SOA collaborates with Hyderabad startup for AI-powered medical training

The Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) and SUM Hospital, the faculty of medicine of SOA Deemed to be University, on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyderabad-based SigmaMozak Solutions Pvt. Ltd. to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in healthcare research, medical education and digital health innovation.

The MoU was signed by SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda and SigmaMozak Solutions Co-founder and CEO Shweta Sharma.

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The partnership aims to establish a broad institutional framework for collaboration in healthcare research, digital health, medical education, communication science, AI-enabled healthcare systems and public health innovation.

Recognising the growing importance of academia-industry partnerships in advancing translational healthcare research and technology-driven medical education, the two organisations agreed to collaborate on projects involving AI-enabled healthcare communication systems, healthcare analytics, patient engagement, simulation-based learning, public health innovation, behavioural health initiatives, AI-assisted communication assessment and training, grant-supported healthcare innovation programmes and healthcare workforce capacity building.

As part of the collaboration, the partners will jointly organise workshops, conferences and knowledge dissemination programmes, undertake collaborative research and publications, and pursue national and international research and innovation initiatives.

The first major initiative under the partnership will focus on improving the communication skills of undergraduate medical students. While the National Medical Commission’s Attitude, Ethics and Communication (AETCOM) module seeks to strengthen doctor-patient communication, its implementation has often been constrained by variations in teaching methods, subjective evaluation and the absence of standardised training tools.

To address this gap, IMS and SUM Hospital and SigmaMozak Solutions will introduce ConversationAIly, an AI-powered communication training platform designed specifically for undergraduate medical students. The platform will provide standardised, interactive and objective learning through simulated patient interactions, enabling students to build effective communication skills while complementing the existing AETCOM curriculum.

The platform will also help faculty assess students’ communication performance using measurable parameters and monitor their progress over time. The initiative is expected to make communication-skills training more structured, scalable and evidence-based, while strengthening patient-centred medical education and opening new avenues for healthcare innovation and clinical communication research.