SIRIRAJ AND MIT CONVENE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC FORUM ON AI FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

SIRIRAJ AND MIT CONVENE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC

FORUM ON AI FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

Siriraj x MIT Hacking Medicine 2026 runs

16–20 October under the theme

“Agentic Healthcare: From Models to Trustworthy Medicine”,

drawing more than 1,100 applications from

35 nationalities

Bangkok, Thailand [3 September 2026]– The Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, together with MIT Hacking Medicine from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), today announced Siriraj x MIT Hacking Medicine 2026, the third annual edition of the programme, running 16–20 October 2026 under the theme “Agentic Healthcare: From Models to Trustworthy Medicine”. The conference provides a neutral academic forum in which researchers from leading institutions worldwide, including the United States and China, examine together how these technologies can advance public health. The 2026 programme has already drawn more than 1,100 applications from 35 nationalities.

A neutral academic forum: international researchers, including from the United States and China, on AI and public health

The defining feature of this year’s programme is the breadth of institutions taking part, from the United States and China among others. Researchers join from MIT, Stanford and Harvard, and from Tsinghua University and Peking University, to examine together how artificial intelligence can be applied safely and accountably in patient care.

Participating researchers include Prof. Yang Liu of Tsinghua University, co-architect of the world’s first AI Agent Hospital; Asst. Prof. Shenda Hong of the National Institute of Health Data Science at Peking University, whose work on ECG foundation models has been published in NEJM AI; Prof. Eric Grimson of MIT, an authority on computer vision and medical image analysis; and Prof. Dr. Michael V. McConnell of Stanford University School of Medicine, discoverer of “McConnell’s Sign” and a preventive cardiologist of more than 25 years’ standing.

“Siriraj intends this to be a neutral academic forum, where researchers from leading institutions worldwide — MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Tsinghua and Peking — examine the evidence together on how technology can advance public health. For Thai clinicians, researchers and entrepreneurs to hear that range of perspectives in one room is the real value of being ASEAN’s health innovation hub,” said Prof. Apichat Asavamongkolkul, MD, Dean, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.

Agentic Healthcare: when AI stops predicting and starts acting

This year’s theme reflects a decisive shift in the technology. Where artificial intelligence once predicted risk or the likely course of a disease, systems can now reason, plan and take action within the care process itself. The central question is no longer whether the technology can act, but how far it can be trusted to, and who is accountable for the consequences to a patient.

That question will be examined in the “LLM-athon” workshop on 19 October, led by Dr. Leo Anthony Celi of the MIT Laboratory for Computational Physiology and Harvard Medical School. His work highlights a critical limitation of large language models: the same clinical question, asked in two different languages, can return two different answers — a direct patient-safety and health-equity concern for a country that works in both Thai and English.

Not a five-day event, but an ecosystem that runs all year

The Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital has signed a three-year agreement (2025–2027) with MIT Hacking Medicine to run health innovation conferences and hackathons in Thailand, with the aim of establishing Thailand as an ASEAN Health Innovation Hub.

That partnership now extends into Si x MIT BeyondHack, which invites alumni teams from previous hackathons — those that have kept building — to return and pitch to MIT experts and investors; twenty teams applied this year. The winning team earns a place in the BeyondHack Accelerator — four weeks of structured work with MIT and office hours with investors, before an in-person final pitch in Boston in 2027. Hackathon winners also receive “Golden Tickets” to MIT Grand Hack in Boston, with flights, accommodation and participation fees fully covered by the Siriraj Foundation.

MIT: from a weekend in Bangkok to global markets

Over fourteen years, MIT Hacking Medicine has run more than 200 hackathons in over 30 countries, producing more than 100 companies that have collectively raised over US$2.5 billion. Notable alumni include PillPack (acquired by Amazon for $1 billion), RubiconMD (acquired by Oak Street Health for $190 million) and Overjet.ai.

“Many institutions want to host a hackathon. Very few build what comes after it. Siriraj did. A team that formed over one weekend in Bangkok now has a route that runs all the way to a pitch room in Boston — a route that did not exist three years ago. We are now seeing companies from the Siriraj x MIT Hacking Medicine programme preparing to raise capital and expand into global markets,” said Zen Chu, Director of the MIT Hacking Medicine Initiative and the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Program.

Programme and attendance

Siriraj x MIT Hacking Medicine 2026 runs in three parts. The Hackathon takes place 16–18 October 2026 at Siriraj Hospital across two tracks — Cardiovascular Diseases and Oncology — including the BeyondHack pitch competition on 18 October. Workshop Day follows on 19 October at the Knowledge Exchange Center (KX), King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, and the main conference is held on 20 October at Grande Centre Point Lumphini, Bangkok. Conference tickets for 20 October are priced at THB 5,000 for students and faculty, THB 10,000 early bird, and THB 15,000 general admission. Workshop Day tickets on 19 October are THB 1,000 for students and faculty, THB 1,500 early bird, and THB 2,000 general admission. Early bird pricing is available until 30 September 2026 only.

Siriraj x MIT Hacking Medicine 2026 is supported by partners from both the public and private sectors. Diamond sponsors are InterSystems, Krungthai Bank (KTB) and the Dr. Pongsak Hoontrakul and Mrs. Nontana Thanabatchai Foundation (PNF). Platinum sponsors are Muang Thai Life (MTL), the National Innovation Agency (NIA) and Thanes Group, alongside ten Gold sponsors. Six sponsors are now in their third consecutive year with the programme — Krungthai Bank, PNF, the National Innovation Agency, Muang Thai Life, Berlin Pharma and PT — and five in their second: InterSystems, iNT, KX, DataOne Asia and Earthshine.

Full details and registration are available at www.sirirajxmithackmed.com

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