Hello Reader,
This Week Is A Check-In About AI. Full Stop.
I sat down with Dr. Maria Abunto, ambassador for the American College of Artificial Intelligence and Medicine, to talk about something that's keeping a lot of us up at night: how do we integrate AI into medical education when we're barely keeping up ourselves?
Maria's journey from skeptic to ambassador started during her executive MBA at University of Pittsburgh, where two courses completely shifted how she understood technology's role in medicine. Not as a threat, but as something we can shape—if we're willing to learn alongside our students.
The Shift That Changes Things
Here's what struck me most about Maria's story: her turning point wasn't mastering the technology. It was realizing we don't have to.
She describes seeing AI move from "just another efficiency tool" to something that could fundamentally transform how we teach, connect, and serve patients. When she was invited to become the ambassador for the American College of AI and Medicine, she said yes immediately—not because she had all the answers, but because she wanted to help ensure human wisdom stays at the center as AI evolves.
The take-away: This isn't about learning every algorithm or app. It's about asking better questions: How could this tool help us serve patients better? What biases might we be missing? Who isn't at the table when these decisions are being made?
What's Already Happening (Whether We're Ready or Not)
Medical students and residents are already experimenting with AI. They're using it to:
- Understand complex cases and get instant teaching points
- Personalize their learning journeys
- Create unlimited practice scenarios
- Generate quiz questions tailored to their knowledge gaps
What Maria finds remarkable: Their fearlessness. They're growing up in an environment where technology isn't foreign—it's a natural extension of how they learn and communicate.
And here's the thing that landed for me: We have wisdom as senior faculty, but students have something equally valuable—the curiosity and willingness to play.
The Greatest Equalizer
Maria calls AI "the greatest equalizer" because it puts everyone—regardless of generation or technical background—in the position of learning something new like a child.
But she's clear about what can't be lost in this transformation: the human side of medicine. The empathy. The bedside manner. The relationship you build with a patient that no algorithm can replicate.
The balance we're aiming for: Let AI handle the technical coordination, data mining, information routing—the efficiency side. That frees us to focus on what we do best: the human connection, the conversations, the moments of discovery.
What This Means for Healthcare Educators
If you're a dean, program director, teaching faculty, or clinical educator, this moment requires something counterintuitive: learning something new right alongside your learners.
Maria's advice for approaching this without overwhelm:
Start with curiosity, not mastery. Transformation always starts with uncertainty. The key is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.
You don't need to be a data scientist. You don't need to master machine learning to engage meaningfully. Start by asking better questions about how these tools could serve patients and where biases might exist.
Create a culture where it's safe to explore. When leaders are willing to learn and bring their teams along, it changes everything. It's okay to not know everything—what matters is learning together.
The Building Blocks for Getting Started
If your institution wants to integrate AI literacy more thoughtfully, Maria suggests focusing on fundamentals over specific tools:
Teach people how to think, not which apps to use. Half the tools students will use in their 40-year careers haven't been invented yet. Our job is teaching critical thinking, how to question assumptions, interpret data, and approach every decision with empathy and integrity.
Don't lose the irreplaceable human elements. No matter how many tools come down the pipeline, bedside manner matters most. The modeling behavior during rounds, how you speak to families, the relationship you build with patients—these stay constant.
Remember that AI can create inequities. We need to think about access: rural areas, patients without reliable wifi, communities that might be left behind in this transformation.
Practical Resources to Get Started
Maria shared several pathways for building AI literacy:
Organizations:
Academic Programs:
Books Worth Reading:
Podcasts:
The Bottom Line
Here's what I'm taking away from this conversation: AI literacy isn't about becoming a tech expert. It's about staying curious, asking the right questions, and ensuring that as technology evolves, we don't lose sight of what makes medicine human.
The students are already experimenting. The tools are already here. The question isn't whether to engage with AI—it's how we shape it so that it amplifies our capacity for connection rather than replacing it.
And maybe the most important insight: you don't have to have all the answers to be part of shaping this future. You just have to be willing to learn alongside the people you're teaching.
What's one small step you could take this week to get more comfortable with AI tools in your practice or teaching?
🎧 Listen to the podcast sneak peek episode below and listen to the full episode on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Podbean, or Amazon Music.
What's inspiring us this week:
It's time for medThriving! Last night and tonight, we'll ground ourselves in saying YES to ourselves again for 2026: lifestyle medicine,
It's not too late! Click here to purchase a Basic or VIP Ticket to get recordings for 7 days or lifetime, and VIP Tickets get you a month inside medTHRIVE community, 2 group coaching calls, and closer with all the coaches of Transforming Healthcare Coaching®. If you've been wondering about this, it's time to check out our group program.
The Practice: Celebrating Wins
We get more of what we focus on. The practice of gratitude and celebrating the goodness of life is the first step in changing our brains, mindsets, and circumstances for the better.
There is always learning around us. Grateful for our collaborators for medThriving who are willing to learn alongside us ad collaborate to help make healthcare...for the better.
Thank you Dr. Melissa Sundermann @thedoctoroutdoors, Dr. Lisa Muehlenbein @themedlifematrix @medlifesupportpodcast, Colleen Sloan @examroomnutrition
Thank you to our own Dr. Vicki Landers @vdl_inprogresscoaching, Gillian Faith @nextlevel.coach, and Klaus Grim
Stay mindful and keep leading,
Lillian
Founder & CEO
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