PITTCARE

Generating, translating, and disseminating research on Intelligence-Technology in primary care — comprehensive, accessible, relationship-centered, and ethically accountable, across all ages, backgrounds, and conditions.

Department of Family Medicine · School of Medicine · University of Pittsburgh

Vision

Technology that strengthens the exam room — not one that replaces it

A future in which Intelligence-Technology strengthens, rather than supplants, the relationship between primary care physicians and the patients, families, and communities they serve.

The name — every letter is a founding principle

P · Primary CareAnchored in Family Medicine — the front-line home for people across all ages.
I · Intelligence-TechnologyMachine learning, decision support, and data systems — our general term, also known as AI or Super Intelligence. Our terms →
T · TranslationalResearch built with patients and clinicians, not just for them.
T · TransformationMeasurable change in how care is delivered.
C · ComprehensiveThe full scope of a person's health — conditions, life stages, biopsychosocial context.
A · AccessibleA seat at the table: patients help shape how Intelligence-Tech is designed and deployed.
R · Relationship-CenteredThe physician-patient bond, and the center's bond with the public we tend each year.
E · EthicalWHO-aligned autonomy, transparency, accountability, and equity — as standing practice.

Flagship program

Voice of the People Survey

An annual, structured-interview study of patients, families, and physicians — PITTCARE's standing commitment to listen before acting. Published as an open-access report each year and shared through clinical, academic, and community channels.

AnnualStructured interview cycle
3Team leads: Bridges · Shisler · Bear
OpenAccess publication model
Meet the VoP team →

Core focus areas

Research that serves people first

⚕

Clinical Decision Support

Applying Intelligence-Technology at the point of care for diagnosis, prevention, and chronic disease — augmenting judgment, not replacing it.

◎

Whole-Person & Behavioral Health

Bringing mental health, social context, and patient values into how algorithms recommend. Builds on the department's own 4 Pillars™ program.

★

Ethics of Intelligence-Technology

WHO-aligned oversight of how Intelligence-Technology is designed and deployed. The Voice of the People Survey is this pillar's flagship program.

Ethics of Intelligence-Technology

Ethical review as a standing practice

Grounded in the WHO's global guidance on the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health — six principles carried into every project and applied across Intelligence-Technology, not checked once at launch.

AutonomyPatients and clinicians keep control over medical decisions.
Well-being & SafetyTools meet regulatory standards; avoidable harm is prevented.
TransparencyHow a tool reasons is explainable to the people who rely on it.
AccountabilityResponsibility for outcomes rests with named people.
EquityPerformance is monitored for bias across populations.
SustainabilitySystems stay responsive as evidence and technology evolve.

This pillar is grounded in a formal partnership with Pitt's Institute for Bioethics, led by inaugural director Douglas B. White, MD, MAS, and is made visible each year through the Voice of the People Survey above.

Key partners

Built on active relationships, not aspirational ones

SV
Dept. of Biomedical Informatics
Shyam Visweswaran, MD, PhD · CCAI Director

Founding partnership since 2022; also directs the Center for Clinical Artificial Intelligence (CCAI), which develops and validates AI-powered decision support.

HR
CPACE
Hooman Rashidi, MD · Executive Director

Builds and validates AI across pathology and lab medicine. Complementary to PITTCARE, which validates only in the primary care setting.

DW
Institute for Bioethics
Douglas B. White, MD, MAS · Director

Formal bioethics partner grounding PITTCARE's Ethics pillar in research, education, and clinical practice.

See the full team & advisory board →