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Joe

Joe and Erika smile and crouch next to their daughter, Melissa. Erika’s arm is around Melissa, who holds a small plastic bucket and smiles at the camera.

Although Melissa did not survive her diagnosis, Joe and Erika continue to fight for her by helping other children with acute myeloid leukemia.

Credit: National Cancer Institute

Data and Artificial Intelligence Lead, Accenture

Joe and Erika promised their daughter Melissa they would never stop fighting for her after she passed away from acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Outcomes for AML are often grim because the disease is poorly understood, and doctors rely on a one-size-fits-all treatment. 

Joe has since dedicated his life to improving the odds for children with AML by using artificial intelligence to analyze AML data. “Oncologists are not usually trained data scientists,” he said. “And they don’t often have the tools, skills, or time to do the data analysis themselves.”

Joe and his team of data engineers collaborated with researchers, nonprofits, and hospitals to standardize genomic, treatment, and outcome data from more than 2,000 children with AML who took part in NCI’s TARGET study. Applying artificial intelligence to these data, Joe said, can help oncologists simulate how patients will respond to different treatments or identify risk factors for recurrence. “We won’t stop fighting until we find a cure,” he said.

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