As Google’s first chief health officer, Dr. Karen DeSalvo says she invented the job as she went. There was a lot to create. Since arriving at Google in 2019, she has capitalized on health applications of technology like generative AI, and in 2024 Google Health launched the latest version of AlphaFold, an revolutionary modeling tool that helps biomedical researchers predict the shape of proteins as they develop new drugs and treatments for human diseases.
Under DeSalvo’s leadership (she recently announced she will retire this summer), Google Health also modernized how doctors and scientists, as well as patients, understand health care data. In May 2024, the company released Med-Gemini, an AI-based tool to help doctors and researchers make sense of the increasing volumes of medical data, from health records and images to journal articles. And to help patients navigate the confusing U.S. health care system, Google is developing digital agents that can research symptoms, make appointments with health care providers, and evaluate which treatment options are right for them. DeSalvo’s team also oversaw the development of the 2024 Pixel watch, which has a new feature that detects when someone no longer has a pulse and immediately calls emergency services.