Dr. Alvelda, is an experienced AI technology innovator, entrepreneur, and investor who has created several industry-defining companies across a storied career. He is the Managing Partner of Brainworks Ventures, a new type of investment and startup incubator designed from the ground-up to offer venture capital for AI innovation. The company leverages the latest AI technologies to create and scale AI-enabled companies that address global challenges.

Prior to Brainworks Ventures, Dr. Alvelda created the Brainworks Foundry which spun out two AI-enabled startups as a model for what became Brainworks Ventures including Medio Labs, a molecular diagnostics company founded to address the COVID pandemic.

Brainworks grew out of Dr. Alvelda’s stint in the Obama Administration’s DARPA | Biological Technologies Office where he developed national-scale R&D programs and technologies at the intersection of AI and neuroscience, to catalyze the Brain-Machine Interface Industry.

Prior to Medio Labs, Brainworks, and DARPA, Dr. Alvelda was the founding CEO of MobiTV, which launched the world’s first live TV service for mobile phones over cellular networks. For this work, Dr. Alvelda was awarded an Emmy and was chosen as a “World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer” in 2007.

Prior to MobiTV, Dr. Alvelda founded The MicroDisplay Corporation the creator of the display device in the Google Glass, and developed ai-enhanced spacecraft sensors (Space Shuttle, Galileo, Magellan and Cassini) and new AI architectures at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Dr. Alvelda holds over 30 patents and patents-pending on a wide range of technologies, a technical Emmy Award, a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Cornell University, and Masters and PhD degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

By this expert

To Fix Health Care, Treat It as a System: Memorandum to Senator Ronald Wyden and Democratic Members of the Senate Finance Committee

Article | Aug 4, 2026

Senate Finance Committee Democrats are seeking evidence and proposals to shape health-care legislation. Their critique of insurers has merit, but reforms confined to insurance risk leaving hospitals, conglomerates, and much of the system’s extraction untouched, sets the stage for further disappointment.

Memorandum to Senator Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, and Democratic Members of the Senate Finance Committee

Paper Working Paper | | Aug 2026

Senate Finance Committee Democrats have invited outside evidence and proposals for their next health-care agenda. Their critique of insurers has force, but the remedies leave most of the system untouched, risking further disappointment unless reform reaches hospitals and entire conglomerates.

New CDC Guidelines to Reopen Schools Could be Dangerous

Article | Mar 19, 2021

School re-opening push based on outdated science is poorly timed in face of coronavirus resurgence

To Save the Economy, Save People First

Article | Nov 18, 2020

Targeted Measures and Subsidies for Cost Effective COVID-19 Abatement

Featuring this expert

Can States Reinvent U.S. Healthcare? This Expert Thinks So.

Article | Jul 29, 2025

Phillip Alvelda, a former DARPA program manager, reveals how a fracturing federal system has opened the door for bold state leadership. Will blue states rise to build a healthier, more just future?

“A Generational Loss of Talent” - Scientist Warns Funding Cuts in Science, Tech, and Health Undermine U.S. Leadership

Article | Mar 5, 2025

Phillip Alvelda, a scientist and entrepreneur with past roles at NASA and DARPA, sounds the alarm on cuts that threaten the innovative capacities that have made America a global powerhouse.

Expert: Why Covid and Future Pandemics are a Bigger Threat than Nukes

Article | Jul 18, 2024

Dr. Phillip Alvelda tells INET’s Lynn Parramore about persistent political and public health failures exposing us to devastating diseases, while vastly underestimating their long-term health effects.

“Debilitating a Generation”: Expert Warns That Long COVID May Eventually Affect Most Americans

Article | Jun 13, 2024

In a candid discussion with INET’s Lynn Parramore, Dr. Phillip Alvelda highlights the imminent dangers of long COVID, criticizing governments and health agencies for ongoing preventable suffering and deaths. *This is Part 2 of a two-part interview.