Ethics in AI
Who We Are
A self-assembled group of voluntary participants interested in AI-related research, clinical applications, policies, initiatives, and issues at UT Southwestern Medical Center. We are comprised of UTSW faculty, clinicians, trainees, staff, and students.
Goals
- Be a liaison between various AI governance bodies including but not limited to AI in Healthcare Oversight Committee, Institutional Review Boards, executive leadership, various Offices, and departments at UTSW.
- Create resources and curate events to bridge gaps in the realm of ethics in AI at UTSW.
- Assist UTSW leadership with ethical AI governance as needed.
What We Do
- Facilitate open-ended discussions about the ethics of AI design, inherent biases, and downstream effects at UTSW and from UTSW to stakeholders like patients or employees.
- Facilitate knowledge dissemination from institutional governance, leadership, and regulatory entities to UTSW employees, students, trainees, clinicians, and researchers.
- Facilitate programmatic inclusion of ethics in AI in graduate and medical education.
- Host periodic events to educate UTSW personnel about AI and its ethical implications in different contexts.
Leadership
Darlene King, M.D. (darlene.king@utsouthwestern.edu)
Prapti Mody, Ph.D. (prapti.mody@utsouthwestern.edu)
Ethics in AI symposium
Date: October 8, 2025, Time: 8:30 AM to 1 PM, Location: Zoom
Total attendees: 130, total registrants: 248
Schedule of talks:
| TIME | EVENT | SPEAKERS/ MODERATORS |
| 9 a.m. | Transformative potential of AI and associated risks | Eric Peterson |
| Defining AI | Darlene King | |
| Ethical Contexts | Elizabeth Heitman | |
| 9:25 a.m. | Panel discussion: Current AI landscape and ethical quandaries via a case study |
David Markus |
| 10:20 a.m. | Panel wrap-up and key takeaways | Lauren Sankary |
| 10:30 a.m. | Ethical considerations with UTSW Enterprise tools | Brian Evans Tammye Garrett |
| 10:45 a.m. | Ethical implications for AI and data | Hari Vennelakanti Sourav Patnaik |
| 11 a.m. | Ethical ramifications of AI-generated imagery and communications | Will Bryant Alex Lyda |
| 11:25 a.m. | Ethical context for AI tools in clinical research | Michael DOhopolski Kristen Matlock |
| 11:40 a.m. | Ethical considerations of AI in medical education | Andrew Jamieson |
| 11:55 a.m. | AI tools and research misconduct | Sarah Comerford |
| 12:30 p.m. | Open discussion: guiding principles for applications of AI within Health Systems | Darlene King Prapti Mody |
The Continuing Education Education folks at UTSW are actively working on putting the symspoium talks as online learning on ETHOS for 3 CME credits.
Following this inaugural successful event, the Ethics in AI group is thrilled to curate and offer more events in 2026!
- February 2026: Ethics in AI - Scientific Writing nanocourse
Dates: February 19 & 20, 2026
Time: 2 to 4 PM both days
Location: ND11.218This two-day nanocourse is a small workshop designed on the topic of AI detection and use in scientific writing and it's ethical implications. During this workshop, we will introduce AI basics, ethical best practices, and provide examples of the AI tools available for detecting use of AI in scientific writing as well as using AI responsibly for the same. This is a discussion-heavy workshop with case studies. During the registration, we will ask each participant to bring cases of interest as well as their own scientific writing material (grant/ manuscript, etc.) to discuss.
- Stay tuned for other events and offerings!
History
In 2023, the following members met for the first time to discuss the topic and exchange their views: Robert Toto, M.D., Gaudenz Danuser, Ph.D., Elizabeth Heitman, Ph.D., Thomas Dalton, Ph.D., Daniel Scott, M.D., Satwik Rajaram, Ph.D., Prapti Mody, Ph.D.
In May 2024, these core members invited other interested parties and hosted a discussion forum on ethics in AI.
The group reconvened in August with a smaller attendance and brainstormed meeting frequency, discussion topics, and logistics.
Dr. Darlene King took over leadership for this group in 2025 along with Dr. Prapti Mody.
In February 2025, we discussed UTSW’s AI oversight committee & AI Taskforce groups. We also heard from Dr. Andrew Jamieson & Dr. Elizabeth Heitman about their experiences of reviewing research proposals involving AI as members of the IRB (Institutional Review Board).
A bimonthly series of meetings has been established for the remainder of 2025.
Latest update: the group will reconfigure membership tiers of Core Members and Honorary Members starting February 2026.
Core Members are expected to attend one hour long monthly meetings and actively contribute to all action items and brainstorming.
Honorary Members are maintained on our listserv and act as liaisons to exchange opinions and recommendations from the group to rest of UTSW and vice versa.