I Literacy Improvement at a Cancer Center: ‘AI:A-to-Z’ Course Design, Delivery, and Impact Assessment
Workforce AI literacy is critical for healthcare organizations from an operational and strategic lens, to effectively benefit from emerging AI tools and to provide highest quality care to their patients. We designed and delivered an `AI: A-to-Z’ course over four two-hour sessions at a leading cancer center and assessed its impact on AI literacy of the participants.
Participants completed a pre- and post-course survey. A self-generated identifier enabled matched cohort analyses. Eight self-assessed AI proficiency questions (on a seven-step Likert scale) and six multiple choice knowledge-test questions were administered. Participants were also asked to rate their confidence as effective partners in helping implement organizational AI strategy.
Even with a small cohort size, statistical analysis using Mann Whitney and Wilcoxon tests indicate significantly improvement in AI literacy, with $p<0.05$ for self-assessed AI proficiency questions. The average confidence of participants to be effective partners in implementing AI strategy moved over two points on a seven-point Likert scale from pre-course 2.4 to 4.7 post-course.
The ‘AI: A-to-Z’ course received highly positive free-text feedback and multiple attendees report that they continue to watch recordings of the course. All participants believe the course may benefit other organizations, with a 6 or 7 response out of 7. A multi-center partnership will be needed to further assess the effectiveness of this course, and explore better methods to objectively test AI literacy beyond multiple choice questions.
About the speaker
Sonali Tamhankar
Senior Clinical Data Scientist at Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Sonali Tamhankar, PhD, is a senior clinical data scientist and award‑winning educator working at the intersection of statistical AI, healthcare, and workforce development. She has been recognized as a leader in her field by Influential Women and was honored as a Leader in AI and Data Science by Blockchain Magazine, as well as an Outstanding Woman in AI and ML by Data Science Salon. Sonali was awarded an AIM-AHEAD Leadership Fellowship through an NIH-funded national consortium advancing AI and health equity. She has served on nonprofit boards and as a Fellow at Transform VC, a venture capital firm focused on generating outlier returns alongside outlier social impact. Before transitioning into healthcare over a decade ago, Sonali was a tenure-track professor. She holds a PhD in Physics and a master’s degree in Mathematics.