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About Me

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I am cofounder and chief scientific officer at Protege. I am also currently a faculty member at Tulane University and, beginning in 2026, will join O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University as an Assistant Professor, where I will focus exclusively on evaluations of AI using quasi-experimental and causal inference methods. My broader research lies at the intersection of healthcare innovation, economic policy, and data-driven evaluation, with a particular emphasis on aging populations and the effects of policy and technology on medical spending and health.

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At the O’Neill School I will teach SPEA-V -370 Research Methods and Statistical Modelling. I regularly teach health economics, and microeconomic theory. 

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I recently wrote a small memo on benchmarks in healthcare AI which you can find here

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Protege

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Protege aims to be the data layer for AI training, partnering with over 20 data providers to enable secure and compliant access to diverse datasets critical for healthcare AI development. Our vision is to create the largest linked multimodal database, integrating clinical notes, claims, genomics, and imaging data for advanced AI model training.

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To date, we've raised $35M in funding and continue to expand our partner network.

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Academic Research

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My academic research examines healthcare spending and the economic and policy factors influencing health outcomes, focusing especially on aging populations. With healthcare accounting for nearly 20% of GDP, and roughly half of spending concentrated on 5% of the population -the elderly and end of life patients- understanding the economics of elderly care is critical.

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My work employs quasi-experimental methods and extensive real-world datasets, including:

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  • Electronic Health Records (EHR) linked to mortality data

  • Claims data linked to EMRs

  • Multimodal imaging (DICOM) linked with EHR notes

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Key research themes include:

  • Effects of Medicare reimbursement policies on healthcare innovation

  • Evaluating marginal benefits and optimal reimbursement strategies for medical technologies

  • Public health crises, notably the opioid epidemic and COVID-19, and their impact on healthcare utilization and disparities in care for elderly and vulnerable populations 

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If you’re interested in discussing healthcare innovation, data linkages, aging, or research collaboration, please reach out at eziedan@tulane.edu or engy@withprotege.ai 

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