"Mount Sinai Launches AI Center Backed by Blackstone's James"
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has launched a center focused on advancing health care through the research, development and implementation of artificial intelligence technologies. The Hamilton and Amabel James Center for Artificial Intelligence and Human Health is supported by a donation from Hamilton Evans "Tony" James, executive vice chairman of Manhattan-based investment firm Blackstone, and his wife, Amabel. Many of the center's initiatives are underway, but dedicated space at Mount Sinai's Upper Manhattan campus is slated to open in 2021. “Mount Sinai started work on a strategic plan for Icahn about two years ago, and two areas of focus were precision medicine and artificial intelligence,” said Dennis Charney, MD, the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and president of academic affairs for the Mount Sinai Health System. He added, “The idea was to essentially come up with better ways of diagnosing and preventing human disease and to come up with new treatments for the most serious diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and mental illness. We're well positioned to do that. That was part of our strategic plan." Essentially every person who is seeing a Mount Sinai physician could have their genome sequenced to determine variances that may make them vulnerable to a variety of diseases,” said Eric Nestler, MD, PhD, director of the Friedman Brain Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
— Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, President, Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System
— Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Dean, Academic and Scientific Affairs, Director, Friedman Brain Institute, Professor, Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Additional coverage: Bloomberg