Pakistan-born surgeon named first chief AI officer at Carle Illinois
Engineering-based US medical school taps former Aga Khan University dean to embed artificial intelligence across education, research and care
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (MNTV) — Pakistani-born surgeon-scientist Adil Haider has been appointed the inaugural chief artificial intelligence officer at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the institution said this week.
Carle Illinois, jointly operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Carle Health, is widely described as the world’s first engineering-based medical school, with a curriculum that integrates medicine, engineering and data science.
The newly created role reflects a broader push by academic medical centers to formally embed artificial intelligence into medical education, research and clinical practice.
“By establishing the role of chief AI officer, Carle Illinois is signaling that artificial intelligence is not peripheral, but foundational to the future of medicine,” Dean Mark Cohen said in a statement.
Haider will lead the strategic vision and responsible deployment of AI across the college, focusing on AI-enabled education, translational research and clinical innovation.
He will also serve as medical director for research informatics at Carle Foundation Hospital, aligning AI-driven research with clinical practice across the Carle Health system.
“I am honored and excited to join Carle Illinois College of Medicine at such a pivotal moment,” Haider said, calling the institution uniquely designed to bring engineering, medicine and data science together.
“The opportunity is not simply to adopt AI, but to define how it should be built, governed and deployed to improve human health.”
Haider joins Carle Illinois after more than six years as dean of the Aga Khan University Medical College in Pakistan, where the institution expanded research funding, entered global rankings and secured multiple international accreditations.
He has previously held senior academic and clinical leadership roles in the United States, including at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins University, where he worked as a trauma surgeon and outcomes researcher.
Haider has also founded two health technology companies.
Doctella was later acquired by Masimo, while Boston Health AI operates in the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.
At the University of Illinois, he will also serve as a visiting professor in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, further linking medical training with advanced computing and data science.
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