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Anna Sowa
Health AI, Ethics, and Rare Disease 🧪 Mixing elements of curiosity and knowledge in my lab of ideas ⚗️ Important Note: Reactions and views here are purely my own observations 📈
Anna Sowa is a Health AI Strategist at Booz Allen Hamilton with over 16 years of experience in driving scientific progress across various sectors, including biopharmaceutical, academic, and government research.1 She began her current role at Booz Allen Hamilton in January 2024, working in the Washington DC-Baltimore Area for the ARPA-H Proactive Health Office.1
Professional Background
Anna's career has been diverse and multifaceted:
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Scientific Consulting: Prior to her current role, she worked as a Senior Scientific Project Consultant at The BioTeam, Inc. for nearly 3 years and as a Scientific Consultant at Computomics in Germany for over 2 years.1
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Academic Experience: She held postdoctoral and PhD positions at the University of Hohenheim and the University of Tuebingen in Germany, respectively.1
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Industry Experience: Anna worked as a Cytogenetic Specialist at Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute for over 3 years.1
Education and Certifications
Anna has a strong educational background and numerous certifications:
- Doctorate: Ph.D. from Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (2011-2014)1
- Master's: M.Sc. from Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (2008-2010)1
- Bachelor's: B.S. from the University of Virginia (2003-2007)1
She holds several certifications, including:
- Project Management Professional (PMP)®
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
- ASCP American Society for Clinical Pathology- Cytogenetics1
Skills and Interests
Anna's professional focus includes:
- Health AI and ethics
- Rare diseases
- Data analysis
- Innovation in translational medicine and drug development
- Product and project management
- Laboratory and pathology expertise1
She is multilingual, with native proficiency in Russian and English, and limited working proficiency in German.1
Anna Sowa describes herself as someone who mixes "elements of curiosity and knowledge" in her "lab of ideas," indicating a creative and innovative approach to her work in Health AI and related fields.1
Highlights
The Paradox of Connection in the Age of AI
So in the midst of chatting with a colleague, I blurted out two deep thoughts that I have been meaning to put into prose. One of them is on human connection in the age of AI. Then, today, I heard a podcast by Esther Perel and Brene Brown on the New AI: Artificial Intimacy, so I combined the two things together:
As I am often asked about appropriate use cases of AI in healthcare, I want to talk about using AI as a "companion" to those who are missing connection- those who are elderly, sick, recovering, and struggling.
My concern is that this form of support/AI is inherently painful to those who are seeking true human connection during times of difficulty. Artificial Intelligence for Artificial Intimacy creates a sense of ambiguous loss. Ambiguous loss is the uncertainty of presence, a digital limbo where one can’t discern if someone is truly there or not. Technically something is talking through the screen, but is anyone really there? It creates this feeling like you should feel connected, but you are not. It is a painful form of loneliness where technically isolation shouldn't exist, yet it does.
I believe that AI for companionship tries to mask our modern loneliness by digital hyperconnectivity, where online relationships demand minimal vulnerability, and the true essence of connection is lost in translation.
Rewarding relationships are the ones that are complex, not the ones that are binary and digital. They are not a series of ones and zeros but a rich tapestry of emotions and experiences that defy simplification.
As we navigate these opportunities for AI to change our lives for the better, I see us struggling with the complexities of human concepts. This is why I love AI Ethics- it encompasses all of the contradictions and paradoxes that are present in the human experience and tries to translate them to code and see them reflected back to us.
I guess my thought is that connection and relationships and ethics are not "problems to be solved", but rather they are experiences to be lived through.
If the world is missing connection, let's create real connection. If the world is in need of high-throughput computation, let the AI do that.
https://ai.marrvel.org/
AIM achieved superior accuracy compared with existing methods for genetic diagnosis. We anticipate that this tool may aid in primary diagnosis, reanalysis of unsolved cases, and the discovery of novel disease genes. (Funded by the NIH Common Fund and others.)
https://lnkd.in/emzfG-xE
