Welcome to the AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship in AI & Human-Centred Leadership

The AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human-Centred Leadership is a new 2-year professional learning fellowship in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health for early and mid-career health system leaders who are driven to develop knowledge, skills, and capacity to meet the opportunities and challenges of AI in health care, public health, and health systems. The AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship re-imagines a human-centred approach to health leadership that is driven by putting people first and by a commitment to promoting, fostering and advancing compassion and equity in an age of AI.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

AI promises to transform health systems at all levels – micro at the level of direct patient care, meso at the level of health institutions and care coordination, and macro at the level of broader public policy – with profound implications for re-framing clinician-patient-provider relationships, fostering more effective systems and efficient delivery of health care services, promoting health, and enabling healthy public policies. The success or failure of AI will depend heavily on organizational leadership and culture. In the emerging AI landscape in health, leaders are needed who are bold and critically reflective and who can strike a balance between seizing upon the transformational opportunities the use of AI may offer and sustaining the human-centredness of healthcare, public health and health systems.

The AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship in Artificial Intelligence and Human-Centred Leadership is an innovative new professional learning fellowship created in partnership by the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and AMS Healthcare, a Canadian charitable organization. It is designed to foster the knowledge, skills, and competencies of health system leaders seeking to implement AI and related digital innovations for more compassionate and equitable healthcare and health systems today and in the future. The AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship provides learners with dedicated process facilitation and tangible expert support as they work to design, develop and implement a human-centred AI or digital transformation project for their unique health sector organization.

The AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship is designed to be completed within two years. In Year 1, the curriculum is built around three highly integrated modules focused on human-centered leadership, human-centred applications of AI and human-centred design, which will support each Fellow in the design and development of their individual human-centred AI or digital transformation project. Through a combination of in-person and online sessions, expert and peer mentorship, and interactive individual and group learning activities, Fellows will learn about human factors, ethics and governance, technical aspects of AI selection and deployment, and practical aspects of integrating AI into health settings. In Year 2, Fellows will participate in a community of practice of ongoing mentorship and professional learning as they implement their individual leadership projects in practice within their organization.

Who Should Apply

The AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship is for early and mid-career health leaders from health sector organizations for whom applications of AI and related digital innovations make up their portfolio or have implications for their leadership role. This may include but is not limited to: Chief Information Officers, Policymakers, Medical and Health Services Managers, Directors of Administration, Chief Data Scientists, Clinician Leaders, Senior Policy Analysts and Research Program Directors.

An ideal candidate for the AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship is an individual who:

• has at least three years experience in a leadership role;
• is currently working in the health sector (e.g., health service organizations, public health agencies, community-based organizations, public policy environments, technology companies);
• holds, or has been identified by their organization to be an outstanding prospect to hold, leadership responsibilities related to AI or digital transformation in their workplace;
• is a visionary, transformational and action-oriented leader;
• has professional experience in leading change and/or implementing innovation in their workplace; and
• is committed to embracing a human-centred approach in their leadership role and the values of human-centred application of AI and digital technology, including compassion, equity, and respect.

If you have questions about your eligibility for the Fellowship, please contact us here.

What You Will Gain

The AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship experience offers a flexible and supportive inquiry-oriented learning environment. Fellows will be challenged to design, develop and implement an action learning project that will establish a foundation for human-centred application of AI and digital technology in their organizational context. In this program, you will be introduced to diverse insights on human-centred leadership and AI in health. We will guide you to think critically as you explore and develop your unique and creative approach to advance your organization’s AI innovation and digital transformation goals and objectives.

As an AMS-Fitzgerald Fellow, you will:

• Explore and evaluate the current and evolving AI and digital health ecosystem in Canada and internationally
• Identify and assess opportunities and risks to compassionate and equitable health care, policies and systems associated with digital technologies and AI applications
• Engage with leading experts in AI and data science, health system leadership, health innovation and technology, law and regulation, and ethics
• Define a vision for your human-centred leadership practice in a complex and evolving AI and digital environment
• Develop practical skills in managing complex adaptive systems, assessing organizational readiness for AI innovation, and applying core competencies in ethical, operational, and legal aspects of AI in health settings
• Design, develop and implement an AI innovation or digital transformation project in your organization with guidance from peer and expert mentors
• Acquire a repertoire of tools, models, and resources to facilitate critical thinking and effective action planning, which you can pay forward when leading your teams and peers
• Gain a professional peer and expert network that you can commit to cultivating in months and years to come for your continued professional and leadership growth
• Achieve a Certificate of Completion recognized by the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Continuing & Professional Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)

PROGRAM DETAILS

PROGRAM LENGTH

• 2 years

FORMAT

• 3-day in-person intensive sessions at the University of Toronto
• Online synchronous and asynchronous engagement

COHORT SIZE

• Up to 12 Fellows will progress through the fellowship as a cohort

DURATION

• Year 1:
  • Fall 2024: 16 weeks for Module 1
  • Winter 2025: 16 weeks for Module 2
  • Summer 2025: 16 weeks for Module 3
• Year 2:
  • Fall 2025 – Summer 2026: 12-month (48 weeks) Community of Practice

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

EFFORT

• 9 days in-person in Year 1
• 2-5 hours per week for online synchronous and asynchronous engagement throughout

FEES

• Thanks to the generosity of AMS Healthcare, 12 funded AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowships are available, including tuition and instructional materials.  Fellows are only responsible for any travel-related costs they may incur for the in-person aspects of the program.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, please submit: i) a statement of interest (max 3 pages); ii) your most recent professional CV (max 3 pages); and iii) a letter of institutional support. Application packages should be submitted no later than May 10th, 2024 by email to ams.fitzgerald.dlsph@utoronto.ca.

• Statement of interest: Please describe your leadership experience and current leadership role (including how it relates to AI and/or digital innovation), your professional interest in the Fellowship (why are you a good fit? what do you hope to gain?), your proposed leadership project (what is the project? why is a human-centred approach needed?) and your contribution to the Fellowship (what experience, expertise or insight do you bring to enrich the cohort?).
• Letter of institutional support: The letter should be from a senior leader in your organization and should outline the tangible supports the institution will provide for your participation in the Fellowship (e.g., release time, travel costs), describe the importance and value-add of the proposed project to your institution and why you are well-placed to lead it, and specify an institutional sponsor who will provide mentorship and guidance to you as you develop your leadership project. (Note that the senior leader may also be your institutional sponsor.)

If you have questions about application requirements for the Fellowship, please contact us.

Following internal review of applications, candidates will be invited to participate in an interview in late May. Final selection of AMS-Fitzgerald Fellows will be made by June 5, 2024.

The AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship in AI and Human-Centred Leadership is delivered by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and powered by OISE Continuing Professional Learning.