UC Noyce Initiative Researcher Yoshimi Fukuoka Among "24 People to Watch in 2024"
UC Noyce Initiative researcher Yoshimi Fukuoka, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N, was recently (Jan 26) named one of UC San Francisco's "24 People to Watch in 2024."
According to the UCSF article, Professor Fukuoka explores the power of AI to combat today’s urgent health issues. With funding from the UC Noyce Initiative, Fukuoka is developing a fully automated, AI chatbot called HeartBot to provide women with educational resources about heart disease — the leading cause of death in the United States. The chatbot shares resources tailored to the questions and health information submitted by the user. According to Fukuoka, the team is currently testing a fulling automated version of HeartBot in a diverse group of women in the United States.
"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to apply AI chatbot technologies to educate large groups of women about heart disease," said Fukuoka who, in addition to teaching in the School of Nursing, is faculty in the new Ph.D. in Computational Precision Health program — an innovative joint program offered by UCSF and UC Berkeley.