Siriraj Hospital and MIT join forces for the third year to host an international academic forum discussing the role of AI in improving public health.

The Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, in collaboration with MIT Hacking Medicine at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, announced the third annual “Siriraj x MIT Hacking Medicine 2026” event, to be held from October 16–20, 2026. The theme is “Agentic Healthcare: From Models to Trustworthy Medicine,” providing a platform for academic discussions among researchers from leading institutions worldwide, including those from the United States and China, on the role of artificial intelligence in improving public health. The event has received an overwhelming response, with over 1,100 applications received from 35 nationalities globally.

Academic Forum: International researchers, including those from the United States and China, discuss the role... AI and public health.

This year's highlight is the provision of a central academic platform where researchers in medical artificial intelligence from leading institutions in several countries, including the United States and China, can exchange knowledge and discuss how this technology can improve public health.

The panel discussion featured speakers from MIT, Stanford, and Harvard, including Prof. Eric Grimson from MIT, an expert in computer vision and medical image analysis, and Prof. Dr. Michael V. McConnell from Stanford University School of Medicine, the discoverer of “McConnell’s Sign” and with over 25 years of experience in preventive cardiovascular medicine. Also participating were speakers from Tsinghua University and Peking University, such as Prof. Yang Liu from Tsinghua University, co-creator of the world’s first AI Agent Hospital, and Asst. Prof. Shenda Hong from the National Institute of Health Data Science, Peking University, a health AI researcher with publications in the NEJM AI journal.

“Siriraj intends for this event to be a central academic forum where researchers from leading institutions worldwide can discuss, based on evidence and knowledge, how technology can improve public health. These institutions include MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Tsinghua, and Peking. The fact that Thai doctors, researchers, and entrepreneurs can hear diverse perspectives in the same room is a true benefit of Thailand being a hub for health innovation in ASEAN,” said Prof. Dr. Apichart Asavamongkolkul , Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital , Mahidol University .

Artificial Healthcare: When AI Doesn't Just Predict, But Starts Taking Action

This year's theme reflects a significant technological shift, from artificial intelligence's role in "predicting" disease risks or trends to systems capable of planning and "executing" patient care processes. The crucial question has therefore shifted from "Can the technology do this?" to "How reliable is it, and who is responsible for the patient's outcomes?" This will be further explored in the "LLM-athon" workshop on October 19, 2569, led by Dr. Leo Anthony Celi from the MIT Laboratory for Computational Physiology and Harvard Medical School. The workshop will highlight the critical limitations of Large Language Models (LLMs), demonstrating that the same clinical question, asked in different languages, can yield different answers, directly impacting patient safety and health equity, particularly in countries where both Thai and English are spoken.

It's not a five-day event, but an ecosystem that continues throughout the year.

Siriraj Faculty of Medicine has signed a three-year collaboration agreement (2025–2027) with MIT Hacking Medicine to continuously organize academic conferences and hackathons on healthcare innovation in Thailand. The goal is to position Thailand as the “ASEAN Health Innovation Hub.” This collaboration has expanded to include “Si x MIT BeyondHack,” which provides an opportunity for alumni teams from previous hackathons who are still developing their projects to present their work to MIT experts and investors. This year, 20 teams have already applied. The winning team will participate in the BeyondHack Accelerator, an intensive four-week program with MIT, along with opportunities to discuss with investors before presenting their final projects in Boston, USA in 2027. In addition, the winners of the hackathon will receive “Golden Tickets” to participate in the MIT Grand Hack in Boston, with Siriraj Foundation covering all travel, accommodation, and registration fees.

MIT: From a Weekend in Bangkok to the Global Market

Over the past 14 years, MIT Hacking Medicine has organized more than 200 hackathons in over 30 countries, resulting in the formation of over 100 companies that have raised a combined total of more than $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 organize a Hackathon, but few create what follows. Siriraj has succeeded. A team that formed over a weekend in Bangkok is now on a journey that leads to presentations in Boston. This path was unprecedented three years ago, and now we are seeing companies from the Siriraj x MIT Hacking Medicine project preparing to raise funds and expand into the global market,” said Mr. Zen Chu, Director of the MIT Hacking Medicine Initiative and the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Program.

Event schedule and participation.

The Siriraj x MIT Hacking Medicine 2026 event is divided into three phases: a Hackathon competition from October 16–18, 2026 at Siriraj Hospital, focusing on two main topics: Cardiovascular Diseases and Oncology; a BeyondHack presentation competition on October 18; a Workshop Day on October 19, 2026 at the Knowledge Exchange Center (KX), King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi; and the main academic conference on October 20, 2026 at the Grand Center Point Lumpini Hotel, Bangkok.

Conference tickets for October 20th are priced as follows: 5,000 baht for students and staff, 10,000 baht for Early Bird, and 15,000 baht for general admission. Workshop Day tickets for October 19th are priced as follows: 1,000 baht for students and staff, 1,500 baht for Early Bird, and 2,000 baht for general admission. Early Bird tickets are only available until September 30, 2569.

The Siriraj x MIT Hacking Medicine 2026 event was supported by both public and private sector partners. Diamond-level sponsors included InterSystems, Krung Thai Bank (KTB), and the Dr. Pongsak Hountrakul and Mrs. Nontana Thanabatchai Foundation (PNF). Platinum-level sponsors included Muang Thai Life Assurance (MTL), the National Innovation Agency (NIA), and Thanes Group, along with 10 Gold-level sponsors. Sponsors continuing the project for the third year include Krung Thai Bank, PNF, the National Innovation Agency, Muang Thai Life Assurance, Berlin Pharma, and PT. Sponsors continuing for the second year include InterSystems, iNT, KX, DataOne Asia, and Earthshine.