very day, patients generate thousands of data points that can reveal key insights regarding their health. With the explosion of artificial intelligence capabilities, clinicians are now better able to use this information to inform how they deliver high-quality, evidence-based care, tailored to each individual. At the UF College of Medicine, a primary focus is applying these tools to improve health care quality, eliminate preventable harm, advance knowledge of health care delivery to reduce waste and become a national resource for workforce development.

Now the college has received $10 million annually in state appropriations to launch an AI-enabled Quality & Patient Safety initiative, or QPSi, to bring this vision to life. The goal is to create an institute that will drive innovations that improve quality, patient safety, health care efficiency and workforce development by harnessing the university’s computational strength in AI and resources such as HiPerGator, one of the fastest supercomputers in American higher education.

“This landmark support signifies a trust in us as the state’s flagship educational institution to pioneer a new AI and quality and safety frontier,” said Colleen Koch, MD, MS, MBA, dean of the College of Medicine. “The QPSi represents the next phase of our commitment to improving care for patients in Florida and across the nation.”

The QPSi will build upon the college’s successes in research, education and workforce development. A new incubator will expand on previous efforts to develop an innovative AI infrastructure to advance quality and patient safety research, while a biomedical AI passport program will train providers in literacy and mastery of AI applications in health care.

In the education space, QPSi efforts will leverage lessons learned from launching a custom, leadingedge educational curriculum around AI to provide even more training opportunities for the UF community — and beyond — through a QPSi Academy, a collaboration with the UF College of Education. The academy will feature core learning pathways on implementation science, quality and patient safety, biomedical informatics, AI and data science, leadership and more, with online courses available to health care providers in Florida and around the nation. Continuing medical education options will also be available.

An experiential fellowship program will include in-person and web-based education on the fundamentals of quality, patient safety and population health and capstone research projects that use AI to leverage large data sets to solve complex health care delivery issues, creating experts throughout Florida for the benefit of patients around the state.

Through the QPSi, the college will also expand opportunities to infuse AI in the workforce development arena, such as with recent AI boot camps, datathons and the inaugural continuing medical education conference that took place in April, welcoming clinicians, trainees and scientists from across the state and country.

By applying the expertise of those throughout the institution, focusing on research, education and workforce development advancements, building upon successes and innovating around the applications of AI, the college aims to reimagine health care delivery to impact health care quality, patient safety and, ultimately, patient outcomes.

“The QPSi marks an exciting new chapter, where initiatives blend to create synergies and opportunities to generate and exchange ideas and knowledge,” said Mary Vallianatos, MS, MPA, director of operations and strategy for the QPSi. “Guided by our culture of curiosity, collaboration and improvement, we are excited about the QPSi’s potential to foster valuable connections and translate knowledge into real-world impact.”