The Big Mo: staying on the wave in an age of artificial intelligence

Dr. Kevin B. Johnson delivered this address on May 16, 2026, at the Commencement Ceremony of The D. Bradley McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth Houston, to the graduating class of 2026. The address uses the concept of "The Big Mo" (compounding momentum) as a frame for understanding the current inflection point in AI and medicine. Drawing on his own career arc from paper-based clinical practice at Johns Hopkins through early adoption of health informatics to the present era of AI in healthcare, Johnson argues that the fears graduates hold about technological obsolescence and institutional instability are real but misdirected. He reframes both: biomedical informatics professionals are not targets of AI but its essential architects, and the external environment has always been uncertain for those doing important work. His charge to graduates is singular: stay on the wave.