In the past couple of months, Microsoft has undertaken various initiatives in the healthcare sector. In April, the tech giant created a bot to help medical personnel in the UK's National Health Service (NHS) get coronavirus test results in a matter of minutes. Last month, meanwhile, at its virtual Build conference, Microsoft launched Cloud for Healthcare, its first industry-specific cloud offering.
Today, Microsoft and Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) have announced a five-year deal that will see the Johns Hopkins inHealth precision medicine initiative utilize Azure as its preferred cloud platform.
The aforementioned inHealth initiative involves the usage of modern tools to provide insights into patients' health based on their history and environment. In particular, JHM will be leveraging Azure's AI, machine learning, and analytics capabilities to advance its research efforts at the 'Precision Medicine Centers of Excellence' it has built as part of inHealth.
Gregory Moore, CVP of Microsoft Health, commented on this collaboration, noting:
"It is a distinct privilege to partner with many of the world’s leading physicians, scientists and engineers at JHM as they use Microsoft Azure and its AI and machine learning capabilities to support some of the most advanced research and breakthroughs in precision medicine. I'm inspired by the collaboration and its bold goals to improve health for all by bringing together some of the world's best minds in medicine and technology to deliver the future of medical science innovation."
With JHM maintaining control of its own data to ensure all ethical considerations are being managed, the firm will also be using its Institutional Review Board and its internal Data Trust Council to further confirm that all privacy regulations are being met.
