Oscar M Carrasco-Zevallos, PhD
Director, Data Science and Digital Health @ Johnson and Johnson Innovative Medicine
Boston, MA
About Me
At J&J Innovative Medicine, I lead a portfolio of AI/ML initiatives aimed at accelerating drug research and development. I also focus on landscaping the external AI/ML ecosystem and establishing partnerships with start-ups and technology providers. Previously, I was at PathAI, a VC-backed AI biotech where I led development of AI products in partnership with pharma and biotech sponsors.
My scientific training in Biomedical Engineering spanned MIT and Duke; to date, my research has produced 130+ articles and presentations in top-tier journals and conferences.
I am interested in working across the ecosystem of start-ups, VC, and pharma to bring AI products from concept to market, where patients can benefit from this revolutionary tech. Always excited to chat with like-minded colleagues - feel free to reach out!
Interests
- AI/ML start-ups
- Drug R&D
- Venture capital
- Life sciences, biotech
Skills
- AI strategy
- Partnerships
- Tech due diligence
- AI product dev
- GenAI, Computer vision
AI-driven Applications Across the Drug R&D Value Chain
Leveraging breakthroughs in biomedical and computer science to bring medicines to patients faster
Representative case studies
Target ID via ML-based transcriptomic analysis
- ML pathology combined with RNAseq from trial samples revealed a prognostic gene expression signature
- Enriched genes and signaling pathways suggested potential drug targets for future research
Automated phenotypic analysis in animal models
- A scalable platform with foundational AI models enabled phenotypic quantitation across multiple imaging modalities
- Deployed for use by large x-functional team including non-AI experts
Unbiased assessment of
trial efficacy endpoints
- An AI biomarker test was developed to accurately assess key trial endpoints
- Retrospective analysis of trial data demonstrated AI’s superior sensitivity for detecting drug effect
Notable Awards
- 2022 - J&J Innovation Medicine R&D SPARK Innovation Award for groundbreaking strategies and platforms, J&J
- 2021 - Invited plenary presentation at FNIH Biomarkers Consortium Metabolic Disorders Meeting, PathAI
- 2020 - Selected for “100 Inspiring Hispanic Scientists in America,” Cell Press, PathAI
- 2019 - 1st place, Harvard-MIT Case Competition, MIT
- 2018 - National Institutes of Health NRSA F32 Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship, MIT
- 2018 - Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Enrichment Program Award, MIT
- 2018 - Leadership Award for Outstanding Service, Duke University
- 2017 - MIT’s Rising Star in Biomedical, MIT
- 2012 - National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Duke University
- 2012 - Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, Duke University
- 2011 - Best Undergraduate Honors Research Thesis, Texas A&M
- 2011 - Craig C. Brown Outstanding Senior Engineer Award, Texas A&M
- 2011 to current - 10+ awards and distinctions for research presented at leading medical and technical conferences
Press Coverage
- 2022 - Paige, Janssen team up to launch AI-powered bladder cancer test: Fierce Biotech
- 2021 - Acceptance of AI drug development tool into FDA biomarker qualification program: PR Newswire
- 2021 - Oral presentation on AI-based drug development tool: PR Newswire
- 2017 - Intraoperative Optical Coherence Tomography feature: Retina Today article
Select Publications and Presentations (from 130+)
- A. J. Ramon, C. Parmar, O. M. Carrasco-Zevallos … K. Standish, “Development and real-time deployment of a histopathology-based deep learning algorithm for patient pre-screening in a targeted-therapy bladder cancer clinical trial,” (In Revision at Nature Communications)
- J. Iyer, C. Biddle-Snead, H. Pokkalla, O. M. Carrasco-Zevallos, … I. Wapinski, “AI-based histologic scoring enables automated and reproducible assessment of enrollment criteria and endpoints in NASH clinical trials,” (In Revision at Nature Medicine). Link to preprint
- B. Lutnick, … O. M. Carrasco-Zevallos, S. S. F. Yip, “A user-friendly AI system for histopathology image analysis system to accelerate pharmaceutical R&D,” Journal of Pathology Informatics, 2023. Link to publication
- J. Conway*, M. Pouryahya* … O. M. Carrasco-Zevallos … C. Chung, “Integration of Deep Learning-Based Histopathology with Transcriptomics Identifies Key Genes Associated with Fibrogenesis in Patients with Advanced NASH,” Cell Reports Medicine, 2023. *Authors contributed equally Link to publication
- M. Carrasco-Zevallos, … K. Wack, “AI-based histologic measurement of NASH (AIM-NASH): A drug development tool for assessing clinical trial endpoints,” EASL International Liver Congress, 2021. Oral presentation. Link to presentation
- C. Shukla, O. M. Carrasco-Zevallos, …J. E. Gane, “Machine learning enables quantitative assessment of histopathologic signatures associated with ALT normalization in chronic hepatitis B patients treated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF),” AASLD, Boston, USA, 2020. Plenary oral presentation. Link to presentation
Invited Talks (from 10+)
- O. M. Carrasco-Zevallos, AI-enabled devices to accelerate drug development, Bioengineering Seminar Series, UIUC, 2022.
- O. M. Carrasco-Zevallos*, Asha Mahesh*, ML-Enabled Biomarkers for Clinical Trials: A Framework for Productization and Deployment, Bio-IT World, Boston, MA 2022. *Co-presenters
- O. M. Carrasco-Zevallos, “AI-based assessment of NASH histology for treatment monitoring and risk stratification,” FNIH Biomarkers Consortium Metabolic Disorders Meeting, Plenary Session, Webinar 2021.
- O. M. Carrasco-Zevallos, “AI-powered computational pathology for liver diseases,” HBV Liver Forum – Intrahepatic Panel, The Forum for Collaborative Research, Webinar, 2020. Link to presentation