Students participated in the first online workshop on Artificial Intelligence applied to Health
The activity organized by iHEALTH was part of a pilot program aimed at encouraging high school students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
On Thursday, September 5, a group of 22 students from Colegio Papa Juan Pablo II in San Antonio had the opportunity to interact directly with a tool designed to facilitate the diagnosis of brain tumors through artificial intelligence, developed by Marie González, an engineer at the Instituto Milenio iHEALTH.
Ayleen Bertini, a nutritionist, and Pablo Messina, an engineer—both PhD students at the Universidad de Valparaíso and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, respectively—led the activity in collaboration with the school’s teachers. The assistance of the educators was key in relating the new knowledge to what the 11th-grade students had already learned in their classes.
The workshop involved "feeding" an artificial intelligence (AI) system with various brain images that had previously been taken through MRI scans. Using deep learning, the AI was able to classify healthy patients and others with brain cancer, allowing it to recognize tumors when presented with new images.
Sebastián Soto, a math teacher at the school, commented that "this helped us understand how AI works and develops, and grasp the concept of functions used in neural networks. It was also fascinating to meet a team of professionals from various specialties working toward a common goal."
Similarly, Benjamín Fernández, a science teacher, valued the experience for guiding his students' career interests, noting that they enjoyed working with AI. "Many students are already interested in programming, so this also gave them an idea of how this discipline can be applied," added the teacher.
Ayleen, who volunteered to lead the activity, remarked, "It was a rewarding experience to bring knowledge of AI applications in healthcare to high school students. I hope we inspire some of them to pursue a STEM career at the university level."
One of the pillars of iHEALTH is to motivate and encourage young people to follow careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This activity is part of the institute’s efforts to reach future generations of scientists who can continue advancing the work of the institute.
If you’re interested in participating in any of the activities offered by the institute, please contact us at comunicaciones@i-health.cl.
