CI MED appoints Adil Haider to lead AI initiatives

Carle Illinois College of Medicine has appointed internationally recognised surgeon-scientist, biotech entrepreneur, and academic leader Dr Adil Haider as its inaugural Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO).

In this newly created role, Haider will lead the strategic vision, development, and responsible deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) across CI MED. He will be responsible for advancing AI-enabled medical education, translational research, and clinical innovation.

"By establishing the role of chief AI officer, Carle Illinois is signalling that artificial intelligence is not peripheral, but foundational to the future of medicine," said CI MED Dean Mark Cohen. 

"Dr Haider brings a unique combination of academic rigour, clinical expertise, and entrepreneurial experience. His leadership will help ensure that AI at Carle Illinois is innovative, ethical, and meaningfully improves health outcomes, transforming our clinical, research, innovation, and educational missions for the future."

In addition to his duties at CI MED, Haider will serve as the medical director for research informatics at Carle Foundation Hospital, strengthening alignment between academic innovation and real-world clinical practice.

In this dual role, Haider will help integrate advanced informatics and AI-driven tools to enhance care delivery, clinical efficiency, and the patient experience across the Carle Health system.

"I am honoured and excited to join Carle Illinois College of Medicine at such a pivotal moment," said Haider. "There is no other institution intentionally designed to bring engineering, medicine, and data science together in this way. The opportunity here is not simply to adopt AI, but to define how it should be built, governed, and deployed to improve human health.”

Haider is also committed to realising CI MED's potential as a leader in academic entrepreneurship by forging new partnerships with private companies.

Haider's entrepreneurial endeavours include founding two health technology companies. Doctella, a digital health startup, was later acquired by Masimo.

More recently, he founded Boston Health AI, an AI-driven clinical intelligence platform currently operating in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan.

Haider joins Carle Illinois after serving for more than six years as the dean of the Aga Khan University Medical College in Pakistan.

He previously served as Kessler Director of the Centre for Surgery and Public Health, a joint programme of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.