VIDEO | CSL Behring Global Head, AI and Rapid Data Lab: We Bring in Younger People

(US and Canada) John Thompson, CSL Behring’s Global Head, AI, and Rapid Data Lab, speaks with Salema Rice, Global Managing Director, Applied Intelligence, Accenture (and CDO Magazine Editorial Board Member), about the challenges facing analytics leaders, the need for including younger minds on teams, and AI’s real-world application.

Thompson says that the biggest challenge for him as an analytics leader is getting the message across and understood by C-level executives. This is mainly because many C-suite executives did not start their careers with computers, analytics, or data, he adds.

He stresses that organizations must do whatever it takes to become entirely data-driven. Thompson reveals that CSL Behring has been working with multiple educational institutions to bring in interns as young as first-year students and other undergraduates to work with them on capstone projects, co-op projects, and internships.

According to Thompson, CSL Behring puts in a lot of effort to bring in younger people. He has been working with the Mark Cuban Foundation on AI boot camps, and is reaching out to participants as young as high school students. He hopes to get into elementary schools to get kids to understand the value of data, AI, and STEM.

Thompson goes on to share examples of AI use cases where technology helps make the world a better place. He points toward an application developed while he was at Dell with the University of Iowa Hospitals. The team built an AI environment that monitored patients in the operating room. It gave surgeons feedback about the heat, humidity, procedure, patient, and vitals. And, it predicted if a patient had a higher probability of developing post-surgical sepsis. Over the three years of using the system, it reduced the incidence of sepsis by 74%, saving many lives.