Get to Know Aaron
Aaron Fanous is one of the first graduates of a dual degree program between UTSA and UT Health San Antonio. He graduated with both a Doctor of Medicine (MD) and a Master’s of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MD/MSAI). UTSA is the first university in the United States to offer this dual degree program.
A Journey Inspired by Legacy
Originally from Tyler, Texas, Aaron began his journey in medicine by watching his father care for patients in a gastroenterology practice. During his third year of medical school, Aaron enrolled in UTSA’s dual-degree MD/MSAI program, driven by his interest in both technology and medicine.
Learning from Faculty Experts
Working with experts in the field, Aaron learned from Dr. Dhireesha Kudithipudi, the Director of the UTSA Neuromorphic Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, who is an internationally recognized scholar and “a superstar in the AI world” according to Aaron. Additionally, he collaborated with Dr. Kal Clark, a radiologist at UT Health San Antonio, to develop an AI model for generating radiology reports from images.
Revolutionizing Healthcare with AI
As a graduate of UTSA’s dual degree program, Aaron is now one of the first doctors in the country to specialize in AI. The project-based model of the degree plan allowed him to begin solving real-world problems and see the outcomes of his work. “One of the biggest highlights of the program was when I first successfully trained a skin lesion identification model,” he said. “It was exhilarating to have something you make work.”
Planning a Bold Future
Aaron plans to continue pioneering AI applications that enhance patient care and streamline administrative tasks. He sees AI’s potential to optimize scheduling, summarize patient charts, and even identify abnormalities in medical images like X-rays and MRI scans. “My mission now is to focus on problems that can be solved with AI,” he said.
"I feel like I was in the right place at the right time in history."