Meeting MI - Radiologists Behind AI: Dr. Chris McIntosh, JDMI AI Chair

Meeting MI – Driving AI offers the Department of Medical Imaging the opportunity to meet the members of MI and learn about their work with artificial intelligence (AI).

Name: Chris McIntosh
Pronouns: he/him
Division: Research
Academic Rank: Assistant Professor
Hospital site: UHN

1. What inspired you to pursue radiology after medical school?
I did not attend medical school—my degrees are in computer science. However, I’ve always been captivated by healthcare, and once I realized how computing could transform patient outcomes through imaging, radiology became the perfect domain to focus on.

2. What role do you play in the Department’s work advancing AI research and integration into radiology?
As the Chair in Medical Imaging and AI, I lead cutting-edge research, guide clinical integration efforts, teach, and mentor trainees, ensuring our AI innovations directly improve patient care through imaging.

3. What are some of the highlights and challenges you’ve experienced working with AI?
The biggest highlight is seeing my clinically deployed algorithms positively impact patient care around the world. Major challenges center on data quality, hidden biases, and ensuring AI remains trustworthy in real clinical environments.

4. Looking ahead, what are you most excited to see with the integration of AI into medical imaging?
I’m excited about multimodal AI that emulates how clinicians synthesize imaging with their broader understanding of patient physiology to provide more nuanced, personalized diagnoses and treatments.

5. Tell us something about you that might surprise your colleagues!
I’m equal-parts AI enthusiast and skeptic: AI won’t solve everything, but by building collaborative systems that truly partner with clinicians, we can significantly improve patient care.