Closing of the Second Edition: Diploma Program in AI Applied to Medical Diagnosis
With a seminar on ethics and clinical integration of AI, the second edition of the interdisciplinary diploma program concluded. The program brings together the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Medicine, the UC Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering, and the Millennium Institute for Engineering and Artificial Intelligence in Health (iHEALTH).
The program gathered 30 health professionals from institutions such as the Hospital de Curicó, the Instituto de Neurocirugía, Mutual de Seguridad, UC CHRISTUS, and the Hospital de Curanilahue, among others. While most participants were from the Metropolitan Region, professionals from Valparaíso, Maule, Biobío, Los Ríos, and O'Higgins also took part, along with two international students from Colombia and Bolivia.
Over 255 hours of training, participants developed competencies in deep learning, medical image analysis, database management, and AI ethics, through a methodology that combined lectures and hands-on workshops. A fourth edition is already scheduled for September 2026.
The diploma program culminated with a seminar addressing two of the major current challenges of AI in healthcare. Dr. Marcelo Andia, from the UC Faculty of Medicine and Associate Director of iHEALTH, delivered the lecture Beyond the Algorithm: Ethical Challenges and Dilemmas of AI in Health. This was followed by Dr. Cecilia Besa, also from UC Medicine and a Principal Investigator at iHEALTH, who gave the talk From the Lab to the Patient: Effective Integration of AI in Clinical Practice, closing the program with a practical perspective on how to bring these technologies into real-world care settings.
Participants themselves highlighted the value of the program for their professional practice. Ángela Cristino, a surgeon and endoscopist, particularly appreciated the program's structure: "I really liked how it was structured, as it had a strong computational foundation — learning to code, and at the same time covering database management and statistics." Rodrigo Casasuz, a dentist specializing in chronic facial pain, was impressed by the program's level and approach: "I was very impressed, I really liked the approach, the level, the explanations [...] I think I will make great use of it for my database and for my image analysis."
For Claudia Prieto, Program Director of the Diploma and Director of iHEALTH, this edition reinforces the institute's mission of training professionals who not only acquire technical knowledge but also take on an active responsibility in the face of the transformation that AI is generating in healthcare: "It has been an excellent opportunity for our students not only to acquire knowledge, but also to embrace the responsibility they now have to go to their own institutions, the clinics where they work, and with their families and friends, to talk about what artificial intelligence in health means."
With this second edition now consolidated, the diploma program is positioned as a continuing education space at the intersection of medicine and artificial intelligence. Its fourth edition is scheduled for September 2026.
