This month’s spotlight lands on Steve Damon, a Vanderbilt research alum whose journey across startups, streaming platforms, and clinical imaging reflects the expanding role of AI in industry — and the growing energy of the Nashville tech scene.

Steve began his post-Vanderbilt career at Trinisys, where he helped design long-term storage systems for electronic health records. “It was sink-or-swim,” he recalls. “You learn fast when the pace is high and the stakes are real.” That early experience shaped his ability to tackle tough engineering problems with clarity and resilience.

At Optum, he worked with healthcare claims data at scale. The structured environment offered new lessons in system design and deployment. “There’s value in repeatable processes,” Steve notes. “It taught me how to see a project all the way through —from idea to execution — while balancing performance and compliance.”

He later joined Paramount (formerly CBS Interactive) to support machine learning for content recommendation, before landing at iHeartRadio, where he led a complete transformation of their music ingestion pipeline. “We went from a 24-hour legacy batch system to a real-time streaming pipeline that ingests and processes up to 100,000 tracks a day,” he says. “That project pulled together everything I’d learned — reverse engineering, cost optimization, scalability.”

Now, as co-founder of HeartVue.AI, Steve is bringing AI back to medicine, helping build tools that automatically quantify cardiac structures and blood flow from imaging data. “We’re not just building algorithms — we’re structuring data so it’s useful for clinicians and ready for future analysis,” he explains. “This isn’t just smart software. It’s about making healthcare work better.”

Steve remains grounded in the values he learned at Vanderbilt: testing, curiosity, and community. “Nashville’s where I’ve met the smartest people I know. It’s where my network is. And it’s where the ideas keep growing.”

Andre Teixeira da Silva Hucke’s journey into AI didn’t start in a computer lab — it started in Brazil, sorting through streams of hydrological data and wondering how to make sense of the complex systems around us. Today, he’s a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt, exploring how imaging, omics, and artificial intelligence can come together to reveal new insights into human health. “I love seeing how it all connects,” he says. “It’s not about one field — it’s about finding where they intersect.”

Andre’s path to VALIANT was anything but traditional. Originally trained in environmental science in Brazil, he built his early research around hydrological datasets, using artificial intelligence to model and predict water system behaviors. But it wasn’t until an opportunity to volunteer at Mayo Clinic that his interest in biology, omics, and data converged. His mother had been working with Dr. Veronique Belzil, a specialist in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig Disease) research, who needed help organizing complex genetic and methylation datasets. Andre stepped in — unpaid at first — combining his databasing skills with a growing curiosity about how environment and disease intersect.

That initial effort evolved into a project on cell-free DNA and methylation profiling in ALSpatients. By analyzing genetic fragments released into the bloodstream by dying neurons, Andre aimed to trace the signals of neurodegeneration — ultimately identifying a key biomarker linked to gut microbiota and environmental factors. “It brought everything together,” he reflects. “Genetics, environment, and disease pathways. That’s where I knew I wanted to go.”

When Dr. Belzil accepted a position at Vanderbilt, Andre followed— and soon after, he was introduced to VALIANT. Now a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, he finds himself immersed in medical imaging, deep learning, and a collaborative culture that feels like home. “Everyone here works together, in person, and openly shares what they know,” he says. “It’s the most welcoming and intellectually generous environment I’ve ever been in.”

While he’s found a new passion in imaging, Andre hasn’t forgotten his roots. His long-term vision is to integrate environmental data, omics, EHRs, and imaging into a unified framework for understanding disease. “I have a whole plot,” he jokes. “I want to merge these fields and close it all with a golden key.”

Beyond the lab, Andre has embraced Nashville life — praising the city’s balance of vibrant culture and easy access to nature. “It has that small-town vibe, but it’s also active and international,” he says. “And the food — so many delicious options, from Indian to Mexican to dumplings, all within walking distance.”

His advice for others considering a PhD? “Only do it if you really want to. It demands a lot, but if you love research, it’s incredibly rewarding,” he says. “And Vanderbilt… it feels like home, even though I’m thousands of miles away from mine.”

Our scientists are breaking new ground:

Our early stage member gear has been delivered. Congratulationsto the new moms and dads! The next batch of onsies (pictured left) just arrived. If you (AI Fellows and AI Scholars) are expecting and/or would like the littlest one(s) among your friends and family  to become Honorary VALIANTs, drop us a note.

I am excited to announce the launch of our new summer intern / undergraduate weekly lunch series “S.L.I.C.E.” (Summer Lunch for Interactive Conversation and Exchange), where AI Scholars interns doing research in VALIANT-affiliated labs can meet on a weekly basis to enjoy some pizza and networking/socializing activities. This is a great opportunity for our interns to connect, collaborate, and enjoy a tasty lunch together as they dive into their summer projects. Pass the word, register here.

PhD students Yamin Li and Shiyu Wang presented their EEG-fMRI work at the DSI AI Showcase yesterday and received the 1st-place runner up award! 

VALIANT is proud to support BrainHack Vanderbilt 2025, an event that brought together over 100 researchers from 24 departments and institutes. The hackathon supported 10 innovative projects across 9 labs, fostering both in-person and virtual collaboration. This dynamic, inclusive environment reflects VALIANT’s commitment to advancing open, interdisciplinary neuroscience.

VALIANT Attempt student group  shared bite-sized science with creativity and clarity — making big ideas accessible for us all.

Lucas Remedios turned quality assurance into a game – literally – by accelerating workflows with an Xbox game controller. Creativity thrives! Note to finance: Please approve my quirky purchases… they really are for science.  

We have a lot going on right now. Here is what has hit Scopusfrom our community since last month.