$1 Million Gift Will Advance Virtual Patient Platform to Train Future Physicians at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine is proud to announce a $1 million commitment from COTU and its co-founders — Zachary Smith, chief executive officer, and Michael Crisafulli, chief operating officer, to launch a cutting-edge virtual patient platform powered by machine learning (ML) and mixed reality (MR). This visionary gift will fund the development of an innovative dual-platform curriculum designed to prepare the next generation of physicians for leadership in data-driven and technology-enabled health care systems.

“Hackensack Meridian Health is committed to embracing AI and other technology to help us build the health system of the future,’’ said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health. “Through these groundbreaking advances, we will elevate the delivery of care, ensuring that every patient receives the best possible experience and that every one of our clinicians, nurses and other team members are empowered to provide it.”

“Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine is committed to redefining medical education by embracing new technologies, fostering equity and prioritizing patient-centered care, and the health care landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, especially as it relates to machine learning and technology,” said Jeffrey Boscamp, M.D., president and dean, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. “Thanks to this most generous gift from Zachary Smith, our students will not only study medicine, but they will help shape the future of it and become even better-prepared physicians who are truly equipped to improve patient outcomes and lead with compassion and technological fluency.”

Building on the success of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine’s Health Care Strategy elective— created by Mohammed Quadri, M.D., MBA, vice president of Strategy for Academics, Research & Innovation at Hackensack Meridian Health— this new ML-driven platform will further enhance students’ hands-on learning. In collaboration with Sameer Sethi, senior vice president, chief AI and insights officer at Hackensack Meridian Health, Dr. Quadri will lead the design of advanced virtual patient experiences, ensuring future physicians gain critical skills in data-driven care and technology integration.

The dual-platform initiative includes:

• ML-Powered Virtual Patients: Enhanced virtual patient platforms will incorporate advanced language models, personalized learning paths and integration with Hackensack Meridian Health’s proprietary ML tools. Students will learn realistic clinical decision-making through dynamic, branching case scenarios, advanced prompt engineering to guide ML tools, ethical use of ML with focused training on bias identification and mitigation and real world applications using Hackensack Meridian Health’s ML integration framework.
• Mixed Reality Holographic Module: Students will engage with 3D anatomy and pathology, enabling immersive surgical simulation with haptic feedback, direct links between virtual patients and holographic visualization for more cohesive learning and improved spatial reasoning and procedural competency.

This platform will also transform medical education for the students by bridging theory and practice through immersive, experiential learning, allowing for enhanced clinical and diagnostic proficiency and ethical and confident use of ML in clinical settings.

“Philanthropic support is critical to help shape the future of medicine, and this generous investment from Zachary Smith is about empowering students to tackle the future of health care, ML and technology head-on,” said Joyce P. Hendricks, president and chief development officer, Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation. “We are so grateful for Zachary’s gift and know it will make such a vital impact in the medical education our students at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine receive.”

"As a company that wants to build the future in machine learning, we always want to move the needle forward and ensure that every person we influence does as well,” said Zachary Smith.

A portion of this gift will also support strategic market research and pilot testing to ensure optimal platform selection, seamless curriculum integration and refinement before full-scale implementation.

To make a gift in support of students at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, visit GiveHMH.org/SOM or contact Sheila Wolfinger, executive director, at sheila.wolfinger@hmhn.org.