Mayo Clinic has collaborated with the world’s most valuable company to launch the first supercomputer in a hospital using a new AI technology that could shorten the time to diagnosis and hasten treatment of deadly diseases.
It’s the first time AI chipmaker Nvidia’s technology will be used this way in a health care setting at a large scale.
Mayo Clinic’s first supercomputer in health care that uses Nvidia’s latest technology at a large scale is located in Brooklyn Park. The SuperPOD has 128 graphics processing units. (Mayo Clinic)
“The confluence of the [AI computing power] that we’re talking about, the data, and the clinical knowledge coming together could be kind of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to truly transform how medicine is practiced,” said Jim Rogers, CEO of the Mayo Clinic Digital Pathology department.
The technology will help Mayo build new AI models to make advances in clinical areas such as pathology, which focuses on diagnosing and understanding diseases. Mayo did not share the system’s cost.
Dr. Matthew Callstrom, medical director of Mayo’s Department of Strategy and leader of the generative AI program, said scientists will someday be able to build AI models around the droves of Mayo’s de-identified pathology data to help them understand high-stakes ideas such as the staging and progression of cancer.
The investment comes as Mayo Clinic revs up its broader AI strategy, including partnerships with Google, Microsoft and the genomics-focused AI company Cerebras.
Executives of the world renowned health system hope AI can relieve administrative workload and facilitate medical breakthroughs.
Matt Redlon, Mayo’s vice president of digital biology at Mayo Clinic Digital Pathology, said the system’s capabilities are three to four times stronger than Mayo’s previous technology. Rogers said the infrastructure is “rocket fuel” accelerating innovation.
