The theme of the seminar is “Aligning AI models for Global Health Applications.” AI models often struggle to perform reliably across different populations and health systems, limiting their impact in global health. We will present work from the AI in Global Health and Health Care group at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, focused on contextual alignment—ensuring AI models are effective and fair across diverse real-world settings, with particular consideration of resource constraints and scalability. We will share some examples from completed research and outline our planned studies highlighting open challenges and opportunities for collaboration in developing context-aware AI for global health.

CHIA will be hosting Professor Sanjay Kinra and Dr Poppy Mallinson to speak on this topic. Please see below for their full bios. 

Bios:

Professor Sanjay Kinra is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, where he leads the AI in Global Health and Health Care research group. His work focuses on the contextual alignment of generative and predictive AI models for real-world global health and healthcare applications. He co-directs a cohort study in India that longitudinally tracks the health and lifestyles of >5,000 individuals using integrated clinical and digital data and have led multiple clinical trials of technology-enabled behavioural interventions.

Dr Poppy Mallinson is a non-communicable disease (NCD) epidemiologist interested in applying data science approaches to advance understanding of the aetiology and prevention of NCDs in underserved populations. Her ongoing research projects in this area include use of AI for improved NCD diagnostics (e.g. metabolic diseases in rural/remote settings India), screening (e.g., diabetes complications in South Asian populations) and management (e.g. overweight in Thailand).