The clinic constructed a plan in which its seven study coordinators for the breast cancer program would spend one hour a day conducting screenings one day prior to each individual patient’s clinical visit, and construct a list of possible trials to provide to clinicians for each one.

Screenings were then able to take place during working hours with the system up and running once more by July 2016, ushering in the 80 percent increase over the next 11 months.


Enrollment of breast cancer patients in phase I clinical trials also rose.

Haddad says the system is only the beginning of cognitive influence in health care, but requires cooperation among many players in order to be successful.

“When I know better, my patients do better. That is what our goal is here. I think that cognitive represents new solutions, platforms for knowledge management and requires multi-disciplinary teams for successful health. It requires expert training and provider utilization in order to establish adoption and trust,” she said.

The system is trained to support clinical trials for breast, lung and gastrointestinal cancers.

IBM and Mayo are currently carrying out training on trials for additional cancers with plans to extend training and use of the system in other areas of cancer care, including surgery, radiation and supportive care.

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