The clinician-artificial intelligence scientist: a proposed career pathway in medicine.

Authors

Yilan Wu, Ariel Yuhan Ong, Haichao Chen, Gabriel Dawei Yang, Yih Chung Tham, Pearse A Keane, Tien Yin Wong

Published in

The Lancet. Digital health. Pages 101077. Sep 29, 2026. Epub Sep 29, 2026.

Abstract

Traditionally, the clinician-scientist has played a key role in translating fundamental discoveries into clinical practice across multiple medical disciplines. As medicine enters the era of artificial intelligence (AI), a similar role is needed to bridge the gap between technological development and meaningful clinical implementation-a role we term the clinician-AI scientist. In this Viewpoint, we examine the distinctive role, challenges, and development strategies of this potentially new career pathway for clinicians. We argue that the clinician-AI scientist should have sufficient training and expertise in both clinical and technical domains, together with an understanding of implementation science across the entire AI development-to-adoption lifecycle. We analyse the historical development of the traditional clinician-scientist role and discuss how this model can be adapted to meet the unique needs of the clinician-AI scientist. Finally, we propose targeted strategies for clinicians, institutions, and professional organisations to cultivate a pool of clinician-AI scientists and help realise the transformative potential of AI in medicine.

PMID:
42810919
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 30 Sep 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.