Reimagine the future of medicine and education in the 21st century of digital technology
Prof Tshilidzi Marwala is the Vice- Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg and the author of ‘Leadership Lessons From the Books I Have Read’. He is on Twitter at @txm1971. He recently penned an opinion article that first appeared in the Daily Maverick: 21 June 2022. Will artificial intelligence mean the end of doctors? AI is merely a useful intelligent tool, just like magnetic resonance imaging. AI will not replace radiologists; instead, it is spawning a new discipline that requires the understanding of both medicine and technology. In his book ‘Deep Medicine’ Eric Topol writes: “Eventually doctors will adopt artificial intelligence
(AI) and algorithms as their work partners. This levelling of the medical knowledge landscape will ultimately lead to a new premium: to find and train doctors who have the highest level of emotional intelligence”. A cohort from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) recently went on an exploratory partnership trip to the US. Intriguingly, Topol’s words spoke to the crux of the trip. For some time now UJ has toyed with the idea of starting a medical school, yet we knew this offering had to differ vastly from other medical schools in South Africa. I have long been an advocate of the use of digital technology in higher education. A few years ago
my colleague Bo Xing and I detailed the changes that higher education institutions needed to adapt to keep up with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). As Xing and I wrote, “Higher education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (HE 4.0) is a complex, dialectical and exciting opportunity which can potentially transform society for the better”. We have certainly witnessed a hastening of this during the COVID-19 pandemic. Naturally, a new medical school would have to speak to this shift. The medical field is embracing AI with open arms, and so are medical schools. Our 10-day US trip, covering Case Western University, the University
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