Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing, and its tools will become more prevalent in public health settings. Educating public health professionals about the adoption and foundational capacities of AI ensures they are prepared, ethical, and proactive stewards of technology that can either help or harm population health—depending on how it’s used. Emphasizing health equity and cultural humility in the use of AI can help ensure technology serves diverse populations fairly and effectively. AI offers powerful tools for improving public health outcomes—such as predicting disease outbreaks, optimizing resource allocation, enhancing surveillance, and personalizing health interventions. By understanding these opportunities and challenges AI, public health professionals can, leverage AI to make data-driven decisions faster and more effectively, innovate how services are delivered and how populations are reached and drive more equitable and efficient health systems.
Target Audience
The public health and health care workforce.
Dan Barnett, MD, MPH
Professor Department of Environmental Health & Engineering Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
As a result of participation in this activity, the learner will have increased and enhanced their knowledge and competence on how AI can be used to advance population-based health initiatives.
By the end of the activity, learners will be able to:
- Define AI and its core capabilities
- Describe how AI supports public health agencies in fulfilling the 10 Essential Public Health Services
- Recognizing barriers to AI adoption by public health agencies
- Explain strategies and implementation steps for AI use by public health agencies