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Navigating the Ethical Landscape of AI: Insights for Nutrition and Dietetics Professionals

Sunday, October 6, 2024

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Ballroom A

Level: Level 3 (advanced knowledge/expertise)

Tracks: Emerging Trends, Informatics and Technology

CPE: 1.5

Description

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, shaping how we create and share information, redefining our work dynamics, and influencing decisions in communication, actions, entertainment preferences, purchasing behavior, dietary choices, and beyond. It can be overwhelming to balance the breadth and value of these tools with ethical considerations and concerns related to areas such as transparency, privacy, and equity. This insightful and interactive dialogue will feature experts who are striving to keep the ethics equation at the forefront of their work in both health informatics research and health communications. From shining a light on racial inequities in AI in medical appointment scheduling to lessons learned in delivering AI training to organizations, the expert panel will share their experiences, key learnings, and recommendations for ways that nutrition and dietetics professionals can better equip themselves for applying AI to models for delivering nutrition care and services.

Learning Objectives

  • Describe how ethics/ethical considerations can be applied to the application of AI by individuals or organizations.
  • Summarize some ways in which AI can lead to bias in medical systems and the ways in which it can mitigate bias and increase access.
  • List ways to balance the capabilities and concerns of AI use in organizational policies and practices.

Performance Indicators

  • 5.2.5 Instructs or advises others on the use of clinical information systems, nutrition informatics tools and other technology topics.
  • 14.1.2 Develops and applies criteria to measure and monitor productivity in order to support safe, ethical, and efficient services delivery.
  • 1.3.1 Recognizes actual or potential ethical issues and dilemmas encountered in practice.

Speakers

  • Shannon Harris photo

    Shannon Harris

    Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University

    Shannon Harris earned a PhD in Business Analytics and Operations from the University of Pittsburgh in 2016. Her research interests include mathematical and empirical modeling with a focus on healthcare applications. Primarily, she analyzes the attendance behavior of patients to outpatient clinic appointments, and how that behavior affects a clinic’s scheduling practices. Additionally, she has projects researching racial bias in healthcare scheduling. Those projects seek to understand how machine learning and artificial intelligence models can be modified to reduce bias, and to understand how to reduce bias in an ethical manner.
  • Karen Hilyard photo

    Karen Hilyard

    Director, Health Comm Central

    Karen Hilyard, Ph.D. is a behavioral scientist and health communication strategist, trainer, and facilitator who works with local, state, federal, and global public health agencies and nonprofits. Her current projects include communications strategy related to diabetes management, childhood obesity, breastfeeding, and healthy eating/active living, with an emphasis on social determinants of health and health equity. She is a former faculty member at the University of Georgia College of Public Health, with research published in such places as American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Health Affairs, and Health Communication. Dr. Hilyard is a frequent instructor at CDC University and creates customized training courses and facilitates high-stakes strategy sessions for many organizations. In 2023 she was asked by a client to create a series of learning sessions on the practical, safe, and ethical use of AI. To ensure that more individuals and organizations get the information they need to develop appropriate guidelines and guardrails for AI use, in late 2023 she turned that content into a publicly available online course: “What Every Health Communicator Needs to Know about AI”. In addition to her work as a strategic communication consultant and trainer, Dr. Hilyard also hosts the Health Comm Central Podcast.

Moderator

  • Kathleen Pellechia photo

    Kathleen Pellechia

    Associate Director, Projects and Programs, FHI 360

    Kathleen Pellechia, MS, RDN, PMP is an Associate Director, Projects and Programs, in the Social Marketing and Communication division of FHI 360, an international nonprofit working to improve the health and well-being of people in the US and around the world. She has over 20 years of experience in public health and nutrition and has managed federal, state, and local nutrition and health communications initiatives. She is currently the Chair of the Council on Future Practice of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, as well as a Past Chair and founding member of the Nutrition Informatics Dietetic Practice Group. Her expertise has given her the opportunity to write and present on the topic of nutrition informatics and communications in the US and globally. Kathleen is a registered dietitian nutritionist with a MS in Health Informatics from Northeastern University.

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