PhD student on the use of AI tools in the diagnostic process of skin cancer

Are you passionate about the intersection of decision making psychology, healthcare and artificial intelligence? Do you want to be at the forefront of the evolving field of physician-computer collaboration in the diagnostic process? If so, we invite you to join our team as a PhD student to unravel the best strategies for effective collaboration between physicians and AI-tools.

In today's digital age, headlines suggest that AI is poised to revolutionize healthcare, but the reality is far more nuanced. The gap between technological innovations in AI and their practical integration into clinical practice remains substantial. This project takes a human-centered perspective, which is critical to address this scientific and practical challenge. As AI-tools and physicians make distinct types of errors, the optimal approach lies in their collaboration, often referred to as augmented AI. While ongoing efforts are dedicated to enhancing tool quality and building user trust, our project explores the importance of tailoring AI-tools to the expertise of the user and the prevalence of disease. The project will particularly focus on skin cancer diagnosis. A disease that demonstrates an ongoing steeply rising incidence and where AI has a high potential to reduce its major impact on healthcare systems.

Your primary task as a PhD student involves conducting scientific research together with your supervisory team. This involves overseeing the data collection of experimental studies and performing the data analysis. Furthermore you will be tasked with the writing of scientific articles, which will culminate into your PhD thesis. In addition to research tasks, you will have the opportunity to enroll in relevant courses that align with both the project requirements and your personal academic interests. Lastly, you will participate in distributing the outcomes of the research project by presenting them at both national and international conferences.

A healthy population and excellence in healthcare through research and education. This is what Erasmus MC stands for. Conducting groundbreaking work, pushing boundaries and leading the way. In research, education and healthcare. As the medical faculty of Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus MC has a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programmes within the (bio)medical sciences: Medicine, Nanobiology (collaboration TU Delft) and Clinical Technology/Technical Medicine (in collaboration with TU Delft and LUMC), the entire spectrum of post-graduate medical training as well as training programs for paramedics. The Erasmus MC Graduate School provides outstanding Research Masters and PhD programmes.

The Institute of Medical Education Research Rotterdam (iMERR) is an institute for research in medical education and is part of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. iMERR is positioned within the Department of Public Health. The Department of Public Health is dedicated to improve population health at local, national, and international level through excellent research and education. Its research is characterised as highly multidisciplinary and is focused on the development and use of innovative methods. Research at iMERR is also multidisciplinary and revolves around two main themes: selection & assessment and clinical reasoning & patient safety. It encompasses the full spectrum, from fundamental research aiming to gain new insights to research whose results translate directly into concrete applications and innovations.

The available PhD position will be embedded in the Clinical Reasoning research group. This group is dedicated to understanding the cognitive processes that underlie diagnostic decisions and develop educational and practical strategies to enhance diagnostic accuracy and improve patient care.