Colby-Sawyer College Doctor of Nursing Practice student Stefanie McGowan is one of 18 people appointed by Vermont Governor Phil Scott to the Vermont Artificial Intelligence (AI) Economic Taskforce.

The task force members have backgrounds in business, nonprofit, education, healthcare, government, technology and energy, among other areas, and represent 10 counties across the state. Together, they are charged with advising the governor on the ways that AI is affecting and shaping Vermont’s economy and making specific workforce, investment and policy recommendations.

McGowan, who is the lead hospitalist advanced practice provider at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, Vermont — part of Dartmouth Health — saw a request seeking Vermonters interested in serving on the governor’s task force.

“As I looked through the application, I realized I had a passionate answer for every question,” McGowan said. “At that moment I knew I could choose to sit on the sidelines or I could turn my passion into an opportunity to represent nurses and healthcare providers in a meaningful way.”

She was asked to join the task force, and after careful consideration, the resident of Shaftsbury, Vermont, made the commitment. She will be a member of Community Resilience, which, along with Economic Acceleration and Small Business Competitiveness, is one of the task force’s three working groups.

“The focus of this group is to help local leaders build a toolkit for understanding AI, promoting AI and using AI to our local advantage,” McGowan said. “It is important to me that this effort is done with the community at the forefront, and I feel as a nurse practitioner working in a community hospital and as the president elect of the Vermont Nurse Practitioner Association, I can represent the voice of the community.”

McGowan begins her task force work with several priorities in mind. As a healthcare leader, she said, she recognizes that AI will fundamentally change healthcare delivery and knows the importance of staying at the forefront to help shape that change.

“AI is already being used in healthcare to unload some of the administrative burden and there are myriads of ways it can encourage innovation, even at the local level,” McGowan said, “but it is crucial that frontline workers are part of creating that scaffolding.”

Another priority for McGowan is shaping the language around AI adoption and helping people in the workforce understand the tangible ways that AI can be used to increase the number of patients seen and make healthcare more accessible to Vermonters. 

“I want to prioritize making prudent decisions about use of AI in healthcare in terms of establishing legislation,” McGowan said. “We need to make sure we are making good and sustainable decisions about AI use. Vermont is a small state, but we face serious challenges related to our aging population, limited housing and stagnating economy. The use of AI can allow for these challenges to be approached in innovative ways that bring Vermont into the future and help us create a sustainable economy.”