Dear Colleagues
Health and public health professionals across high-, middle-, and low-income countries need to combine deep domain knowledge with AI fluency to direct — rather than be directed by — emerging artificial intelligence and agentic systems. We invite you to read the full article, *Domain Knowledge Plus AI Fluency: The New Nonnegotiable Competency for the Health Workforce in the AI Era <https://ai.jmir.org/2026/1/e100954/>,* published in *JMIR AI*.
The paper provides a clear understanding of the modern AI system stack (energy, accelerators, infrastructure, models, and applications) — and introduces a practical four-step pathway for health professionals:
· Awakening—*recognizing AI’s transformative role*
· Intrepidity—*courageously engaging with foundational AI concepts *
· Bilingualism—*translating between clinical needs and AI capabilities*
· Visionary leadership—*driving organizational and policy readiness*
This framework equips professionals to make informed decisions about adoption, evaluation, governance, and ethical use—without coding or building models themselves. It also addresses health- specific challenges, including regulatory compliance, data privacy, sustainability, and resource constraints, *with particular attention to low- and middle-income contexts.
We argue in the paper that cultivating domain-AI bilingualism is essential for safe, effective, and equitable AI integration worldwide. The paper examines major barriers, targeted strategies, and recommendations for educators, institutions, and policymakers.
By bridging clinical and public health domain knowledge with AI fluency, professionals can steer AI technologies—including emerging agentic systems— toward more precise, sustainable, and human-centered outcomes while mitigating risks. *This hybrid capability is presented as a nonnegotiable competency* for the health workforce to thrive in the post-2026 AI era.
Thank you.
Kind Regards
Seble
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Seble Frehywot, MD, MHSA
Professor of Global Health & Health Policy|
Co-Founder, IT for Health and Education System Equity
Dept. of Global Health|Dept. of Health Policy & Management
Milken Institute School of Public Health
The George Washington University
seblelf@gwu.edu
HIFA profile: Seble Frehywot is Professor of Global Health and Health Policy and Co-Founder IT for Health and Education System Equity at the George Washington University, USA. She has worked in Asia, Africa and the United States in the fields of medicine, public health, international & national health policy analysis, health policy analysis capacity-building, and health services research and program management. Her research and policy analysis focus is on developing countries health workforce and health systems issues with a main focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia Health Human Resource and Health Systems development and strengthening issues. She teaches International Comparative Health Systems course at the GWU. seblelf AT gwu.edu