Overview
Founding Director of Algorithm-Based Clinical Decision Support (ABCDS) Oversight
Nicoleta Economou-Zavlanos, PhD, is the Director of the Duke Health AI Evaluation & Governance Program and the founding director of the Algorithm-Based Clinical Decision Support (ABCDS) Oversight initiative. In this capacity, she leads Duke Health’s efforts to evaluate and govern health AI technologies. Dr. Economou also serves on the Executive Committee of the NIH Common Fund’s Bridge to Artificial Intelligence (Bridge2AI) Program. Additionally, she served as Scientific Advisor for the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), driving the development of guidelines for AI assurance in healthcare, from 2024 to 2025.
A nationally recognized expert in health AI governance, Dr. Economou has been instrumental in creating frameworks and methodologies for the registration, review, and assurance of health AI systems. Her research, published in leading journals such as NPJ Digital Medicine, JAMA, JAMA Health Forum, and JAMIA, reflects her commitment to advancing the responsible development and use of AI in healthcare.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
A federated learning framework for ethical dynamic treatment allocation across heterogeneous hospitals.
Journal Article J Biomed Inform · February 2026 OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we propose an adaptive federated learning framework to learn optimal treatments for individual hospitals that possibly serve different patient populations. The proposed framework can enable the design of more efficient treatment a ... Full text Link to item CiteBridging the Gap: Consensus-Based Considerations for AI Usefulness in Healthcare.
Journal Article Am J Bioeth · February 2026 Full text Link to item CiteBuilding Consensus for Responsible AI in Healthcare.
Journal Article Am J Bioeth · October 2025 Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Measuring AI Maturity in Healthcare Organizations
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Vanderbilt University Medical Center · 2023 - 2026Health AI Coalition Workgroup
ResearchProject Lead · Awarded by Mitre Corporation · 2022 - 2022Enhanced X-ray Angiography Analysis and Interpretation Using Deep Learning
ResearchProgram Manager · Awarded by Vigilant Medical · 2019 - 2022View All Grants