Empowering primary care workers in underserved communities

The BMJ Knowledge Centre produces a range of digital resources in clinical decision support and medical education (including BMJ Best Practice). Over the past few years, we have seen an increasing interest in how our digital resources can be used in the context of machine learning and artificial intelligence. We are keen to ensure that our resources play a part in these innovations.

However, we are equally keen to ensure that what we do is ethical and safe. This is especially so in the area of active clinical decision support. We have gathered a team of external experts who we can call upon to guide us.

Members of the expert committee on ethics and artificial intelligence advise us on issues such as avoiding harm, patient autonomy, transparency and explicability, human agency and oversight, safety, security, legality, confidentiality, or data governance. The committee is advisory – the BMJ Knowledge Centre is responsible for the decisions that it makes.

The committee has a number of roles

1. Clarifying, reviewing, and developing policies relating to artificial intelligence, clinical decision support, and digital health

2. Advising the BMJ Knowledge Centre team on ethical questions that might arise during existing or new lines of work.

3. Advising the BMJ Knowledge Centre team on new partnerships that it might develop with organisations that are creating artificial intelligence software

4. Taking part in roundtables on important issues or controversies related to artificial intelligence in healthcare

How the committee works

Members of the BMJ Knowledge Centre ethics committee correspond and meet on an as-needed basis when the BMJ Knowledge Centre needs advice. Individuals are contacted on the basis of their individual expertise in areas such as avoiding harm, patient autonomy, transparency and explicability, human agency and oversight, safety, security, legality, confidentiality, or data governance. The group will also meet – but no more than once per year. Meetings take place at the BMJ office in London, with remote participation possible.

BMJ Knowledge Centre Ethics Committee

Louise Crowe, Director of BMJ Knowledge (Chair)
Yvonne Ridge, Head of Product, BMJ Knowledge Centre
Chris Wroe, Health Informatician, BMJ
Kieran Walsh, Clinical Director, BMJ
Helen MacDonald, Research integrity editor, The BMJ
Luisa Dillner, Head of BMJ Research and Development
Timothy Morgan, Data Protection Compliance Manager, BMJ (to be involved as expertise required)
Clare Welling, Lawyer, BMJ (to be involved as expertise required)

Dipak Kalra, President, The European Institute for Innovation through Health Data; Professor of Health Informatics, UCL; Visiting Professor, University of Gent
Dr. Anirudh Kumar, Specialty Doctor in Acute Medicine, Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Jools E Symons, Patient and Public Involvement Manager, Communication Skills Lead, Lived Experience Network Lead, University of Leeds
Nazrul Islam, Research Editor, The BMJ
Sara Payne, Sara Payne, Health Regulation and Ethics
Ellis Parry, Director, Data Privacy Compliance Solutions Ltd
Malcolm Duncan, Healthcare Information Technology Consultant, BMJ
Observers: Up to two members of the BMJ Knowledge Centre may join the meetings as observers