Pitt, Leidos use AI to fight cancer and health disparities
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
A $10 million partnership between Pitt and contractor Leidos aims to use AI to detect cancer and heart disease earlier — with a focus on underserved communities.
Why it matters: Facing rising workloads and staffing shortages, doctors can use AI to speed up diagnoses, reduce errors and make more time for patients.
Driving the news: Virginia-based Leidos launched a five-year partnership with the University of Pittsburgh's Computational Pathology and AI Center of Excellence (CPACE) to explore and commercialize advanced imaging and generative AI for early detection of cancer and heart disease.
Zoom in: CPACE, opened last year, has developed multiple AI tools now in use at Pitt and UPMC.
- Liz Porter, president of Leidos' health and civil sector, said AI can diagnose heart disease early with up to 90% accuracy and improve survival rates.
- She emphasized AI's potential to fast-track veterans' access to benefits by simplifying doctors' paperwork.
Case in point: Generative AI can deliver accurate leukemia reports far faster and with fewer errors than humans, said CPACE executive director Hooman Rashidi.
- It also helps classify complex cases of leukemia and lymphoma quickly.
Between the lines: While AI can help pathologists improve accuracy, efficiency and consistency across hospitals, concerns about bias, errors and over-reliance on technology remain.
Yes, but: CPACE leaders stress the program uses AI ethically "with humans in the loop."
What they're saying: Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for health sciences at Pitt, said the university has intensified its efforts to diversify research revenue in recent years — a priority made more urgent by growing uncertainty about federal funding. This partnership is the latest step in that strategy.
- "The times are changing, and we have to think differently," he said. "We have to think about creating partnerships with industry, particularly if we want to get products out to patients."