The health care field produces dozens of useful data points during each patient visit, from height, weight and blood pressure to cholesterol levels and relevant family history. However, finding the right way to synthesize these data to improve current treatments and even find new cures for diseases requires a lot of computing power.

To elevate health care systems in the digital age, where resources like artificial intelligence can be used to sift through and organize millions of data points that would otherwise be impossible to extrapolate, partnerships must be forged between front-line clinicians and data scientists behind the scenes.

At the UF College of Medicine, Jiang Bian, Ph.D., UF Health chief data scientist and a professor of biomedical informatics, is leading a project under the research pillar of the college’s strategic plan aimed at accomplishing such a task. Through the Enabling AI and Other High-Tech Research project, Bian and his College of Medicine colleagues are identifying and addressing opportunities to improve UF Health’s research information technology infrastructure to make it “AI ready.”

In a state with an ever-growing population of elderly and hearing-impaired residents, specialized physicians capable of caring for complex hearing and balance patients are a boon.

The department of otolaryngology’s new fellowship program, launched in 2022, is poised to help meet that crucial need. The program is the first of its kind in North Florida and one of only about a dozen across the U.S.

“We’ve been lucky to find the right person to get the program off the ground, and we’re lucky that we’ve had a good number of applicants for next year,” said Si Chen, M.D., an assistant professor in the department. “We want to establish the program as the leader of ear surgery and ear research in the region and in the country. We’re excited for the future.”

Chen, who serves as the fellowship director, organized a plan for the program with the help of her colleagues Patrick Antonelli, M.D., and Rex Haberman, M.D. Chen obtained approval from the university’s Graduate Medical Education Committee, allowing UF to welcome its first advanced otology fellow, Samuel H. Smith, M.D., M.P.H., in July.

During The V Foundation for Cancer Research’s “V Week,” ESPN and ABC aired videos highlighting UF Health’s efforts to fight brain cancer.

The videos include UF Health patient Mikah Phillips and his parents, Debbie and Justin; longtime UF brain tumor research supporter Paul Hale; pediatric neurosurgeon Jason Blatt, M.D.; William Friedman, M.D., and Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., co-directors of the University of Florida’s Preston A. Wells Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy; and several other team members.