About Ēnel
The people behind the method.
Our leadership keeps the method honest. The advisors guide it. No single person guarantees a verdict.
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David Adams, Ph.D.
Study Design & Methodologies
David Adams is a mathematician and statistician who advises Ēnel Health on the analytical methods that underlie the platform. His scope covers the mathematics and statistics behind the methodology, the review of statistical models and the soundness of study designs, and guidance on confidence intervals, significance standards, and methodological rigor in how data is interpreted. In practice, his role is to hold the line on statistical discipline: making sure conclusions follow from the data, that uncertainty is stated honestly, and that the standards applied across studies stay consistent and defensible.
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Maureen Curran
Research operations
Maureen Curran spent nearly four decades at UC San Diego Health Sciences, most recently as Director of Administration and International Business Development, following more than two decades as Executive Director of the Stein Institute for Research on Aging and the ACTRI Education Core, where she built and ran multidisciplinary research and training programs funded in part by the NIH and mentored trainees from high school through junior faculty. Earlier in her career she worked as a policy fellow with the U.S. House Committee on Aging and as a healthcare analyst for the Department of Veterans Affairs. She now consults independently and serves as President of the Board of the Lily Brentano Foundation. Maureen brings Ēnel Health decades of research operations and grant management expertise.
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Phillip Dickinson, M.D.
Clinical and surgical
Phillip Dickinson is a physician and surgeon with twenty-five years in clinical practice, spanning bariatric and metabolic surgery and the emergency department, including work at Scripps Mercy in San Diego. He advises Ēnel Health from the standpoint of active practice and collaborates with the founder through KOI Wellbeing. His board scope covers clinical oversight and a surgical perspective on study protocols and participant-safety standards, the review of study design and data-collection methods as a practicing clinician would judge them, and guidance on translating crowdsourced health data into evidence that meets standards of clinical relevance. His role keeps the studies tethered to the realities of patient care.
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Ravi Kumar, M.D.
Evidence integrity
Ravi Kumar, M.D., is a board-certified neurosurgeon whose career has taken him across the country, from residency at the Mayo Clinic to practice with Hawaii Permanente Medical Group in Honolulu, then to Providence in Walla Walla, Washington, and now to an appointment as Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at UNC Health. That breadth of practice, across academic, community, and multi-specialty group settings, has given him an unusually wide view of how care is actually delivered. He also hosts The Dr. Kumar Discovery podcast, exploring medicine and science for a broader audience. Ravi brings Ēnel Health a working neurosurgeon’s perspective on evidence integrity and real-world clinical decision-making.
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J. Scott Overcash, M.D., FACEP
Clinical design
J. Scott Overcash, M.D., has practiced emergency medicine at Sharp Grossmont Hospital for more than seventeen years, including six years on its Emergency Medicine Supervisory Board. Alongside his clinical practice, he has built an extensive career in clinical research, serving as Principal Investigator, Medical Director, and ultimately Chief Medical Officer at eStudySite, where he led trials spanning emergency and critical care, infectious disease, antibiotics, antivirals, vaccines, dermatology, hepatology, and diabetes. He now serves as Regional Medical Director for Velocity Clinical Research, overseeing site operations and investigator teams. Board-certified and FACEP-designated, Scott brings Ēnel Health rare hands-on experience in both frontline emergency care and the operational realities of running clinical trials at scale.
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Asif Shakeel, Ph.D.
Machine learning and modeling
Asif Shakeel’s career spans semiconductor engineering and academic research in machine learning and quantum computing. He began as a VLSI and systems engineer at Conexant, designing ASICs and video processing architectures, before shifting into research, first studying quantum cellular automata at Haverford College and then joining Professor David Meyer’s group at UC San Diego to work on quantum algorithms and simulation alongside applied machine learning projects in mobility data, sustainable energy, agriculture, IoT systems, and satellite imagery for humanitarian aid. He has since worked as a data scientist and algorithms engineer at 11 Health & Technologies and Biolinq, and now serves as both a Lecturer in Mathematics at UC San Diego and a Principal Research Scientist applying machine learning to mobility data.
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James Christopher
Brand Experience and GTM
James Christopher has built a career translating deep technical expertise into market-facing strategy. He spent more than eight years at Qualcomm as a senior engineer and designer within the R&D division while also serving at the Office of the Chief Scientist, and holds two patents spanning machine learning, natural language processing, and advanced sensor technology. He then moved into product marketing and GTM leadership roles across multiple growing startups and co-founded Signet Science, where he worked with top tech-forward Fortune 500 brands. He later took on fractional CMO and GTM advisory roles with emerging AI ventures, and is currently a Partner at advisory firm F3 Insights.
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Wajdie Ahmad
Business strategy and fundraising
Wajdie Ahmad has spent two decades building biopharmaceutical companies from the inside out. He began at Allergan, spending thirteen years rising from bioprocess associate to engineering and operations leadership, before co-founding Bonti in 2015 as its Chief Operating Officer. Allergan acquired Bonti three years later for $195 million upfront plus additional milestone payments, validating the platform he had helped build. He then co-founded Amplifica, where he now serves as Executive Chairman, and sits on the board of directors of Attillaps Holdings. He holds an MBA from UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business. Wajdie brings Ēnel Health a rare blend of operating discipline, entrepreneurial instinct, and firsthand experience of a successful exit.
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Brent Backhaus
Platform architecture
Brent Backhaus has spent more than two decades at the intersection of healthcare and software architecture. Early in his career he served as CTO of Virtual Radiologic Corporation, where he holds two patents and helped grow the company into the largest teleradiology provider in the country ahead of an IPO valued above $500 million. He went on to lead technology at Evidentia Health and USARAD, the latter acquired by Nano-X, before co-founding Verata Health as CIO, which was later acquired by Olive. He then served as VP of Engineering at Olive, CTO of Aideo Technologies, and Chief Solutions Architect at Lazarus AI. Brent is now VP of Software Engineering at Availity and holds a degree from MIT.