SPOTLIGHT... on Dhruv Kulkarni and using A.I. with empathy and human connection

TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING

It’s hopefully obvious to many that the AI revolution has not only begun but it’s in full swing. Now since I’m in healthcare and well a wee bit older than those entering the workforce right now, I wanted to get the perspective of someone who has not only grown up with AI as a digital tool and familiar science but also has developed a relationship in researching AI and using it to tackle problems at scale. So it was wonderful to connect and share a brief chat with machine learning technology researcher and entrepreneur, Dhruv Kulkarni. Dhruv is both a current college student at Berkeley (GO BEARS!)and a tech startup founder - someone who grew comfortable with machine learning and AI early on in his formative years. It’s that same comfort and ease that fueled a spirit of innovation and utility to use these tools and help solve problems, particularly of interest for me in the healthcare space, where so far Dhruv has tackled the administrative problem of accelerating the prior authorization process in small clinics and now is serving as AI director at Forta Health and helping to tackle chronic conditions and problems like helping parents in caring for autistic children. If you’re keeping score, Dhruv has already along the way, served as an entrepreneurial peer resource and mentor for other students, founded two startup companies that were acquired, developed an emerging expertise at the intersection of fintech and AI, and has already gained investor experience as a venture partner. We chatted and I wanted to learn a bit more about his work and journey, but we started by talking about when Dhruv first discovered that AI and machine learning was something he could harness and actually control…