WHITTIER, Calif., Oct. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into healthcare, the next generation of healthcare professionals will need more than technological proficiency. They will need stronger critical thinking, clinical judgment, and interpersonal skills to ensure that advances in technology translate into better care for patients, according to Tamara Rozhon, EdD, Provost of Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU).

AI is already helping healthcare professionals analyze medical images, support clinical decisions, and advance research. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration maintains a list of AI-enabled medical devices authorized for marketing, while the World Health Organization identifies applications across clinical care, drug development, and health systems management.

As access to information expands, Rozhon says that educators must place greater emphasis on how students evaluate and apply it. Future healthcare professionals need to assess the evidence, recognize potential bias and error, consider ethical concerns, and determine whether an AI-generated finding makes sense for an individual patient.

“The best healthcare requires not just understanding patient data, but understanding patients: their individual circumstances, preferences, goals, aspirations, and all the factors that may be supporting or hindering their health and well-being,” Rozhon says.

For educators, this means designing learning experiences and assessments that require students to question and defend an answer and make sound decisions in the context of a real person. Clinical experiences must also strengthen listening, empathy, communication, judgment, and connection. These abilities become increasingly important as technology takes on more of the work of generating and synthesizing information.

“Perhaps the greatest challenge for health sciences education, then, is not keeping pace with artificial intelligence. It is developing the human intelligence required to use it well,” says Rozhon.

Read Rozhon’s full perspective: “As AI Gets Smarter, Healthcare Education Must Get More Human.”

About Southern California University of Health Sciences

Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU) is one of the world’s only Integrative, Whole Health universities—teaching students to blend the best of conventional medicine with proven complementary approaches, and to treat the whole person (body, mind, and spirit). Founded in 1911, SCU has been challenging convention and pushing healthcare forward for more than 100 years. Today, the institution offers graduate, undergraduate, and certificate programs in a wide range of disciplines, including Chiropractic, Sports Medicine, Physical & Occupational Therapy, Genetic Counseling, Genetics & Genomics, Medical Science, Physician Assistant, Ayurveda, Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicine, Clinical Psychology, Whole Health Leadership, and beyond. Learn more at scuhs.edu.

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SOURCE Southern California University of Health Sciences