Amber Simpson, Amii Fellow and Canada CIFAR AI Chair, has been admitted to the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists by the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) for her work in developing next-generation AI for human health.
The college was established in 2014 to recognize mid-career Canadian researchers and artists for “remarkable contributions in the humanities, arts and sciences, and Canadian public life.”
"I could not have dreamed of being elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists,” Simpson says.
“I have built my career around bringing people and disciplines together to tackle difficult problems in health, and this recognition is particularly meaningful because it celebrates both scholarship and the impact it can have. I share this honour with the remarkable trainees, colleagues, collaborators, and patients who make this work possible."
"One in four Canadians will die of cancer. With AI, we have the opportunity to improve those odds by detecting cancer earlier, choosing better treatments and learning from every patient to improve care for the next."
Amber Simpson
Amii Fellow and Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Simpson is a Professor in the Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging at the University of Alberta, and Founding Director of the Dianne and Irving Kipnes Health Research Institute. Prior to her association with Amii, she was a Canada Research Chair at Queen’s University.
Her research focuses on developing artificial intelligence to interpret medical imaging, particularly to detect biomarkers that can guide cancer treatment. Simpson’s work in medical imaging seeks to give patients and physicians better information, leading to better clinical decision-making and better treatment outcomes.
"One in four Canadians will die of cancer. With AI, we have the opportunity to improve those odds by detecting cancer earlier, choosing better treatments and learning from every patient to improve care for the next," she says.
Artificial intelligence offers great promise in our understanding of cancer and our ability to detect it early, Simpson told Amii’s Approximately Correct podcast earlier this month. Her research has shown that AI methods can detect cancer biomarkers in images of organs like the liver that were previously undetectable, alerting physicians even before tumours form.
She adds that AI is also vital for reducing the heavy workload on radiologists and physicians around the world, leading to more efficient cancer screening and more time spent with patients.
Simpson will be inducted at a ceremony in November. She joins two other Amii researchers previously elected to the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists — Canada CIFAR AI Chair Sandra Zilles was elected in 2016, while Amii Fellow and Canada CIFAR AI Chair Martha White joined the college in 2024.