Dan Riskin

Dan Riskin (born October 15, 1971) is an American physician, entrepreneur, and healthcare artificial intelligence executive. He is the CEO of Verantos and Clinical Professor of Surgery at Stanford University.^[1] His work applies artificial intelligence across healthcare to improve the measurement of outcomes, risk, and clinical decision-making. He has contributed to U.S. health policy, including through testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives related to the 21st Century Cures Initiative and service on the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC).^[2][3]

Riskin grew up in Los Angeles, California. He began writing software at age 5, selling software at age 12, and winning regional awards in software programming during grammar school.^[4] At age 15, Riskin received the Bausch and Lomb Outstanding Scientist Award. He began college at age 16 as a Regent’s Scholar at University of California.^[5]

Early in his career, Riskin was recognized by MIT Technology Review as one of its Top Innovators Under 35 for his work in healthcare technology.^[6] He later earned a Doctor of Medicine degree and an MBA with a focus in bioinformatics, and holds multiple board certifications.

While a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, Riskin designed a wound closure device for which he was issued U.S. patents and received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.^[7] The device has been used in clinical settings.^[8] He co-founded Wadsworth Medical Technologies, which was later acquired by DQ Holdings. In 2010 and 2012, Riskin was awarded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation for work related to artificial intelligence and clinical data analysis in healthcare.^[9][10]

In 2011, Riskin founded and became CEO of Health Fidelity, a health AI company focused on applying artificial intelligence to clinical data to measure quality and risk.^[11] The company’s technology has been used by health systems and payers and has been applied in healthcare settings affecting large patient populations.^[12] The company’s technology has been used by health systems and payers and has been applied in healthcare settings affecting large patient populations.^[13] It was acquired by Edifecs in a transaction valued in excess of $150 million.^[14]

In 2015, Riskin founded and became CEO of Verantos,^[15] a health AI company which determines preferred treatment for an individual based on clinical experience across millions of patients. Verantos has led research on improving the reliability of real-world healthcare data, including multiple FDA-funded demonstration projects.^{[16] [17]} The company’s products are used by pharmaceutical companies and health systems. It was recognized as Bioinformatics Company of the Year in 2021 and was subsequently recognized by Inc 5000 and Deloitte Fast 500 as one of America's fastest growing private companies.^[18][19]

Riskin has advocated a bipartisan approach to leverage clinical data to improve US healthcare quality. He described two decades of health data reform. The first, from 2010 - 2020, would institute electronic data capture and enable value-based healthcare. The second decade, from 2020 - 2030, would leverage the massive amounts of collected data to tailor therapy and enable personalized medicine.

Focusing on the first decade of healthcare data reform, capturing electronic information and improving value-based workflow, Riskin promoted a transition to electronic health records and use of data to improve care as an advisor to multiple administrations. These efforts were enacted through the HITECH Act in 2009 and Affordable Care Act in 2010. Riskin's academic work "Re-examining health IT policy: What will it take to derive value from our investment?" encouraged national discussion on innovation and analytics.^[20] He founded and built a company, Health Fidelity, with a vision to capture accurate electronic information and improve value-based workflow.^[21]

Focusing on the second decade of healthcare data reform, tailoring therapy based on real world evidence, Riskin provided Congressional testimony in the 21st Century Cures Initiative in 2014.^[22] He met in Congressional retreat to help refine the bill in 2015.^[23] The 21st Century Cures Act, passed in December 2016, included a pathway to incorporate real-world evidence into regulatory decision-making. Riskin's academic work describes an approach to use advanced technology and data to enable credible real-world evidence.^[24][25][26] He founded and built a company, Verantos, with a vision to refine the standard of care based on real-world evidence.^[27]

Riskin has continued to focus national attention on healthcare quality as a congressionally-appointed member of the US Health IT Advisory Committee,^[28] as a member of the Forbes Technology Council,^[29] through the HHS Quality Measurement Task Force,^[30] in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Grand Rounds,^[31] in FDA Grand Rounds and workshops,^[32] and through academic publication.