Quantum computing often speaks to the imagination as a futuristic “black box” that, like a Swiss Army Knife, can be used to provide solutions to a broad landscape of complex problems. With rapid, recent advances in the technology, the future of quantum computing might be closer than we think.

Now more than ever, collaboration between the quantum computing industry and subject matter experts is essential in creating opportunities to develop quantum computing applications that will significantly change the way we approach our current and future challenges.

One field of major societal impact is healthcare, and the medical community has significant interests in investigating how quantum computing technology can be leveraged to improve the field of medicine itself and make healthcare more equitable.

To explore these opportunities, Atom Computing is collaborating with The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (CU Anschutz), the largest academic health center in the Rocky Mountain region and a world-class medical destination at the forefront of transformative education, science, medicine and healthcare.

Both organizations are members of Colorado’s Elevate Quantum, a consortium that has been designated as a Regional Technology Hub for Quantum Information Technology by the federal government in 2023 to recognize the importance of the Colorado technology ecosystem.

Creating a roadmap to improve healthcare

Through a recent series of collaborative workshops, a team of CU Anschutz scientists and researchers explored how to program and control Atom’s quantum computing hardware, while the Atom Computing team learned how quantum computing could be pivotal to improving healthcare.

Together, the CU Anschutz and Atom Computing teams are discussing a roadmap for achieving a vision of enabling quantum computing applications with tangible value for healthcare.

Initial topics of interest include optimizing the accessibility of healthcare facilities for rural and underserved regions, accelerating artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to improve the detection and analysis of rare medical conditions and investigating the kinetics of drugs to enable predictions about their effectiveness.

On a path to achieving the vision of quantum-enabled healthcare, research projects on topics like these will start with smaller-scale problem sets that will increase in their complexity at pace with an improved understanding of the problems, algorithm development and increasing quantum computing capabilities.

“We are fortunate to be located among a world-class quantum and medical research community in Colorado,” said Rob Hays, CEO of Atom Computing. “CU Anschutz’s leadership in biomedical research, healthcare and education makes them an ideal partner to explore how scalable quantum computers can have a positive impact on the health of our community and beyond. We’re excited to support the realization of our collective vision of improving healthcare through the use of unprecedented computational performance,” Hays said.

“Applying quantum computing to medicine requires strong collaboration where technologies are developed and co-evolve with clinical, biomedical and quantum experts,” said CU Anschutz Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Development and Strategy Laura Buccini, DrPH, MPH, MA. “Our partnership with Atom Computing represents a pivotal milestone in our ability to advance biomedical innovation and accelerate discovery. Together our researchers and scientists are exploring new paradigm shifting ways to apply the power of quantum computing to some of the most challenging issues in human health.”