Presence champions the human experience in medicine.

Presence for Racial Justice

Department of Medicine 2021 Annual Report featured Presence effort toward racial justice. Full article is found here

Practices to Foster Physician Presence and Connection With Patients in the Clinical Encounter

Bestselling author to discuss revolutionary doctors from Elsie Inglis to Che Guevara

A New York Times bestselling author will discuss Che Guevara and the role of doctors in revolution at The Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. Full recap located here

Presence Showcased 2019 Seed Grant Awardees for AI in Medicine: Inclusion & Equity 

The Presence Center’s AI in Medicine: Inclusion & Equity Initiative (AiMIE) 2019 seed grant awardees.  The program’s goal was to “explore solutions, frameworks, and concepts to address the challenges raised at the symposium relating to the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and associated technologies, processes, and policies to address inclusion and equity in medicine and healthcare.” Eight grants were awarded on June 20 at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Funding for the grants and conference were made possible by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Grants Portfolio.  Read more here

Eric Topol and Abraham Verghese: 'We Need to Be More Human'

Verghese: I'd love to tell you more about that "Presence" came about for two reasons. One was our sense that the electronic medical record, at the time, was a technology that was so intrusive in ... Full podcast here. 

As Artificial Intelligence Moves Into Medicine, The Human Touch Could Be A Casualty

"I think for too long we've had this assumption that any new technology is good, more is better," said Abraham Verghese, a physician who works in partnership with Thadaney at a Stanford center that focuses on the human aspects of medical care.""Just to carry that thought forward," Verghese says, "AI algorithms we already know are causing inequities in bail bonding, inequities in real estate," as well as in policing. Unconscious racism and other biases get baked in, without the developers even being aware of it. "That same kind of algorithmic approach can easily infect medicine and probably does," Verghese said. Download Full interview here

Can artificial intelligence help doctors with the human side of medicine?

Presence Announced Seed Grant Awardees for AI in Medicine: Inclusion & Equity

Stanford’s Presence Center’s AI in Medicine: Inclusion & Equity Initiative seed grant awardees for 2019.  The program’s goal was to “explore solutions, frameworks, and concepts to address the challenges raised at the symposium relating to the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and associated technologies, processes, and policies to address inclusion and equity in medicine and healthcare.”  Six grants were awarded for the inaugural program and two more for 2019; the details of each are displayed below.

Inaugural HIAI Symposium discusses role of AI in medicine

How do doctors retain a human connection with patients and ensure that new developments in technology enhance, rather than impede, medical care?

Speakers discussed that challenges at the daylong Human Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Symposium hosted by the Presence Center and co-sponsored by the Stanford Department of Medicine.

AI in Medicine: Inclusion & Equity

Thank you to all who joined us in August.  Please see photos and videos here. 

Human Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Symposium

April 17,  2018

Physician, author Abraham Verghese receives National Humanities Medal

Abraham Verghese, MD, the critically acclaimed author, was honored at a White House ceremony for helping to deepen the nation’s understanding of the human experience.

The Importance Of Being

Good patient care is found not on a computer screen but in being truly present with patients.