How AI is rewriting the story of cancer research

UBC computer scientist Dr. Raymond Ng left biology behind when he graduated from high school — so the first time he was asked to review a paper on genomics he laughed out loud. But it turned out the paper wasn’t about DNA. It was about data. That was 25 years ago, and the lightbulb that came on over Dr. Ng’s head must have lit up the room. As his career progressed he started applying data science to genomics and then to medical data. He also began studying Natural Language Processing (NLP) and saw a huge opportunity to combine it with the Big Data produced by biomedical research. “Artificial Intelligence has huge potential for the healthcare system,” Dr. Ng says. “I really believe that by using automation and algorithms we can do better medicine and deliver healthcare cheaper and faster.” A perfect opportunity to prove his point arose when British Columbia’s Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) asked Dr. Ng and <a href="https://dsi.ubc.ca/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">UBC’s Data Science Institute</a> to remove a clog in a data pipeline to support more timely data for cancer research and health planning. The <a href="http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/health-professionals/professional-resources/bc-cancer-registry" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">BC Cancer Registry</a> (BCCR) collects data on all cancers diagnosed in the province reaching back to the 1970s. The registry is a crucial tool for B.C.’s health care system — it enables planners and policy makers to track new cancer diagnoses, how major cancers are trending, as well as how new programs and treatments are improving patients’ survival. Visit Now