Team on KEV.AI Lab

Adria Abella Villafranca

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Chief Technology Officer, SchoolMe Researcher, Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Bio

Adria Abella Villafranca is a mechanical engineer and the technical lead behind SchoolMe’s AI-powered medical education platform. Before moving into full-time startup leadership, Adria spent six years as Data Warehouse Administrator at the UAMS Institute for Digital Health & Innovation, where he built and maintained the research data infrastructure that powered dozens of peer-reviewed studies and multiple patents in waveform analysis, surgical informatics, and medical device development.

Carly M. Eckert, MD, PhD, MPH

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Chief Operating Officer, SchoolMe Assistant Research Professor, Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Adjunct Associate Professor, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University Co-Founder, Head of Innovation & Impact, Head of Responsible AI — Avante

LinkedIn • ORCID • Google Scholar

Bio

Carly Eckert is a physician, epidemiologist, and clinical informaticist whose career sits at the intersection of healthcare AI, responsible technology development, and health system innovation. She trained as an MD, completed general surgery residency at Vanderbilt, and earned her MPH and PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Washington.

Keith L. Obstein, MD, MPH

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Chief Medical Education Officer & Board Chairman, SchoolMe Assistant Dean for Simulation in Medical Education, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Director, Center for Experiential Learning and Assessment (CELA) Professor of Medicine and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University Director, Science and Technology of Robotics in Medicine (STORM) Lab USA

ORCID: 0000-0001-8654-7290 • LinkedIn • STORM Lab • Vanderbilt Profile

Bio

Keith Obstein is a gastroenterologist, medical device inventor, and medical education scientist who sits at the rare intersection of clinical medicine, mechanical engineering, and adult learning theory. He was recruited to Vanderbilt in 2010 to develop an endoscopic technologies program and now holds primary appointments in both Medicine and Mechanical Engineering.

Kevin W. Sexton, MD, FACS

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Director, KEV.AI Lab Professor of Surgery and Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Helen and Nicholas Abumrad Director | Vice Chair for Innovation, Section of Surgical Sciences CEO & Co-Founder, SchoolMe

kevin.sexton@vumc.org • LinkedIn • ORCID • Google Scholar

Bio

Kevin Sexton is a trauma and acute care surgeon, board-certified clinical informaticist, and healthcare AI entrepreneur. He directs the KEV.AI Lab at VUMC, where he leads research at the intersection of surgery, clinical informatics, and artificial intelligence, and serves as Vice Chair for Innovation in the Section of Surgical Sciences.