Queen’s University law dean Colleen Flood is a co-lead on the project
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research have invested $355,724 in a health care-focused global artificial intelligence initiative that is being co-led by Queen’s University law dean Colleen Flood.
The four-year project, entitled “Optimizing Medical Device Regulation of Artificial Intelligence,” will examine how regulating medical devices can bolster the safe and effective use of AI in health care. It will concentrate on how Canada’s medical device framework can adapt to quickly progressing technologies like machine learning and generative AI; moreover, it will analyze the regulatory frameworks in the US, UK, the European Union, Australia, Brazil, and Nigeria, comparing them with Canada’s framework.
The initiative aims to look into other jurisdictions’ regulatory approaches that respond to changing AI systems, vary in performance in accordance with clinical settings, and introduce new forms of risk, according to a Queen’s University press release. The project team will collaborate with researchers, regulators, patient groups, Indigenous communities, and health professional organizations worldwide to draft model laws and regulatory tools that back responsible innovation while protecting patients.
The team will create a public base of online evidence monitoring safety issues and regulatory responses during and beyond the project. The co-leads on the initiative include Université de Montréal professor Catherine Régis, University of Toronto professor Anna Goldenberg, University of Ottawa professor Teresa Scassa, and The Hospital for Sick Children’s Dr. Devin Singh.
“The goal is to position Canada not only as a global leader in health-AI innovation, but also in the regulatory approaches that make such innovation safe, trustworthy, and scalable. Innovation and regulation are interdependent — and Canada’s success depends on advancing both together,” Flood said in a statement.
She said health AI could “radically” bolster access to care, improve quality, and increase the efficiency and equitability of health systems.
“Ensuring patient safety, public trust, and sustained innovation requires regulatory approaches that can adapt alongside technological change,” Flood said in a statement.
Flood is the policy and team lead of the Machine M.D. research initiative, which is also funded by CIHR. In 2024, she described Canada’s conception of universal healthcare as “unique.”
