Editor's Note: This is the third in our series, Chief AI Officers in Healthcare. To read the first, an interview with Dennis Chornenky at UC Davis Health, click here. To read the second, with Dr. Karandeep Singh at UC San Diego Health, click here.

With artificial intelligence transforming healthcare – more vendors introducing AI into their systems, more departments in hospitals and health systems standing up AI projects and use case of their own – someone has to be in charge of it all, helping ensure the responsible use of the technology toward producing reliable outcomes.

For a steadily increasing number of healthcare provider organizations, that someone is the Chief AI Officer. This is an executive, usually a physician, who is given full authority at the C-suite level to oversee everything AI. 

Alda Mizaku was appointed chief data and artificial intelligence officer at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C. this past summer. Healthcare IT News sat down with her for a wide-ranging interview on being a Chief AI Officer.

Today, in part one of this two-part interview, she will talk about how Children's National Hospital approached her to become its Chief AI Officer and what they were looking for, what in her background made her a good fit, what skills anyone looking to become a Chief AI Officer should have, and the AI part of her role.

Q. How did Children's National Hospital approach you to become its Chief AI Officer? What were they looking for and who would you report to?

A. Children's National was looking for a leader to come in to lead data analytics and AI capabilities. This is something they were looking for for quite some time. With the new CEO joining the organization, a lot of these plans came in motion.

When we were having some of those initial conversations, it was with a clear vision of wanting to bring in artificial intelligence, bring in individual industry-leading capabilities from data analytics and AI, and be able to combine that with operations in order to improve the patient experience, improve operational efficiencies, and bring in some of these more advanced capabilities as part of day-to-day work.

They were interested in bringing in someone with a strong background in both healthcare AI capabilities and bridging the gap with some of the clinical needs. So, someone who could talk technical capabilities and understand the clinical needs and be able to bring in technology to be able to meet those needs. My role is Chief Data and AI Officer, and I report to our CIO.

And we've got an alignment, ensuring alignment with the overall strategic goals and technical direction of the organization.

Q. This is your first post as a Chief AI Officer. What in your background makes you a good fit to be a Chief AI Officer? And what skills should anyone looking to become a Chief AI Officer have?

A. A little bit about my background. I started as a biomechanical engineer. I focused on computer-aided diagnostics. I built predictive models in the colorectal cancer space, developed a new method to be able to do a three-year prognosis there.

From there, I moved on to do some work in high-throughput genotyping to build software that solved specific problems with a high-throughput genotyping lab, to create efficiencies there. From there, I spent 11 years in the healthcare space, all in data analytics in various roles and different departments. When I look at my background, I'd say that it combines an extensive knowledge of healthcare and healthcare technology with a strong foundation in data science and machine learning.

I've also been involved in several AI-driven projects focused on improving the patient outcomes and streamlining operations in healthcare settings. I would say for anyone who is aspiring to be a Chief AI Officer, ensure they have a deep understanding of the AI technologies and understand the clinical operational aspect of the area they're working on.

They also need to have really strong leadership capabilities and effective communication skills, being able to talk with a diverse set of stakeholders. That's one of the things that is very common in my role is data and AI can be applied to any department, any division. We need to be able to switch that hat very frequently from talking to someone in HR, someone in finance, someone in clinical.

One more thing would be, particularly in this space, is just to have a passion for patient-centered care, to be able to drive meaningful change in effectiveness there.

Q. Please describe the AI part of your job at Children's National Hospital. In broad terms, what is expected of you? And in more specific terms, what is a typical day for you like?

A. At a high level in broad terms, my role involves developing and implementing AI strategies, making sure that's aligning with the mission and the strategic direction for the organization, and all aligned with our mission to be able to provide exceptional care to those children who are interested in our care.

Some of the things this includes would be identifying potential applications that may exist in the market that we need to implement to create efficiencies in our environment. It might mean overseeing specific projects. If we're not seeing something in the market, can we develop that within our team and be able to create that efficiency in our space?

It's looking at the ethical considerations of deploying AI, and can we do that in a responsible and effective way. A typical day for me involves a lot of collaboration, a lot of meetings, both with clinical teams and technical teams. I have to understand and meet their needs on a day-to-day basis.

I'm meeting with data scientists and reviewing projects and am able to represent a lot of their findings and having opportunities through the executive team to help make decisions and drive some data-driven decision-making processes in our organization.

To watch a video of this interview that contains BONUS CONTENT not found in this story, click here.

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