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Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant promise; rather, AI is actively reshaping the world around us. At the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University (CCLCM), we recognize that the transformative impact of AI is unfolding, prompting us to thoughtfully and deliberately integrate these technologies into medical education.
Rather than merely reacting to external advancements, we are proactively exploring how best to integrate AI into our curriculum, ensuring our students are fully prepared for the future.
Led by Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS, Associate Dean of Curricular Affairs and Professor of Medicine, our approach is guided by clear principles and a commitment to responsible, ethical use. This careful integration ensures that students and faculty are prepared to not only use AI tools but also lead in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.
Ushering AI into the classroom
Since ChatGPT emerged in late 2022, advances in AI have been swift. From the beginning, when the impact and reach of AI were still murky, we wrestled with how much to integrate AI into the classroom.
As a start, in the summer of 2023, several faculty members and students (Eliot Haddad (’27), Rie Maeda (’27) and Seysha Mehta (’27)) researched AI responses to our essay-style application questions. The research results, which were published in JMIR Medical Education, showed that AI responses are as good as students’ responses, and, what’s more, experienced graders could not distinguish the difference between them.
“Based on that research and the imperative to prepare students for an AI-integrated future, we felt there was no point in banning AI,” says Dr. Mehta. “At the same time, we wanted to ensure that AI does not impact students’ cognitive abilities such as critical thinking and problem solving.”
To that end, CCLCM is working with the CWRU School of Medicine to develop governing principles for the use of generative AI by students, faculty and administrators. The incoming class of students are introduced to these principles during orientation week. These principles ensure safe, ethical, pedagogically sound and forward-thinking integration of generative AI into the curriculum.
Integrating AI into the curriculum
The first foray into integrating AI into the curriculum involved the creation of custom ChatGPT virtual tutors for students in the year 1 immunology course. Dr. Mehta worked with Seysha Mehta (‘27) and Anika Sonig (‘29) to generate a course notebook using Google NotebookLM that includes an AI-generated audio overview, mind maps, study guides, briefing documents and more. Students used the course notebook to ask questions and find answers, which gives them more self-direction over their education, prepares them for seminars and helps make the best use of in-person time in class.
We are studying the use of generative AI to help our clerkship students enhance their clinical reasoning skills. During their research year, our students are guided in using various generative AI tools appropriately and ethically for their research projects. Finally, our capstone curriculum for graduating students includes a hands-on workshop on “Generative AI in Practice.”
Using AI to assist faculty
The use of AI in medical education is not only for students. At CCLCM, we are guiding faculty to be thoughtful and intentional when adopting technology such as generative AI for their teaching activities such as lesson design.
We successfully piloted AI-enabled teaching in foundational courses such as immunology and molecular medicine.
“We also built a virtual tutor to train faculty on how to provide feedback to a struggling student,” says Dr. Mehta. “This custom model, published in Medical Teacher, uses widely accepted educational frameworks to simulate a realistic feedback conversation with a student. Faculty members use the simulation to practice delivering useful feedback.”
Measuring student reactions
Thus far, students have overwhelmingly embraced AI for their medical education, and many are enthusiastic about getting involved in research studies for publication.
In response to an informal survey on using the ChatGPT virtual tutors, one student shared: “I used the ChatGPT tool in addition to my normal resources. It was IMMENSELY helpful in clarifying my questions. In particular, it did a great job filling in gaps and questions I had when going back and later reviewing our lecture slides. It also did a great job giving me summaries of topics and creating simple tables to compare different cell types.”
Other students shared similar sentiments, which encouraged the team to continue innovating the use of AI in medical education.
Advancing medical education
Dr. Mehta and his team are involved in several Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved research projects to analyze how we can best use AI in areas such as clinical reasoning, communication training, reflective practice and virtual tutoring. The team has published multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts on using AI in medical education and healthcare to help shape how AI can best be integrated into medical education and healthcare.
“Through responsible integration of AI, we are preparing students and educators to thrive in an AI-driven world,” says Dr. Mehta.
As the landscape of medical education rapidly evolves, CCLCM stands at the forefront, demonstrating that AI is not just a vision for the future but a powerful tool actively shaping how we teach and learn today. As thought leaders in the space, we are committed to helping define best practices and inspire the next generation of medical professionals.
