Michael J. Pencina, PhD, is UnitedHealth Group chief AI scientist, where he leads data science initiatives to enhance the organization's innovative use of responsible AI systems that deliver real-world impact at scale for consumers, health plan members, patients and providers. He is also an adjunct professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics at Duke University School of Medicine. He formerly served as chief data scientist at Duke Health.

Dr. Pencina is an internationally recognized authority in the evaluation of AI solutions. Guideline groups rely on his work to advance best practices for the application of algorithms in clinical medicine. Widely noted as an expert on risk prediction models, Dr. Pencina has authored or co-authored 400 peer-reviewed publications that have been cited over 100,000 times. Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics has recognized him as a “highly cited researcher” in clinical medicine and social sciences from the past several years.

He received his PhD in Mathematics and Statistics from Boston University in 2003 and holds master’s degrees from the University of Warsaw in actuarial mathematics and business culture.