TTUHSC’s Castro-Quirino Selected to Serve on CPRIT’s New AI Advisory Committee
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has appointed Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center’s (TTUHSC) Sonya Castro-Quirino, D.Bioethics, MBA, senior vice president, chief AI transformation officer and chief risk and compliance officer, to serve on a new 11-member advisory panel to help guide the state’s responsible use of artificial intelligence in biomedical research and grant proposal processes.
Castro-Quirino is a founding member of CPRIT’s Advisory Committee on AI (ACAI), which met for the first time this month.
CPRIT is a $6 billion state initiative, representing the largest state cancer research investment in U.S. history. According to CPRIT’s Oversight Committee, its ACAI was created to address the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, including its potential to accelerate cancer research and the importance of responsible, cautious implementation.
Castro-Quirino’s experience includes establishing TTUHSC’s AI governance infrastructure and the institution’s AI Steering Committee, as well as the following subcommittees: Teaching and Learning; Research and Innovations; Clinical and Health; and Governance and Trust.
As TTUHSC’s chief risk and compliance officer, Castro-Quirino brings a compliance and risk management lens to CPRIT’s mandate that AI use in cancer research remain responsible and ethical, including a governance framework benchmarked against peer academic medical centers and standards such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology AI Risk Management Framework.
“Through this committee, we have an opportunity to make sure the needs of rural and West Texas communities are represented as the state decides how AI shapes the future of cancer research,” Castro-Quirino said.
Castro-Quirino will join leaders from other institutions, including Rice University, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas A&M University and The University of Texas Medical Branch.