In November 2022, the release of Open AI's chatbot, ChatGPT, captivated the public's attention and understanding of artificial intelligence (AI). As AI is increasingly woven into aspects of society, biomedical research, and the healthcare ecosystem are areas with outsized potential for impact. The principles of AI intersect with the larger discipline of computational biology, an interdisciplinary field encompassing concepts from computer science, mathematics, biology, statistics, informatics, and big data analysis. 

Computational tools can rapidly identify patterns in vast volumes of biomedical and clinical data, leading to discoveries that can transform the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases to improve human health. While the scientific and medical communities recognize the potential of the AI revolution to transform health around the globe, many challenges remain to be addressed before the technology reaches its full potential. 

In 2023, the Milken Institute Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC) partnered with the Biswas Family Foundation to conduct a comprehensive landscape to facilitate a greater understanding of the state of the computational biology field and identify opportunities for strategic philanthropic investments in this space. This Giving Smarter Guide reflects these findings and can guide funders interested in making an impact at the intersection of AI and health so that the technologies can be leveraged to improve the health and well-being of the global community. 

Learn more about the Biswas Family Foundation Transformative Computational Biology Grant Program