Page Content

Richard M. Schulze Innovation Awards in Artificial Intelligence

Overview

The Richard M. Schulze Innovation Awards in Artificial Intelligence embody Mayo Clinic's commitment to pioneering healthcare excellence through transformative artificial intelligence (AI) to advance the Bold. Forward. vision.

These awards are made possible through the generous philanthropy of the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation. These awards aim to empower Mayo Clinic professionals who seek to redefine healthcare and education using advanced technologies and entrepreneurial thinking, with a particular emphasis on educational innovation as foundational to clinical excellence.

Purpose and vision

Mayo Clinic's multidisciplinary expertise uniquely positions us to lead through educational excellence. This awards program seeks visionary professionals committed to leveraging AI to transform healthcare education.

The aim is to support innovative projects that use advanced educational methodologies, ensuring Mayo Clinic’s clinicians and experts deliver distinctive, category-of-one patient care. These ethically developed and sustainably implemented educational innovations form the cornerstone for enhanced clinical outcomes, positioning Mayo Clinic as a global leader in healthcare excellence.

Program objectives

Cultivate an elite community of healthcare innovators driving AI-enhanced educational transformation.
Provide strategic and financial support for educational projects aligning with Mayo Clinic’s vision for sustained clinical excellence.
Foster leadership, creativity, and interdisciplinary collaboration within educational, research, and clinical domains.

2025 Richard M. Schulze Scholars in Artificial Intelligence

Giselle Coelho, M.D., Ph.D. and W. David Freeman, M.D.

AI-Surgical Training & Mixed Reality Avatar Laboratory (ASTRAL)

Deploying 5D motion capture and AI-powered simulation to immortalize neurosurgical expertise. The goal is to encapsulate fleeting moments of surgical mastery into perpetual teaching tools that deliver Mayo Clinic-caliber training to surgeons worldwide, regardless of geography or resources.

Christopher L. Camp, M.D.

Mayo Clinic Human Optimization Project: Generative AI and Human Avatar

Harnessing retrieval-augmented AI to synthesize some 450+ wellness topics into personalized coaching pathways. The project aims to leverage machine learning to adapt to individual responses, creating a virtual mentor that evolves with each learner's unique journey toward peak performance.

Sandhya Pruthi, M.D.

AI Translation of Mayo Clinic Patient Education to Expand Global Reach

Leveraging natural language processing to preserve medical accuracy across linguistic boundaries. The objective is to ensure that AI translation maintains the clinical precision and empathetic tone that makes Mayo Clinic's educational content trusted worldwide.

Misk Al Zahidy, M.S.

Benchmarking & Refinement of SBME Avatars with Digital-Twin Corpus

Creating data-driven emotion vectors from annotated patient encounters to enhance avatar fidelity. The project will establish measurable standards for how AI-generated faces and voices must convey the subtle emotional cues essential to medical communication training.

Antonio Jorge Forte, M.D., Ph.D.

SafeGuardED: A RAG-Based AI Assistant for Trusted Resident Training

Implementing retrieval-augmented generation with curated medical knowledge bases, which ensures every AI response links to verified sources. This will transform the current free-for-all of chatbot use in residency into accountable, traceable learning.

Distinction of being a Richard M. Schulze Scholar in Artificial Intelligence

Award recipients are recognized with the honor of being named a Richard M. Schulze Scholar in Artificial Intelligence for the duration of their award. This represents more than an accolade — it signifies a role as a thought leader in healthcare innovation with a strong educational focus.

Scholars receive mentorship and strategic guidance, and inclusion in a community fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. They gain recognition and visibility across Mayo Clinic and global networks, positioning them at the forefront of educational transformation and AI integration in healthcare.

This distinction provides unparalleled opportunities to drive impactful educational methodologies, uphold ethical AI practices, and influence the global healthcare community through sustained clinical excellence.