Shaping the Future of Health and Medicine

Our world is changing rapidly, and it is critical that the health and medical sectors keep pace.

Readiness and adaptation must be core values across science, education, and clinical practice to meet the health needs of the future. At the National Academy of Medicine, we work to anticipate solutions for tomorrow’s challenges.

Initiative

Health Care Artificial Intelligence Code of Conduct

The NAM is developing a framework to ensure that AI algorithms and their application in health, health care, and biomedical science perform accurately, safely, reliably, and ethically in the service of better health for all. With this guidance in hand, health care will move closer to the algorithmic integrity and national architecture required to achieve AI’s promise and avoid the peril.

Dec 8, 2025Commentary

Critical AI Health Literacy as Liberation Technology: A New Skill for Patient Empowerment

Introduction Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping health care in ways that affect patients, clinicians, and institutions alike. Health AI, as defined in this commentary, encompasses digital tools deployed by health care organizations (e.g., generative AI, ambient scribes, machine learning) as well as tools used independently by patients and their care partners (typically generative AI). In institutional settings, AI is typically […]

Artificial IntelligenceHealth Literacy

Critical AI Health Literacy as Liberation Technology: A New Skill for Patient Empowerment

Jul 21, 2025Discussion Proceedings

Fostering Action to Address Ethical and Societal Implications of Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation in Health and Medicine

Background Information Advances in biomedical research, data science, engineering, and technology are leading to high-speed innovation with tremendous potential to transform health and medicine. At the same time, these innovations carry potential risks and important societal implications related to access, ethics, and public trust. There is an urgent need to understand, anticipate, and respond to the effects of such advances. […]

Emerging Science and TechnologyArtificial Intelligence

Fostering Action to Address Ethical and Societal Implications of Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation in Health and Medicine

Jun 9, 2025Commentary

The Imperative of a Global Pandemic Risk Assessment Framework

Introduction In just two decades, the world has faced a relentless barrage of deadly infectious disease outbreaks— SARS in 2002, H1N1 in 2009, Ebola in 2014, Zika in 2016, and COVID-19 in 2020. Each crisis has cost lives, destabilized economies, and exposed vulnerabilities in global health systems. The COVID-19 pandemic alone resulted in over 15 million excess deaths and an […]

Infectious DiseasesPreparedness and Response

The Imperative of a Global Pandemic Risk Assessment Framework