such a crosswalk to very difficult items such as a helicopter on a helipad or an MRI machine (these machines are in a restricted area with no electronic devices allowed).
The company was split into teams of six. Many teams decided to further split into pairs of two to cover more ground. The review and tally of each team’s points was as exciting as the scavenger hunt itself. To summarize, there was a lot of laughter. It’s amazing what length staff are willing to go when competition is involved. The winners were Team 3; Leyla, Taralyn, Karan, Sanjay, Pretty and Kevin!