Thanks to a Machine Learning Research Award from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to a research alliance supported by UPMC Enterprises, a seed has been planted to accelerate the consortium's medical research initiatives, help participating entrepreneurs more rapidly scale their innovations, and, in some small fashion, contribute to positioning the Pittsburgh area as a healthcare technology innovation hub. The award provides researchers access to Amazon's cloud-based platform and machine learning tools, enabling them to incorporate sophisticated technology into innovations at an early stage of the development process. These innovations "will be able to be deployed more easily in the real world," says Rob Hartman, PhD, director of translational science, UPMC Enterprises. The Amazon award was made to the Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance (PHDA), which was formed four years ago by UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University. PDHA uses "big data" generated in health care--including patient information in the electronic health record, diagnostic imaging, prescriptions, genomic profiles, and insurance records--to transform the way that diseases are treated and prevented, and to better engage patients in their own care, according to a news release.

You schedule a doctor's appointment and immediately your phone buzzes with a notification -- you're now eligible to save a few hundred bucks on your deductible. It may not be a reality quite yet, but experts at UPMC Enterprises say machine learning, advanced access to patient data, and artificial intelligence could soon make your medical care a lot more personal. "Imagine getting an alert that tells you you're close to getting a deduction," said Mohinder Dick, senior software architect at UPMC Enterprises. "I routinely get those kinds of updates from my cable company or Amazon. Why can't we get the same convenience from health care?"

You schedule a doctor's appointment and immediately your phone buzzes with a notification -- you're now eligible to save a few hundred bucks on your deductible. It may not be a reality quite yet, but experts at UPMC Enterprises say machine learning, advanced access to patient data, and artificial intelligence could soon make your medical care a lot more personal. "Imagine getting an alert that tells you you're close to getting a deduction," said Mohinder Dick, senior software architect at UPMC Enterprises. "I routinely get those kinds of updates from my cable company or Amazon. Why can't we get the same convenience from health care?"

The experimental Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) recently sewed a piglet's gut together using a computer program and camera-based guidance, overseen by a team of doctors and computer scientists from the Children's National Health System in Washington DC and Johns Hopkins University. The procedure took 50 minutes, as opposed to 8 minutes when performed by a surgeon, but (unfortunately for doctors) resulted in more evenly spaced sutures and less leakage from the gut. And with iterative improvements, it's likely that the time difference can be shrunk. Meanwhile, FDA-approved robotic surgery on humans is making strides as well, though it requires a surgeon to operate the mechanical arm. The potential treatment paradigm, highlighted by The Economist this month, raises questions about whether patients will trust robots with their lives, and who is liable if something goes wrong. Another question robots pose: Are doctors in line for a string of layoffs?