Caian becomes UK's first Professor of AI in Radiotherapy
- 29 October 2024
- 2 minutes
Professor Raj Jena (Medicine 1989) has been appointed the UK’s first Clinical Professor of AI in Radiotherapy.
The creation of the new Cambridge University Clinical Professorship signals the importance of AI in the fight against cancer and builds on the University’s work to explore and apply the very latest technology to the world’s major challenges.
The technology is already being used in the diagnosis and treatment of some cancers, but Professor Jena – an academic radiation oncologist at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and a researcher in the University’s Department of Oncology – says AI has the potential to transform the way patients experience cancer care through more innovative and personalised therapies.
However, developing increasingly powerful tools requires ever larger amounts of information to train AI models on, and so building the research collaborations needed to help gather information on this scale is one of the areas where Prof Jena hopes his new role can help.
He says: “There are amazing AI tools being developed, but they need more data to feed on than one hospital or one healthcare system can generate. The Professorship will make a concrete difference in terms of building networks and leading projects.
“We need to bring together the right teams and expertise to research these things, to understand the technology and of course develop guidance and good practice, because trust is key, as is making sure you bring others with you. It’s one of the things I’m most excited about with this new role. You can design an AI but if you don’t explain what you’re doing, and how it will help, you’re limiting the good it can do.”
Read the full story on the University of Cambridge website: Cambridge's Raj Jena becomes UK's first Professor of AI in radiotherapy