Andrew Gonzalez

I am an intern at Regenstrief Institute, working with Dr. Gonzalez. In my time as an intern/research assistant, Dr. Gonzalez has displayed each of the qualities mentioned above. As for his dedication to Regenstrief’s mission and core values, Dr. Gonzalez absolutely has created and continues to create opportunities for breakthroughs at the intersection between artificial intelligence and health. He, along with his team, has formed an ingenious design for an expert AI system to assist clinicians in diagnosing elusive cases of peripheral arterial disease. Helping with the implementation of this technology has formed the core of my duties at Regenstrief. While we are not at all finished, what already stands out to me about his approach is not only his incorporation of cutting–edge and industry–standard methodologies into the actual design of the system, but also his adamant commitment to creating a secure, privacy-respecting, demographically unbiased system for not only streamlining but improving the quality of care for patients of all backgrounds. In a world that is just beginning to have access to sophisticated AI tools, this commitment is paramount. Dr. Gonzalez’s work has the potential to create a much friendlier, standardized and robust patient medical visit experience. Our goal in building this system is not only to make something that works, but something that improves the average patient experience, with respect to transparency, patient trust and equivalence of care. The focus is just as much on how the end user will ultimately interact with the technology as it is on what the technology will actually do in order to successfully improve care. Finally, as a student who is trying to form a picture of what their career will look like down the line, Dr. Gonzalez has been a mentor for me. He has connected me with countless individuals with whom I have had meaningful, productive engagements. He is always interested in collaborating with parties inside and outside of Regenstrief who are working on similar problems and brings me in on these discussions. He has given me a lot of responsibilities so that I can learn and is always there to assist in case I hit a wall. We talk about work, yes, but we also talk about philosophy and the future of AI technology and tech in general. He has taught me an unbelievable amount about how vascular diseases arise and are treated and has never hesitated to point out the open questions in his field. He has also raised a number of interesting questions about the intersection of health and AI that I think about quite often. I feel that I can ask any question in his lab and get positive and helpful feedback and engagement on it. He is great to work with and has been instrumental in helping me form a picture of the career that lies ahead of me. I hope you will seriously consider Dr. Gonzalez for the One Regenstrief Award!