NVIDIA GTC: AI Innovation Driving Change in Healthcare and Drug Discovery

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising healthcare, with industry leaders highlighting its growing impact at a recent GTC event.

Panellists from various fields discussed how AI is improving mental health care, drug development, and veterinary support.

Dr Chelsea Sumner, Nvidia's healthcare startups lead, moderated the discussion and introduced the key themes of the panel: create, cure, and care. Each expert then shared personal insights into how AI is reshaping healthcare innovation.

Alessandro, founder and CEO of Therapy Side, explained how his AI-driven mental health platform improves therapy outcomes. "I would create an AI-powered ecosystem where therapists can access both therapy session information and real-world data like wearables or mood trackers," he said. He added that technology is no longer the primary barrier — psychological resistance is now the main hurdle.

Connie De Cruz, CEO and founder of Superluminal Medicines, highlighted the challenge of fragmented data in drug discovery.

"We're faced with an extraordinary amount of siloed information that's not shared," he said. De Cruz advocated for sharing non-competitive, preclinical data to improve AI models, adding, "What we need is a particular compound structure data type that we can build models on."

Davide, Chief Technology Officer for Item, described the impact of their AI tool, Laca, which aids veterinarians in reducing stress and improving patient care. "Veterinarians are under significant pressure and have a higher probability of suicide," he explained. "Laca supports them by offering clinical advice, confirming their conclusions, and even guiding how to communicate with pet owners."

Dr Shai Shen-Orr, systems biologist and co-founder of Cyto Reason, emphasised the human factor as a key barrier to progress in healthcare AI.

"The limiting factor is actually much more on the human side," he said. "Overcoming organisational resistance and ensuring companies see the value of AI integration will determine who leads in healthcare innovation."

The panel also explored the use of generative AI in healthcare. De Cruz detailed how Superluminal uses AI to model dynamic protein structures and accelerate drug discovery. "What used to take us three months now takes just 24 hours," he said.

Shin highlighted how AI is helping Cyto Reason tackle inefficiencies in drug development.

"The amount of data in biology is exploding, yet insight is not increasing at the same pace," he said. "We've implemented AI systems that provide 30 times greater scalability when processing complex biological data."

The conversation also touched on mental health innovation. Alessandro described how Therapy Side's AI tool, Maya, streamlines therapists' administrative tasks and improves patient care.

"Therapists using our platform save up to 20 minutes per session," he said. "This enables them to expand their patient portfolio by up to 40%."

The discussion concluded with a focus on the importance of collaboration.

Davide explained how partnerships with universities and stakeholders have been crucial to Item's progress. "We engaged with over 100 clinics and hospitals during development," he said. "Feedback helped us refine our platform to better serve veterinarians."

Sumner wrapped up the session by encouraging businesses to embrace AI-driven healthcare solutions. "If we want to create, innovation has to be scalable," she said. "If we want to cure, we need data — and that data must be shared. Ultimately, collaboration is how we show we care."

"It's about ensuring that the human element remains central to innovation," she concluded.