Nadin Knippschild, DNP, RN, assistant vice president and CIO at Catawba Valley Health System, says the small, independent nonprofit’s chief health IT priority is to responsibly harness artificial intelligence while maintaining unwavering cybersecurity. As the organization migrates more data and services to the cloud, Knippschild frames AI adoption through a security-first lens, weighing clinical decision support and efficiency gains against patient-data protection and system resilience.
Her strategy focuses on governance, risk assessment, vendor scrutiny and staff education to mitigate cyber threats during AI pilots. She urges phased deployments, clear data-governance rules to limit bias and pragmatic partnerships that align cybersecurity investments with AI-driven goals so smaller systems can modernize care delivery without increasing digital risk.
