Ethics and AI
The webinar will be hosted by Prof. Johnny Awwad, Obstetrician & Gynecologist, Executive Chair of Women’s Services & Chief of Reproductive Medicine at Sidra Medicine & Research Center.
Don't miss this thought-provoking discussion on the intersection of AI and reproductive medicine ethics.;
Prof. Johnny Awwad
Prof. Johnny Awwad is an Executive Chair of Women’s Services & Chief of Reproductive Medicine at Sidra Medicine & Research Center.
Prof. Johnny Awwad has 25 years of experience as a Fertility Consultant. After completing a fellowship training in Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility at the Massachusetts General Hospital – Harvard Medical School, he joined the American University of Beirut Medical Center where he set the foundations for In Vitro Fertilization and Minimally Invasive Surgery. He then received his certification in Embryology and Andrology from the American Board of Bioanalysis as a high complexity laboratory director (HCLD). Dr Awwad is a Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and founding Head of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. He is also the founder of the Cryopreservation and Pre-Implantation Genetic programs at the same institution. In addition to his clinical expertise, he is an invited speaker to many international scientific meetings and is the author of more than 110 publications.
Agata Foryciarz
Agata Foryciarz is an interdisciplinary researcher and a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Stanford University. Her research examines ways in which existing machine learning models might perpetuate health inequities, and develops methods for improving them, leveraging social theories of health and health policy. She received a B.S.E. in computer science from Princeton.
Dr Sergio Papier is a physician, a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. Hi is a
a Gynecologist and specialises in reproductive medicine.
Dr Papier is also CEO of Fertimed S.A., and Medical Director at CEGYR and Novagen. He has held positions including the past presidency of the Argentine Society of Reproductive Medicine (SAMER) and the Latin American Association of Reproductive Medicine (ALMER).
Currently, he is the President of the Executive Committee of ALMER.
Victoria Robertson is a commercial and data law specialist and a partner at international law firm Trowers & Hamlins. Victoria advises clients within various sectors including IT and technology and healthcare. She has a particular interest in the healthcare sector and especially in fertility, advising a number of fertility clinics and tech providers within the fertility sector. She is a chair of the regulatory committee for the AI Fertility Society.
Victoria is vastly experienced in dealing with tricky contractual issues especially where personal data and regulatory issues are involved. She regularly advises clients in the private and public sectors upon matters including regulatory compliance, and international transfers and innovative usage of personal data.
Victoria is ranked by Legal 500 as a leading individual in her sector, and described as “a trusted adviser”, “very practical and very commercial”, “unflappable” and “calm under pressure”.
Dr Antonio Vidal Pascual Rodríguez is a Clinical Embryologist who serves as the Director of the fertility laboratory at Instituto Vida in Guadalajara. He is a highly regarded educator and scholar in the field of human reproduction, holding multiple academic positions.
Dr Rodríguez is an Associate Professor in the Subspecialty Program in Biology of Human Reproduction at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Additionally, he serves as an Associate Professor in the Reproductive Endocrinology Diploma, Infertility, and Assisted Reproduction program offered by the University of Guadalajara (UdG).
He also holds the position of Professor in the Latin American Assisted Reproduction Network Continuing Education Program. He is a member of the education committee of the Latin American Assisted Reproduction Network (Red LaRA) as well as Director of the Embryology section of the Mexican Association of Reproductive Medicine (AMMR).
Webinar overview
We will discuss important questions, such as the vague rules in the AI Act about choosing embryos based on statistics, whether the current rules are good enough, how licensing AI models in healthcare might affect us, how to make sure AI decisions in IVF are clear and responsible, whether we can compare different IVF methods as we do in other areas, and how to make sure new AI methods in IVF are tested properly, especially when it comes to genetic testing.
Topics covered:
- AI Act introduces the requirement that AI systems shall have “appropriate statistical properties” in order to mitigate specific biases. However, this requirement is very vague and non-specific but clearly indicates that considering the accuracy or efficiency of the systems it is not enough. How would you cast this notion into IVF, e.g., the selection of embryos?
- Do you believe that AI Act together with MDR forms sufficient regulatory frameworks for AI in IVF? Or should we work on extending them with additional ethical guidelines?
- There is an ongoing discussion on licensing AI models. We could expect that in close, it will be impossible to run non-licensed models on future hardware. Do you see this as a potential risk or advantage for AI in healthcare?
- How can we ensure transparency and accountability in AI-driven decision-making processes when it comes to embryo selection and other aspects of IVF treatment?
- In different applications of AI we typically work with benchmarks that are accepted by the whole community so that we can compare the algorithms with one another and see the progress in their development. Do you believe that the emergence of similar benchmarks is possible in the case of IVF?
- We have heard some reports that preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) is far from perfect, i.e., embryos with genetic deficiencies resulted in a healthy birth. This seems to raise huge concerns related to the usage of new technologies of IVF. How shall we test new solutions including AI in order to make sure that they are properly tested?
Is it a paid event?
The webinar is FREE for members and non-members of the European Fertility Society. However, the number of seats is limited, so make sure to book yours now!
September 27 | 5.00 pm [GMT]
CEST 7.00 pm