Pengfei Zhou
Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information
237
June 24, 2026
#237: University of Pittsburgh & Dell Technologies: Can AI Wearables Predict a Heart Attack Before It Strikes?
What if your wearable could do more than track steps - and actually help detect cardiovascular risk before symptoms appear?
Heart disease is the deadliest disease on the planet. In the U.S. alone it killed close to 300,000 - more than cancer. And it’s a quiet killer: by the time you feel a symptom, the damage is usually already done.
Pengfei Zhou, Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Computing and Information, is trying to catch it earlier - building AI-powered wearables that read your heart continuously instead of waiting for a checkup.
That tracks with something deeper for me: my brother-in-law is a spinal surgeon, and a book called Outlive got him thinking about the “four horsemen” of disease. Heart disease topped the list. He’s been mostly plant-based ever since.
I sat down virtually with Pengfei, Matt de Lima Barbosa (Director of IT, Pitt’s School of Computing and Information), and Adrienne Garber, Chief Technology & Innovation Strategist fo…
Heart disease is the deadliest disease on the planet. In the U.S. alone it killed close to 300,000 - more than cancer. And it’s a quiet killer: by the time you feel a symptom, the damage is usually already done.
Pengfei Zhou, Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Computing and Information, is trying to catch it earlier - building AI-powered wearables that read your heart continuously instead of waiting for a checkup.
That tracks with something deeper for me: my brother-in-law is a spinal surgeon, and a book called Outlive got him thinking about the “four horsemen” of disease. Heart disease topped the list. He’s been mostly plant-based ever since.
I sat down virtually with Pengfei, Matt de Lima Barbosa (Director of IT, Pitt’s School of Computing and Information), and Adrienne Garber, Chief Technology & Innovation Strategist fo…