The Quantum Shift in Biomedical Discovery
6/30/202644 min
When Dr. Lara Jehi began treating epilepsy patients in the 2000s, critical surgical decisions were driven more by clinician intuition and expertise than data. Today, she is a leader of IBM and Cleveland Clinic’s Discovery Accelerator, using advanced AI and quantum computing to transform how researchers analyze data, simulate molecules, accelerate drug discovery, and develop more precise treatments. Malcolm Gladwell talks with Dr. Jehi about how quantum computing is changing biomedical research, and what these breakthroughs could mean for the future of healthcare and life sciences.
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First 90 secondsLara Jehi· Guest0:00
This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.
Malcolm Gladwell· Host0:03
I'm Malcolm Gladwell, and you're listening to Smart Talks with IBM. When Dr. Laura Jaé-Jai began treating epilepsy patients in the early 2000s, she noticed something unsettling. Different surgeons could look at the exact same case and recommend completely different treatments. One surgeon might remove one part of the brain, another a different part, and a third might not operate at all. Dr. Jaé-Jai believed there had to be a better way, one grounded in data. That conviction set her on a path that would lead her to become Chief Research Information Officer at Cleveland Clinic and the executive program lead for the Discovery Accelerator. The Discovery Accelerator is a 10-year partnership between Cleveland Clinic and IBM, where researchers are using AI and quantum computing to make incredible discoveries in healthcare and life sciences. I sat down with Dr. Jaé-Jai to explore what's happening now, what's possible with quantum computing, and where this next era of biomedical discovery is headed. Epilepsy was your kind of specialty within neurology.
Lara Jehi· Guest1:17
Correct. Yes.
Malcolm Gladwell· Host1:18
What led you to that?
Lara Jehi· Guest1:19
I was always fascinated by the brain. You know, it's the, it's the part of our body that leaves still to this day the most to be discovered. So I