Medical Education Seminar Series: Build AI Applications with Python - From API Calls to RAG Systems

Facilitator: Kate Weber, PhD, Assistant Professor & Director of AI in Medical Education
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Series Details

6 weekly sessions - 5:15 PM - 6:30 PM

• February 17, 2026
• February 24, 2025
• March 3, 2025
• March 17, 2025
• March 24, 2025
• March 31, 2025

***THESE ARE IN PERSON SESSIONS***

What you can expect:

• Live coding demonstrations
• Hands-on exercises every session
• Weekly coding assignments

Perfect for:

• Researchers who want to code with AI
• Data scientists exploring LLMs
• Developers learning AI development
• Anyone with basic Python skills
• Those who want to build (not just use) AI tools

You Will Build:

• Custom AI assistants with conversation memory
• Semantic search systems for your documents
• RAG applications that answer from your data
• Production-ready, tested applications
• Reusable code libraries and templates
• Real solutions for your research/work

Prerequisites:

 

**Required**

• Basic Python programming (variables, functions, loops)
• Ability to run Python scripts and Jupyter notebooks
• OpenAI API account (we are working on credits with our tech partners)

**Helpful but not required**

• Familiarity with HTTP requests to APIs
• Git/GitHub basics
• Experience with data structures

What's Included:

• Complete Jupyter notebooks for each week
• Fully working code examples
• Assignment scaffolding
• Requirements.txt and setup guides
• Instructor support during sessions
• Certificate of completion

Technical Setup:

• Python 3.10+ installed
• Jupyter Notebook
• OpenAI API key
• Virtual environment (recommended)
• VS Code or preferred editor

**Setup help provided in Week 1!**
 

What You'll Take Home:

• Portfolio of AI applications you built
• Complete codebase with reusable components
• Understanding of modern AI development
• Skills to build your own AI tools
• Confidence to tackle AI projects
• Network of peer developers

Career Impact:

AI development skills are in high demand. Whether you're enhancing your research capabilities, building new tools, or exploring career opportunities - these are essential modern skills.
 

Course Outline

February 17, 2025 - Week 1: LLM Basics & API Fundamentals
• Understand how LLMs work under the hood
• Make your first OpenAI API calls
• Master parameters: temperature, tokens, cost
• Build simple AI-powered scripts

February 24, 2025 - Week 2: Building Conversational Applications
• Create AI chatbots that remember context
• Manage conversation history
• Design system prompts effectively
• Build interactive assistants

March 3, 2025 - Week 3: Programmatic Prompt Engineering
• Create reusable prompt templates
• Implement few-shot learning
• Parse structured outputs (JSON)
• Build a prompt library

***NO CLASS MARCH 10, 2025***

March 17, 2025 - Week 4: Embeddings & RAG Concepts
• Generate and use embeddings
• Calculate semantic similarity
• Build document search systems
• Understand retrieval-augmented generation

March 24, 2025 - Week 5: Complete RAG Systems
• Implement document chunking strategies
• Build production-quality RAG pipelines
• Add metadata and filtering
• Handle multiple document sources

March 31, 2025 - Week 6: Best Practices & Production
• Implement error handling and retry logic
• Track costs and optimize performance
• Test LLM applications effectively
• Design for production deployment

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