Building an AI-Ready Health System with Simon Nazarian

In this episode of QuickHITs, Tyler Smith sits down with Simon Nazarian, System EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer at City of Hope, and guest co-host Maroussia Petryk. Simon shares how one of the nation's largest cancer research and treatment organizations is turning decades of complex oncology data into a strategic asset, and how that foundation led to the development of Hope LLM, City of Hope's proprietary generative AI platform. He explains why data migration should be treated as clinical and operational infrastructure rather than an IT checkbox, what AI readiness really requires beyond having a model, and how governance built into the architecture from day one is what earns clinician trust. The conversation also covers ROI versus return on opportunity, where organizations tend to overestimate or underestimate AI's impact, and Simon's outlook on the next three to five years of clinical innovation, including a blended intelligence model where technology surfaces insight, and humans keep the final say. From treating data migration as strategic infrastructure to reducing administrative burden through Hope LLM to building AI governance in from the start, this episode covers a lot of ground for anyone thinking about what it takes to modernize a complex health system responsibly.