Charlotte Blease

Associate Professor (Docent) at Uppsala University | Researcher at Harvard Medical School’s Digital Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Dr. Charlotte Blease is an internationally recognized expert in health informatics, with a unique background in philosophy. She has authored over 160 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the future of healthcare, AI, and medical ethics. Currently, she serves as an Associate Professor (Docent) at Uppsala University in Sweden and a Researcher at Harvard Medical School’s Digital Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

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With two decades of interdisciplinary research spanning philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, and medical humanities, Charlotte has held academic positions across the UK, Ireland, and Germany. She spent five years at Harvard Medical School—first as a Fulbright Scholar, then a Research Fellow, and later as a Keane Scholar.

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A passionate advocate for patient-centered care and public understanding of healthcare, Charlotte was named a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker in 2012. Her insights on AI, medicine, and ethics have been featured in Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, El País, Aeon, The Sydney Morning Herald, Deutsche Welle, Haaretz, The Irish Times, The Independent, BBC, Sky News, STAT, and more. Her work in philosophy outreach has even been recognized by the President of Ireland. In 2016, she was appointed a Patron of SAPERE, the UK’s largest charity for teaching philosophy to children, alongside Stephen Fry and Lord Neuberger.

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Charlotte’s research challenges how we think about the intersection of AI, healthcare, and human expertise. She speaks on the ethical and clinical implications of AI in medicine, the future of healthcare documentation, and how large language models are reshaping doctor-patient interactions.

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Her book Dr Bot: Why human doctors fail us and how AI can save lives will be published with Yale University Press in 2025.

Topics

AI in Healthcare: Revolution, Risk, and Responsibility

AI is rapidly reshaping healthcare, challenging clinical expertise, and redefining how humans and machines collaborate in care delivery.

How AI, including large language models, is transforming diagnosis, treatment planning, documentation, and patient communication.
The ethical dilemmas of AI-driven healthcare, including:
- Algorithmic bias and its effects on health equity and patient outcomes.
- Patient privacy risks and healthcare data security threats.
- Clinical accountability—who is liable when AI makes a wrong diagnosis or recommendation?o Global health disparities—how AI impacts underserved and marginalized patient populations worldwide.
- Environmental costs—AI’s carbon footprint in healthcare innovation and sustainability efforts.
Beyond hype: what tech companies and healthcare institutions often miss about human-AI collaboration—and how to design better partnerships between clinicians and AI systems.

Dr Bot: AI and the Future of Medicine

AI is poised to disrupt healthcare at its core, forcing urgent, taboo, and uncomfortable conversations about the future of human professionals in medicine.‍

Why disruption is necessary: the cognitive, emotional, and systemic limitations of human healthcare providers.
How AI can alleviate burnout, reduce errors, and make healthcare systems more resilient.
New essential skillsets for doctors, nurses, therapists, and healthcare workers in an AI-augmented future.
The trust dilemma: will patients trust AI diagnoses and therapeutic advice more than human clinicians?
Comparing AI and human healthcare delivery:o Can AI help overcome entrenched biases in healthcare (racism, sexism, ageism, ableism)?o Can AI achieve earlier detection of rare diseases and improve diagnostic accuracy?
Why patients may open up more to machines than to doctors—AI as an emerging confidant and companion in healthcare.

The Power of Words: How Medical Language Can Heal or Harm

Words have profound effects on health, influencing treatment outcomes and patient well-being.

The science behind the placebo and nocebo effects—how what doctors say can heal or harm.
How patient access to their medical records is transforming doctor-patient communication.
How AI can enhance compassionate care and, surprisingly, sometimes surpass human interactions.
The risks of “algorithmic empathy” in medicine.

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Rethinking Education for the AI Age

The education system is failing to equip students with the skills needed for an AI-driven world.

Why traditional education is failing to prepare students for an AI-driven future.
The need to teach philosophy, critical thinking, and ethics alongside STEM.
How AI could revolutionize learning—if used wisely.