A Student's Idea on AI Applications for Heart Disease | Akshay Singh | TEDxOU
Akshay Singh, a computer science student, presents Circulize, an AI-powered startup designed to predict and prevent cardiovascular disease by combining machine learning risk prediction with personalized, emotionally-supportive recommendations for patients. His motivation stems from witnessing a family friend's sudden cardiac death, leading him to research how AI can address the silent nature of heart disease, particularly among seniors who are most vulnerable but least tech-savvy.
Summary
Singh begins by categorizing societal disruptions into positive and negative categories, using AI as an example of beneficial disruption that has transformed education and productivity. He illustrates AI's accessibility through personal examples, including how chatbots have become his mother's companion. He then pivots to negative disruptions, citing the 2008 financial crisis, before introducing his central thesis: medical disruptions differ fundamentally because they "start with silence." Cardiovascular disease, identified by the WHO as the leading cause of mortality in the United States, often progresses silently due to lifestyle factors like poor diet, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Singh recounts a personal revelation from two and a half years ago when the father of a bride at an Indian wedding died of sudden cardiac arrest three weeks after the event, despite appearing healthy and vibrant. The autopsy revealed lifestyle factors—being overweight, smoking cigars, drinking alcohol, and consuming significant red meat—had gradually disrupted cellular processes like glycolysis and beta oxidation. This tragedy inspired Singh to research cardiovascular disease prevention using AI and machine learning. During his sophomore year, he investigated cardiovascular disease trends across nations, age groups, and ethnicities, eventually presenting his research at the Stanford Research Conference in April 2025. There, a Kosla Ventures representative advised him to transition from academic research to entrepreneurship while highlighting a critical oversight: people most vulnerable to cardiovascular disease (ages 60-65) are least tech-savvy to use AI solutions. This insight led Singh to volunteer at a hospice to develop a human-centered approach, ultimately creating Circulize. The application addresses three "disruptions": prediction (using machine learning models to assess cardiovascular risk based on biographical data, biomarkers, and lifestyle factors), prevention (providing personalized recommendations when risk exceeds 50%), and emotional connection (delivering recommendations through narrative storytelling rather than clinical facts). Singh emphasizes that medicine must serve both intellectual and emotional needs, arguing that doctors often fail to provide emotional support when delivering difficult diagnoses. Circulize generates recommendations through multiple AI APIs (Gemini, Copilot, ChatGPT, Meta) covering weight loss strategies, motivation techniques, doctor consultations, and hospital recommendations. Singh concludes that integrating prediction, prevention, and emotional support will transform healthcare and positively impact patients' physical and mental health.
Key Insights
- Singh argues that medical disruptions differ fundamentally from other societal disruptions because they 'start with silence'—cardiovascular disease progresses without obvious symptoms or immediate attention-grabbing events, unlike financial crises or other visible disruptions.
- Singh claims that the WHO identifies cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of mortality in the United States, not diabetes, cancer, or obesity, yet it receives less public attention because it lacks the loud, attention-grabbing nature of other major disruptions.
- Singh identifies a critical gap in AI-assisted healthcare: people most vulnerable to cardiovascular disease (seniors aged 60-65) are the least tech-savvy compared to younger generations, creating a major oversight in applying AI solutions to those who need them most.
- Singh argues that Circulize delivers personalized recommendations through narrative storytelling rather than clinical facts because patients experiencing traumatic health diagnoses are emotionally overwhelmed and need emotional support alongside intellectual information, not just data.
- Singh contends that medicine must address both intellectual and emotional needs simultaneously, arguing that doctors who deliver facts without emotional availability are perceived as arrogant, and this emotional disconnection negatively impacts both patient physical and mental health.
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] Over the past few decades, the past few centuries, the human race has encountered a variety of disruptions and disruptors which have impacted society in numerous ways. From an individual standpoint, when we hear the word disruptors or disruption, what do we think of? We think of something big, a breakthrough, a crisis, something such a an event so eventful, so powerful that we as humans and history tend to struggle to forget. The way I like to [0:31] categorize disruptions, I like to categorize them into two categories. Positive disruptors and negative disruptors. An example of a positive disruptor which is absolutely beneficial in society, especially today, is the rise of artificial intelligence. Let's be honest, almost everyone…
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