Eli Lilly Appoints First Ever Chief AI Officer

Eli Lilly is embracing the potential of AI, appointing its first ever chief AI officer to spearhead innovation.

Thomas Fuchs, set to assume the newly created role on October 21, will be tasked with providing vision, strategic direction and overall leadership of AI initiatives across Lilly.

These include drug discovery, clinical trials, manufacturing, commercial activities and internal functions. He will also identify, build and manage AI and machine learning solutions to help the company “provide medicines to patients around the world”.

Fuchs joins the pharma giant from Mount Sinai, where he served as the dean and inaugural department chair for AI and human health and director of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health. He also held the role of professor for AI and computational pathology at the Icahn School of Medicine.

He has also held positions at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology.

“In this new era of technology, the potential for artificial intelligence and machine learning to revolutionize health care is immense,” said Diogo Rau, Eli Lilly executive vice president and chief information and digital officer.

“Dr. Fuchs will contribute to Lilly’s breakthroughs in AI, aiding in the discovery and development of new medicines while enhancing patient outcomes. We are committed to leveraging these cutting-edge technologies to drive innovation and make a meaningful impact on lives around the world.”

The news comes as three scientists were recently awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking work on AI models, highlighting the rapid advancements in the field and its impact on solving complex scientific problems, such as protein folding.

“Lilly is at the forefront of health care innovation, and I’m tremendously excited to join this talented team at such a pivotal time in technological advancement,” Fuchs added.

“Throughout my career, I have focused on leveraging technology to help patients and enhance human health. Joining Lilly will allow me to expand this mission worldwide on an amazing scale. Building AI to benefit millions of patients is profoundly humbling.”