Zeke Jazwinski, Sports Editor
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape industries across the globe, healthcare is rapidly adapting to innovations once considered decades away. This evolving landscape was the focus of Manhattan University’s (MU) inaugural ARCHtalk, which examined how emerging technologies are transforming modern medicine.
BARBARA VASQUEZ / THE QUADRANGLE
ARCHtalk is a new speaker series designed to bring interdisciplinary conversations about innovation and real world challenges to campus. The first series, titled “AI in Healthcare: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” featured alumnus Anthony D. Mercando ’76, M.D., a board-certified cardiologist and Director of AI Strategy at White Plains Hospital.
The talk kicked off with interim provost Bridget Chalk, who originated the ARCHtalk series. Chalk went into greater depth about why the series started by discussing artificial intelligence and its impact on the world today.
“There is an extremely wicked problem in our world right now,” Chalk said. “That would be artificial intelligence. How do we grapple with the [ongoing] development of technology, which is boosting the stock market but threatens to eliminate millions of jobs?”
After Chalk gave the introduction to the talk, to launch the series, Mercando delivered a discussion on the evolving role of artificial intelligence in modern healthcare.
The discussion highlighted the expanding role of artificial intelligence in supporting clinical decision-making and improving hospital efficiency. By analyzing patient data, AI systems can help healthcare providers anticipate medical needs and potentially streamline treatment processes in high-pressure settings such as emergency departments.
“It is used in radiology,” Mercando said. “It is also used in pathology. It is used for predictive analytics. We were looking at a system that would predict when somebody walks into the emergency room, whether or not they will require certain services like hospitalization, or certain expensive testing, or complex testing.”
Mercando emphasized that it can be applied to improve diagnostic accuracy or streamlining time-consuming tasks, but is limited in its discernment when it comes to reading human emotion.
“AI does not really get the ethics,” Mercando said. “We can only go by what has been given to it before, and then healthcare leadership and management. Algorithms are never going to see how a patient looks, or if they are avoiding a certain set of questions.”
Despite the cautionary tone he initially presented to the audience, Mercando emphasized that artificial intelligence has already produced meaningful benefits in healthcare, particularly in diagnostics, patient monitoring and administrative efficiency.
“[AI] is going to start looking through your chart as I am talking to you,” Mercando said. “[For example] it is going to say, ‘hey, Joe’s creatinine has just done this from one month to the next.’ That could indicate that something is happening, or it could indicate that one of his drugs is causing a problem.”
Jack Mulholland, a sophomore communications major, attended the event and spoke with The Quadrangle about his biggest takeaway from the event.
“I think my biggest takeaway was that we need to understand that artificial intelligence is not going away,” Mulholland said. “We need to stop being afraid of artificial intelligence and learn how we can use it to our advantage.”