Researcher profile

Benjamin Collins

I am a hospitalist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as an Instructor in Clinical Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health and a postdoctoral research fellow studying the ethics, legal, and social issues of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare with the Department of Biomedical Informatics and the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society. I completed medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, VA and internal medicine residency at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. During residency, I earned an MA degree in Urban Bioethics from Temple University with a thesis on, “A Theory of Sociotechnical Justice in Healthcare.” I then completed a clinical informatics fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University along with an MS degree in biomedical informatics, finishing a capstone project by developing an online training module for clinicians on algorithmic bias in healthcare. I am interested in the use of AI for clinical decision support and committed to pursuing health equity. This commitment includes working to ensure that AI does not contribute to those disparities through qualitative research, community engagement, and improving clinician education and training on the use of AI. I received the 2022 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Academic Forum Best Paper Award for my work on, "Development of an Online Training Module on Algorithmic Bias in Health Care for Clinicians." Medical education, narrative medicine, health-technology ethics, and medical philosophy are also of interest. I volunteer as a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee in AMIA and serve as the 2023-2024 education co-chair for their education, governance, and policy subcommittee.