Health education giant teams with Google on a new AI credential

One of the biggest players in healthcare education is teaming up with Google to teach both healthcare students and practicing professionals how to better use AI.

Adtalem Global Education rolled out a new credentials program in partnership with Google Cloud to familiarize doctors and nurses with the ins and outs of the generative AI technology that’s been flooding the industry.

The program will debut next year across all of Adtalem’s for-profit universities, which collectively reach 91,000 students. Coursework will cover “AI applications in clinical practice, ethical considerations, patient safety protocols, and hands-on experience with healthcare-specific AI tools commonly used across hospital systems and clinical practices,” per the announcement. Google’s Gemini model and Vertex agent builder will also be integrated into the curriculum.

In demand. The program aims to fill a gap, according to Michael Betz, chief digital officer at Adtalem and president of Adtalem-owned Walden University. In the past six to nine months, in particular, Adtalem’s hundreds of healthcare partners have been pushing for talent that’s savvy about the various AI tools now in use in clinical practice, Betz told us. There’s been interest from students too, who don’t want to be left behind, he said.

“A big part of our strategy here at Adtalem is to make sure that our graduates are able to not just be fluent with AI, but help in an effective and ethical way to lead that change in healthcare systems,” Betz said.

A recent survey from Menlo Ventures found that over a quarter of healthcare systems have now adopted domain-specific AI tools in an effort to cut administrative burdens and ease labor shortages.

That’s created new demand for AI-fluent doctors and nurses, and Adtalem isn’t the only educator looking to fill it. Many major universities and other educational institutions offer similar certifications and credentialing programs around AI and healthcare.

What’s different. Betz said what sets Adtalem’s program apart is the integration with its existing healthcare degree programs. The backing of Google, which has rolled out many of its own healthcare-focused AI tools, also differentiates the program, according to Betz.

“What we’re able to do is to combine all the great skills and education [students] are going to get as part of those degree [programs] with these specialized certificates in AI that we think is quite unique in higher ed,” Betz said. “We’ve heard from a lot of our industry partners that higher ed in general has been slow to recognize the impact of AI.”

Why Google. Adtalem considered a number of tech partners for the program, according to Betz. The company decided on Google because of its vast resources and its pushes into both healthcare- and education-specific AI. For instance, Betz mentioned Google’s Guided Learning tool, which aims to talk students through lessons without simply providing answers, as a selling point.

Adtalem also sees this partnership with Google as a foundation for a much bigger push into AI and health education. Betz said the goal is to tap Google’s Guided Learning expertise to scale AI tools the company already offers faculty and students. And Adtalem also wants to eventually offer AI certificates across specific disciplines, like mental health.

“We see this, really, as the first step,” Betz said. “We think this step that we took with Google really puts us in a great position to be out front in a way that is valuable to our healthcare providers, but also valuable to our students.”