Co-Founder and Researcher

Jeffrey Thompson

Dr. Thompson is Co-Founder and Researcher of the enhanced Artificial Intelligence Center for Human-Focused Research at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Dr. Thompson is also the Chair of the  Artificial Intelligence Steering Committee, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Data and Analytics, The Chief Research Informatics Officer, and an Associate Professor of the Biostatistics and Data Science department. Dr. Thompson is also a Co-lead for the Informatics Core of the Frontiers Clinical and Translational Science Institute, The Associate Director of the Quantitative Omics Core for the Kansas Institute of Precision Medicine and The EHR and Clinical Informatics Leader for the All of Us Research Program Heartland Consortium.

Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

Chris Harper
charper@kumc.edu

Chris Harper is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of the enhanced Artificial Intelligence Center for Human-Focused Research at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Chris also serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Healthcare Information Technology Services (HITS) at The University of Kansas Health System. In this role, Chris also holds the title of Joint CIO, bridging leadership across both The University of Kansas Health System and The University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) to align enterprise-wide technology strategy and execution.

With over 20 years of experience in business and technology, Chris brings deep expertise across system and application development, IT governance, business engagement, change management, strategic process design, and organizational transformation. His leadership has been pivotal in advancing business intelligence, data management, and the implementation of advanced analytics strategies.

In recent years, Chris has led major initiatives in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure modernization. 

Chris holds a Master of Arts in International Business Administration (MBAi) and a Master of Science in Project Management (MPM). Chris also has a (CHCIO) (College of Healthcare CIO Certification) and a (CDH-E) (College of Digital Healthcare Executive Certification).

Director

Dawn King, Ph.D.
dking20@kumc.edu

Dr. King has a background in physics and machine learning, with over a decade advancing science, technology, and innovation across geospatial AI, national security, and research computing. Dr. King bridges disciplines — from gravity modeling and digital twins to secure, scalable AI infrastructure.

Dr. King has led national efforts to modernize geophysical modeling with the use of AI, serving as Principal Investigator on high-impact programs that integrated deep learning with high-performance computing, AWS-native workflows, and collaborative partnerships across government, academia, and industry.

As an Inaugural Director of the enhanced AI Center for Human-Focused Research at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Dr. King’s mission is to build on this momentum in healthcare and public health innovation and to focus on building an enterprise-scale, interdisciplinary AI ecosystem that:

• Accelerates responsible, translational AI for clinical and research applications.
• Supports collaboration across data science, medicine, and public health.
• Leverages modern infrastructure for secure, ethical, and impactful deployments.

Dr. King remains committed to mentorship, open collaboration, and delivering real-world impact through trustworthy AI systems.

Manager, Data and AI Architecture

Lav Patel
lpatel@kumc.edu

Lav Patel leads Data and AI Architecture within the Research Informatics division at the University of Kansas Medical Center. With over a decade of experience in biomedical data engineering and systems design, he focuses on building resilient, scalable pipelines and infrastructure that enable translational research at scale.

Lav’s technical leadership has powered several high-impact initiatives — including the rapid deployment of a COVID-19 data integration pipeline and the optimization of PCORnet data models that reduced execution time from 233 hours to 5. His work bridges engineering, informatics, and research to accelerate data-driven discovery across institutions.

As Manager of Data and AI Architecture, Lav helps build and connect KUMC’s data and AI systems. He works on improving Azure and Databricks platforms and creating secure data pipelines that make research and healthcare projects faster, safer, and more effective.