The five-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is just 13%, largely because it’s often not detected until it’s too late. That’s why at Northwell Health, New York’s largest health care system, hospitals use the AI-powered iNav (developed in-house) to proactively analyze images of patients’ MRIs and CT scans—taken for unrelated health issues—searching for evidence of cancerous masses or lesions. Northwell says the system has slashed time to treatment, the period from diagnosis to the beginning of addressing the disease, by 50%. Dr. Daniel King, a developer of iNav, says it has “totally revolutionized our ability to get these people connected to care.” Northwell is currently exploring licensing iNav to other hospitals.

In 2020, Keith Thomas dived into a pool, hit his head, and broke his neck. He was paralyzed from the chest down. Then, in a first-of-its-kind surgery last year, scientists implanted microchips into his brain to connect his thoughts to arm and hand movement, creating a two-way link—a “double bypass”—that allowed signals to travel in both directions. Now Thomas can open his hand, lift his arms, flex his biceps. “He used to have family members scratch his face if he had an itch,” says technology inventor Chad Bouton, professor at the Northwell Health Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. “Now he can pet his dog.” The team hopes it could also help stroke survivors in the future.

REGISTER for an EVENING OF INNOVATION with Dr.s Kevin Tracey and Andrew Yacht at Feinstein