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MEDICAL SCHOOL AL SCHOOL
MEDIC MEDICAL SCHOOL
TRAINING
TRAINING TRAINING

towards advancing their careers and their respective impacts that they because many models have been accurate at diagnosing certain condi-
can make on their field, but there are some reasons why students at tions like pneumonia and other diseases from plain-film chest X-rays
UTHSCSA may shy away from enrolling in this program: It adds one and even CT-scans. The masking capabilities of computer vision mod-
extra year of classwork to the four-year medical school track; and stu- els have helped oncologists to accurately outline tumors in the body
dents without a computer science background and prior coding expe- to improve the precision with which we can surgically remove cancer
rience may feel out of their depth, despite my experiences as evidence without harming healthy tissue. I would like to further advance com-
that it is still possible. puter vision models by training them on different data that has not
Nevertheless, I believe there will be a greater effort to accommo- been used before. Particularly, my capstone project will focus on using
date students like myself who lack a computer science background CT angiograms to map out arteries in different parts of the body. This
and therefore would benefit from more dedicated time working with would have future applications for trauma teams that need to address
python and data analytics applications. This would likely help attract arterial injuries or oncology teams that are studying blood flow to
more students without prior coding experience to this dual-degree tumors in the body. As a practicing physician, I hope that my expe-
program so that it will continue to grow and provide more AI-capable rience with AI and medicine will allow me to help develop more AI
professionals to the field of medicine. applications and technologies that hospitals can use to provide more
standardized and equitable care for their patients.
What do you believe to be the value of this program?
Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool that will likely have a major How will you transition back to medical school?
impact on many career fields over the next 10 to 20 years. I personally I will be finishing my coursework and resume medical school in
feel that medicine, like many career fields, has its issues with providing July. I will be completing my fourth-year responsibilities such as apply-
equitable care to individuals of lower socio-economic status. This has ing for residency and interviewing whilst I complete my capstone proj-
been studied by many research groups around the world, with results ect, which is a master's degree graduation requirement.
showing some of the most disproportionate health outcomes to those I think taking time away from medical school can be challenging
of lower socio-economic background, which usually included ethnic because I feel like I was in a good rhythm with regards to understand-
minorities. Despite modern technological innovations and medicines ing my medical responsibilities as I began transitioning from thinking
Dual-Degree Program at UTHSCSA: that have given rise to many advanced healthcare methods, this issue like a medical student to thinking like a resident physician. However, I
of inequitable healthcare has remained.
am confident that once I put in some time and effort to re-familiarize
That being said, I believe that AI can help us make a lot of prog-
myself with the medical knowledge, I should be able to match the level
MD and MS in AI ress towards addressing this serious issue. Inherently, the way machine of competence of the other fourth-year students. The learning curve
exists, but I do not expect it to be too challenging.
learning models work is by analyzing data, studying the inherent pat-
terns within the data, and arriving at a conclusion while trying to min-
By Niklesh Akula, with Ronald Rodriguez, MD, PhD imize any biases as much as possible. In healthcare, there is simply an
abundance of data that is collected every day, and even every hour,
about patients that guide healthcare providers to form plans of care. AI
r. Ronald Rodriguez, a practicing urologist at UTHSCSA, What has the experience been like so far? would help augment the capabilities of healthcare providers to evaluate
was responsible for designing a partnership agreement with I struggled at first because I lacked experience in computer science a patient and determine what the next steps of care should be more
DUTSA to help create a dual-degree program that allowed and coding at the start of the program. I tried learning some python effectively. Doing so would ideally help providers deliver more stan-
UTHSCSA medical students to enroll at UTSA to learn about arti- functions on my own and participated in a boot camp that taught dardized care to individuals of any background and improve health
ficial intelligence and earn a master's degree. After their third year of me some of the basics about different machine learning models. On outcomes in individuals of lower socio-economic status. There have
medical school, students are required to take a gap year to take master’s a conceptual level, I seemed to grasp most of the information well, been issues raised in the medical community about AI replacing jobs
level courses at UTSA. After the gap year, students return to UTHSC- but implementing these concepts into actual python code has defi- in healthcare, and I believe this to be a valid concern. I cannot say for Ronald Rodriguez, MD, PhD, is the Henry B. and Edna
SA to complete their fourth year of medical school as well as a capstone nitely been the most challenging aspect of the program so far. Thanks sure what the extent of AI’s impact would be on the job availability Smith Dielmann Memorial Professor of Urologic Science at
project for their master’s to then graduate with MD and MS in AI to many resources that are available to me, including my classmates, within healthcare, but I still stand by my belief that its impact towards the UTHSCSA. Dr. Rodriguez is a highly experienced urologic
degrees. friends, professors, the internet and chatbots like ChatGPT, I have improving overall health outcomes while improving the efficiency of surgeon with expertise in urologic oncology, particularly focusing
This program was approved by both administrative offices and been able to overcome my coding limitations so that I can do well in providers would be of much greater benefit than harm. on prostate and kidney cancer, and a world expert in the use of cryoablative
made official to UTHSCSA students in the spring of 2024. Howev- my courses. technologies for kidney and recurrent prostate cancer. Dr. Rodriguez is a
er, two students deserve credit for forging their own path back in the What are your personal goals after enrolling in this program? member of the Bexar County Medical Society.
spring of 2023, when they helped work with Dr. Rodriguez and UTSA What will this program look like in the future? Once I enrolled in this program, I became particularly interested in
to begin the process of organizing the program. Those two students are By the summer of 2025, three students will have graduated from the field of Interventional Radiology, a subspecialty within Radiology. Niklesh Akula is a third-year medical student at the University
Eri Osta and Aaron Fanous, and they have just graduated with both UTHSCSA with dual-degree MD and MS in AI degrees. Many Many experts would agree that computer vision models have already of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, class of 2025.
MD and MS in AI degrees. individuals agree that having any experience in AI will be beneficial been developed and had a great impact on the field of Radiology

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