Madi Brunette
Medical Student (MS3)
UC Irvine School of Medicine
Madi Brunette, originally from Seattle, Washington, is a third-year medical student at UC Irvine School of Medicine and a former Division I gymnast at Stanford University. Her research interests include orthopaedic surgery, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing, with a particular focus on how large language models can improve patient education, health literacy, and communication to make medical information more accessible and actionable for diverse patient populations. Outside of AI, her research focuses on chronic rotator cuff tears, peripheral nerve injury, and the role of metabolic health in orthopaedic outcomes. Drawing from her experience in collegiate athletics, Madi views healthcare as a team effort and believes that clear, reproducible, and accessible communication is essential to delivering high-quality patient care.
brunettm@hs.uci.edu
Anagha Thiagarajan
Medical Student (MS3)
UC Irvine School of Medicine
Anagha is a third-year medical student at UC Irvine, originally from the Bay Area, with interests spanning artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and dermatology. Her research focuses on the application of large language models to patient education, with an emphasis on making health information more accessible to diverse populations. She is committed to health equity, with ongoing clinical work examining how LLM-simplified materials impact patient comprehension in real-world settings, and believes that the most meaningful applications of AI in medicine will be those that meet patients where they are, regardless of health literacy or background.
abthiaga@hs.uci.edu
Adrienne Chang
Medical Student (MS2)
UC Irvine School of Medicine
Adrienne is a second-year medical student interested in whole-person patient care, medical education, and mentorship. Her research investigates the applications of AI in improving patient comprehension and satisfaction and how physician social media presence influences patient perspectives. She is particularly interested in understanding how emerging technologies can strengthen patient autonomy, improve communication, and garner more meaningful physician-patient relationships. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into clinical practice, Adrienne hopes to understand the ways in which it can enhance the human aspects of medicine and support collaborative medical decision-making.
adrielc1@hs.uci.edu
Amy Huang
Medical Student (MS2)
UC Irvine School of Medicine
Amy is a second-year medical student at UC Irvine School of Medicine, where she completed her undergraduate education at the University of Southern California. Her research interests lie at the intersection of artificial intelligence, orthopaedic surgery, and health equity, with a focus on how AI-driven tools can make complex medical information more accessible and understandable for diverse patient populations. Within COMPREHEND, Amy is contributing to projects examining AI-simplified orthopaedic patient education materials and the role of physician social media presence in shaping patient trust. She believes that thoughtful integration of AI in medicine holds the potential to close longstanding gaps in equitable care, ensuring that all patients can meaningfully engage with their own health.
amyh15@hs.uci.edu
Brandon Liu
Medical Student (MS2)
UC Irvine School of Medicine
Brandon is a second-year medical student with interests spanning artificial intelligence, ethics, and health equity. His research focuses on the application of large language models and natural language processing in clinical workflows, with an emphasis on responsible and patient-centered AI integration. He is committed to health equity, with experience supporting underserved populations in navigating healthcare access. Brandon believes that the most impactful applications of AI in medicine will be those that prioritize the needs of underserved patients and communities.
liuby1@hs.uci.edu
Ali Tazhibi
Medical Student (MS2)
UC Irvine School of Medicine
Ali is a medical student at UCI School of Medicine with a deep interest in how artificial intelligence can transform clinical practice. Through the Physician Innovator Training Program (PITP), he has been exploring how AI tools can be designed and deployed in ways that are scientifically rigorous and practically meaningful for patients and clinicians. His research interests span neurodegenerative disease, ophthalmology, and the use of AI to break down communication and language barriers in medicine. He is excited to contribute to work that ensures the benefits of AI in medicine reach every patient equitably.
atazhibi@hs.uci.edu
George Habib
Medical Student (MS2)
UC Irvine School of Medicine
George Habib is a second-year medical student at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, where he received his B.S. in Biology from the University of California, Riverside. His research experience spans neurosurgery, with active projects in spine surgery, spinal cord stimulation, and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). These experiences have deepened his interest in how patients with complex, high-stakes diagnoses navigate and understand their care. Within COMPREHEND, George is focused on the Clinical branch, investigating how AI-driven education tools can improve patient comprehension, reduce anxiety, and support treatment adherence at the point of care. He is passionate about translating the complexity of neurosurgical medicine into accessible, patient-centered communication that empowers informed decision making.
habibg@hs.uci.edu
Andrew Soliman
Medical Student (MS1)
UC Irvine School of Medicine
Andrew Soliman is a first-year medical student at UC Irvine School of Medicine interested in research at the intersection of orthopedic surgery, machine learning, and health equity, with a particular focus on developing predictive modeling frameworks that leverage large-scale clinical data to help patients make more informed decisions about their care. Andrew earned both his B.S. in Physiological Science and M.Sc. in Data Science at UCLA, where he also led multiple clinical data science initiatives spanning predictive models for adverse outcomes in patients receiving novel immunotherapy treatments, biobank curation for translational research, and a health system needs assessment to identify gaps in care delivery. He is now eager to apply data science methods to orthopedic surgery to improve perioperative risk prediction, optimize treatment selection, and support data-driven decision-making for patients and orthopedic surgeons alike.
andrewjsoliman@gmail.com
Akhil Chandekar
Medical Student (MS1)
UC Irvine School of Medicine
Akhil Chandekar is a first-year medical student with an interest in orthopedic surgery and public health. His research began in neuro-oncological drug delivery and his current work centers on spine surgery outcomes research and infodemiology, with a particular interest in how medical information spreads across digital platforms. Outside of research, Akhil has been involved in community health initiatives, harm reduction, and support for underserved populations. He hopes to use research, mentorship, and service to help bridge gaps in healthcare access and education.
achandek@hs.uci.edu
Arshia Ilaty
PhD Student
UC Irvine
Arshia Ilaty is a Ph.D. student in Computer/Computational Science at UC Irvine, specializing in privacy-preserving machine learning and synthetic data generation for healthcare applications. With a strong foundation in both academic research and industry experience, Arshia has developed innovative solutions across healthcare analytics, blockchain technology, and autonomous systems at organizations including Tesla, World Mobile, and Turtle Beach. His research integrates generative AI, deep learning, and domain-specific biosignal processing to address critical challenges in personalized medicine, clinical trial retention, mental health monitoring, and early disease detection across diverse conditions including stress, pain, breast cancer, and metabolic disorders. Beyond research, Arshia is an active entrepreneur who secured funding from ZIP Launchpad for an AI-powered pet health monitoring system, demonstrating his ability to translate technical expertise into real-world impact. He serves as a reviewer for top-tier conferences, including NeurIPS, Chase, and IEEE CogMI, and actively contributes to open-source projects in machine learning. Driven by a passion for solving complex technical challenges, Arshia combines rigorous scientific thinking with practical engineering to advance the intersection of AI and healthcare.
ailaty@uci.edu
Founder
