SOCIAL MEDIA
Fourth-year general surgery resident Jeremy Balch, M.D., Ph.D., was among three University of Florida innovators recently honored with an inaugural AI Research Award from the University of Florida Artificial Intelligence and Informatics Research Institute.
The awards recognize AI research “from across a continuum of disciplines and individuals, from emerging scholars to established leaders,” said Alina Zare, Ph.D., a professor and the director of the Artificial Intelligence and Informatics Research Institute.
Balch received the AI Research Dissertation Award for his work developing AI tools that improve surgical safety and efficiency while pursuing his Ph.D. in the College of Medicine Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics. His dissertation applied natural-language processing, computer vision and data modeling to automate tasks such as trauma coding and instrument tracking.
“I touched on four parts of AI and got to dabble in different predictive models, math and language,” said Balch, noting that while AI is still nascent, there are many possibilities for future applications. “AI is only scratching the surface of its utility. What do we want it to do? Take notes? Make things more efficient? You can already see glimmers of how it could radically improve billing and help physicians with some specific aspects of work, such as accurately extracting and summarizing information from electronic health records.”
While all residents in the Department of Surgery are given time to pursue research, Balch was interested in diving deep into the potential applications of AI in surgery.
“I initially wanted to pursue a master’s with the Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics but realized I had a unique opportunity to learn a whole new skill set,” Balch said. “The department had my back the whole time; I had a lot of conversations with my mentors, and they encouraged me to take an extra year to get this done.”
Looking ahead, Balch said he hopes to be heavily involved in conversations around the safe and reliable integration of AI tools, focusing on improving data collection and program implementation.
“Even if you build a model with high accuracy, the data that trained it can become quickly obsolete,” he said. “Vigilance and updating are crucial to maintaining reliability.”
Tyler Loftus, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Surgery and program director of its general surgery residency program, said the department is proud of Balch’s work.
“We’re proud not only because this honor extends beyond the College of Medicine to include the entire University of Florida, but also because the award is indicative of the passion and perseverance with which he’s pursued truth through AI modeling.”
Loftus highlighted the importance of giving residents opportunities to grow during residency.
“Under the leadership of Dr. Gilbert Upchurch, a renowned surgeon-scientist and member of the National Academy of Medicine, our department enthusiastically supports general surgery residents in pursuing advanced degrees during academic development time — nested within five years of clinical training — to empower them to become leaders in academic surgery, achieve personal goals and pursue their callings.”
Source: https://surgery.med.ufl.edu/2025/11/06/jeremy-balch-aiiri-award/