Washington – US President Donald Trump has instructed the federal government to use artificial intelligence to improve pediatric cancer research and concentrate US$50 million ($64.5 million) on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for its initiative.
“We have accumulated data on pediatric cancer for years, but up until now, we have not been able to fully utilize this information to apply it to practical medicine,” Trump said in his oval office as he signed the order on September 30th.
“Using cutting-edge AI, we enable scientists and researchers to discover new treatments, treatments and prevention strategies. AI can also provide groundbreaking trials and treatments, making it extremely accessible to everyone.”
The order directs the Make America Healthy (MAHA) committee to work with the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to use AI for pediatric cancer research.
Trump said the order would double investment in the NIH's Childhood Cancer Data Initiative, adding another US$50 million, allowing more funding in the future.
Explaining to reporters on September 30, White House officials cast it as a way to encourage top scientists to improve data collection and further study the uses of existing data on pediatric cancer.
“We touted this effort as something that could lead to enhanced diagnosis, optimized treatments and new treatments,” said Michael Kratsios, director of OSTP.
The so-called MAHA committee, which works with scientific institutions, is chaired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and is tasked with dealing with what he cast as a chronic disease outbreak among children.
Holding an unorthodox view on public health, Kennedy has played a key role in revamping the federal government's approach to medicine.
These changes led the administration to move to overhaul the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, fired thousands of scientists and researchers, and canceled research grants.
At NIH, more than US$1 billion in research grants funded by government agencies were cut in the first three months of the year, with thousands of grants rejected, including those for cancer research.
Funding cuts have been engulfed in multiple lawsuits, with the U.S. Supreme Court in August allowing millions to continue being cut from medical research.
The administration proposed to cut near 40% funding cuts to the NIH in its presidential budget proposal.
Subsidies for health spending and care are also at the heart of the fundraising battle in Congress, poised by the US government to close in the middle of the night if lawmakers are unable to reach an agreement.
Democrats are trying to renew the reversal of health tax deductions and Medicaid funding cuts, but Republicans are arguing what they call a clean, continuing resolution to maintain government funding that does not include other policy measures. Bloomberg
