Aegis Summit 2025: Interoperability in the Age of AI

At the 2025 Aegis Summit, Cris Ross, former CIO of Mayo Clinic and Senior Advisor at Aegis Ventures, moderated a timely conversation with Ken Mandl, MD, MPH, Director of the Computational Health Informatics Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Professor at Harvard Medical School, on why interoperability is the critical enabler for AI in healthcare.

Ken traced the evolution of healthcare data—from fragmented, note-bound records to open platforms powered by SMART on FHIR—and explained how patient-controlled data and standardized APIs make it possible for AI to operate at scale. The discussion explored where policy momentum is finally aligning with technology, what this next phase means for health systems undergoing EHR transitions, and why innovators cannot build durable AI solutions without interoperable, high-quality data. The takeaway was clear: interoperability is no longer optional infrastructure—it is the foundation for the next generation of care.