Replacing animal testing for drug trials is promising, but Professor Sara Gerke and her co-authors on a new paper on the subject believe caution is warranted before adopting change. Gerke recently spoke to the Illinois News Bureau about the paper.

As artificial intelligence technology becomes more commonplace, questions about its ethical use are of more salience. In the AMA Journal of Ethics, Professor Sara Gerke examines one area of interest in this field: how ambient listening and transcription technology influences medical doctors’ documentation practices and clinical encounters. In her article, Gerke and her co-author seek to answer questions and provide best-practice recommendations for informed consent processes and patient-clinician relationships.

Professor Sara Gerke has been selected to participate in the Spring 2026 cohort of the NSF CAREER Club. This campus initiative helps equip faculty with knowledge, resources, and writing support necessary to develop a competitive proposal for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Program (CAREER).  As a participant, Gerke will be provided access to information sessions, training and consultation, structured writing groups, peer feedback, reviews by experienced research development staff, and a supportive environment throughout the proposal process, from conception to submission, all at no cost.

Recent legislation made Illinois the first state to enact a ban on artificial intelligence serving as mental help therapists without oversight from a licensed clinician. To add context to this development, the Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs spoke to Professor Sara Gerke, an expert in the ethical and legal challenges of artificial intelligence and big data for health care and health law. “The problem with unsupervised AI in mental health is that chatbots are designed to keep conversations flowing, not to ensure accuracy or safety,” Gerke explained.

In partnership with the Cancer Center at Illinois, the University of Illinois College of Law hosted the AI in Cancer Surgery and Care Conference on September 4th and 5th, 2025.

The regulatory framework for artificial intelligence-based medical devices needs to be improved to ensure transparency and protect patients’ health, says Sara Gerke, the Richard W. & Marie L. Corman Scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and expert in the ethical and legal challenges of artificial intelligence for health care. Gerke argues that the Food and Drug Administration should prioritize the development of labeling standards for AI-powered medical devices in much the same way that there are nutrition facts labels on packaged food. 

One of the most concerning aspects of genetic testing company 23andMe filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Professor Sara Gerke writes in a new article published in BMJ, is the range of information the company holds. Along with her co-authors, Gerke explores the issues presented by the genetic information, such as from saliva samples, self-reported health and personal information, biometric information, and other basic information controlled by 23andMe. They argue customers made a deal to share information, at some privacy risk, in exchange for potential ancestry and health-related insights, but that does not absolve the company from protecting privacy in bankruptcy.

Pulse oximeters are known to be less accurate for patients with darker skin, but manufacturers have not changed their design or included a warning label disclosing this information. A recent settlement and guidance from the FDA could prompt changes in the market, however. In a new paper published in JAMA, Professor Sara Gerke and her co-authors examine how these developments could solve problems and where issues may still exist.

The bankruptcy of the genetic testing company 23andMe has raised a number of issues, but one specifically prudent issue is the lack of legislation preventing the sale of customers’ data due to financial exigencies. Speaking with the Illinois News Bureau, Professor Sara Gerke explained why this issue is significant. “Companies like 23andMe are sitting on a massive treasure trove of personal information because when people initially signed up, they thought, ‘Well, I’m getting something out of this transaction’ without thinking about the possibility that the company would ever go bankrupt at some point in the future and potentially offload their dataset,” she said. “That’s just one example, but we are in a world awash in big data, and it’s not a problem that’s limited to 23andMe.”

Professor Sara Gerke was co-organizer of the Life Sciences AI Summit – Europe, which took place March 25–26, 2025, in Brussels, Belgium. The conference covered the ways in which artificial intelligence in the life sciences is affecting topics such as drug discovery and development as well as improving patient outcomes. Another important aspect of the conference was an examination of legal, regulatory, compliance, liability and ethical challenges that must be addressed to ensure responsible, safe, and effective use of AI technologies.