Prioritizing human-centered cancer care in a digital era

This viewpoint argues that as digital health tools become increasingly central to cancer care delivery, the values and priorities embedded in their design and implementation will determine whether they advance disease-centered metrics alone or also strengthen the human dimensions of care that make medicine meaningful. Drawing on ethical frameworks and real-world examples of digital innovations from Brazil, India, and the United States, the authors demonstrate how deliberate choices in design, implementation, and evaluation can either reinforce or erode the quality of human relationships at the heart of clinical care. The piece calls on clinicians, researchers, and health systems to actively involve patients, caregivers, and communities at every phase of the development process.

The viewpoint arrives at a critical moment, as AI and digital tools are being rapidly deployed across oncology with relatively little structured attention to whether they serve the full humanity of patients alongside their clinical needs. By grounding the discussion in concrete international examples and actionable recommendations, the authors make a compelling case that human-centered care is not merely a philosophical aspiration but a design requirement, one that must be built into the infrastructure of digital health from the outset rather than retrofitted after deployment.