UC San Diego Health Chief Digital Officer on Cybersecurity and AI in Health

Cyber-attacks and data breaches in health care settings are one the rise.  These events can cripple organizations, not only financially but in safely delivering patient care. With the rise of AI tools, like ChatGPT, there is an increased interest how health organizations can safely integrate this technology. Christopher Longhurst, MD, chief medical officer and chief digital officer for UC San Diego Health and executive director for the Jacobs Center for Health Innovation, recently testified before Congress on cybersecurity in health AI.

Biography :

Christopher Longhurst MD, MS, is the chief medical officer (CMO) and chief digital officer (CDO) at UC San Diego Health. This dual, complementary role provides leadership to medical staff, ensuring that standards and protocols are in place to provide the highest quality of care to patients. He also serves as an associate dean at the School of Medicine, overseeing and aligning our education and research missions within the clinical environment, and leading our journey to become a highly reliable, learning health system.

As CMO, Longhurst is responsible for maintaining excellence in clinical care, including regulatory, patient and clinician satisfaction, quality and safety, and medical affairs. He works alongside leaders at UC San Diego Health, the School of Medicine, and UC Health to improve care delivery and oversees UC San Diego Health’s reputation for delivering safe, innovative, patient-centered care.

Longhurst, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician who specializes in the care of newborns. As a newborn hospitalist, he meets with parents and their babies during their postpartum stay in the hospital, providing daily care to infants. This care includes newborn examinations, screening tests and performing procedures like frenotomy.

Longhurst is passionate about implementing innovative digital solutions that help improve the patient experience. As the CDO, he leads UC San Diego Health’s technology strategy, overseeing initiatives that advance the infrastructure across UC San Diego and the UC Health system. In addition, Longhurst leads the clinical activities of the academic medical center, working alongside clinical leaders to guide the planning of quality, safety, and performance excellence of programs.  He is also faculty in the Departments of Biomedical Informatics and Pediatrics in the UC San Diego School of Medicine, maintaining an active clinical practice as a newborn hospitalist and pursuing scholarship in care quality, patient safety, and health informatics.