In a world of increasingly complex cancer care, how can oncologists ensure they have the most accurate, up-to-date information at the exact moment of need? For years, life-saving clinical guidelines have been buried in dense, hard-to-search PDF documents, creating a significant barrier to evidence-based decision-making. This episode dives into a groundbreaking solution that uses AI for oncology guidelines to solve this existential problem. We're joined by Dr. Clifford Hudis, CEO of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and Aashima Gupta, Global Director of Healthcare at Google Cloud, to discuss their revolutionary partnership.

They reveal the inside story behind the ASCO Guidelines Assistant, a new tool designed to provide instant, reliable answers to complex clinical questions. Discover how this powerful tool is not just a search engine, but a sophisticated system built on the principles of trustworthy AI in medicine. This is a deep dive into how technology can transform patient care by empowering clinicians and making critical knowledge more accessible than ever before.

In this detailed discussion, Dr. Hudis and Aashima Gupta explain the core challenges that led to the ASCO and Google Cloud collaboration. For busy clinicians, the process of finding the right information within hundreds of pages of guidelines was becoming an unwieldy and time-consuming task. The episode explores how the ASCO Guidelines Assistant, powered by Google's Gemini model, addresses this by improving clinician workflow with AI. We unpack the unique technical framework behind the tool, including the use of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to ensure every answer is based only on ASCO's vetted guidelines and includes direct citations to the source material. This commitment to accuracy and transparency is crucial for building trust and ensuring safe application in a clinical setting.

The conversation also highlights the rigorous "expert in the loop" process, where a panel of oncologists continuously evaluated and refined the AI's responses to ensure clinical relevance and safety. Dr. Hudis emphasizes a key feature: the tool's built-in "humility," meaning it will explicitly state when it doesn't have an answer within the guidelines, a deliberate choice to prevent the "hallucinations" common in other generative AI models. Looking to the future, the discussion expands to cover how AI will reshape all of healthcare, from unlocking new frontiers in science with initiatives like AlphaFold to restoring the doctor-patient relationship by automating documentation. As Aashima Gupta notes, the era of AI is here, and "doctors who use AI will replace doctors who don't use AI."

About Our Guests:
Dr. Clifford Hudis is the CEO of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world's leading professional organization for physicians and oncology professionals caring for people with cancer. He shares the story of why ASCO saw an existential need to innovate beyond traditional PDF guidelines and partner with a tech leader to better serve its members and their patients.

Aashima Gupta is the Global Director of Healthcare at Google Cloud. She provides insight into the technical architecture that makes the ASCO Guidelines Assistant a reliable and trustworthy tool, explaining how the collaboration exemplifies Google's vision for applying AI to solve critical challenges in medicine and improve patient outcomes.

Timestamps / Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction: The Central Role of ASCO in Oncology
(05:45) The Problem: Why Accessing Cancer Treatment Guidelines is So Difficult
(10:03) Inside the ASCO and Google Cloud Collaboration
(13:07) The Technology Behind the ASCO Guidelines Assistant
(16:59) Expert in the Loop: The Rigorous Process of Building Trustworthy AI
(21:13) Why "Humility" is a Critical Feature of This Medical AI
(23:42) Early Reception and How the Tool is Driving Continuous Improvement
(27:24) The Future: How AI Will Reshape Healthcare (Access, Affordability & Science)
(35:44) Advice for the Next Generation of Physicians Embracing AI
(39:09) "Doctors Who Use AI Will Replace Doctors Who Don't"