Dr. Douglas Flora lost his mother to cancer when she was 38. Eight years later, Flora was diagnosed with kidney cancer, throwing his own life into flux as he fought the disease.
Those experiences would eventually help shape Flora’s work not only as an oncologist, but as an entrepreneur exploring how artificial intelligence could impact cancer care.
Flora is the executive medical director of oncology services at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, the largest hospital system in Northern Kentucky, and a co-founder of TensorBlack, a clinician-led startup focused on helping oncologists and other healthcare professionals navigate emerging AI technologies and responsibly integrate them into cancer care.
Reflecting on his own experiences with cancer, Flora told Middle Tech host Logan Jones that they created a sense of urgency within him.
“I think it built a little bit more urgency into me to see a bias towards action and in improving outcomes,” Flora said.
This urgency lead Flora to co-found TensorBlack, which brings together physicians and AI experts to evaluate emerging technologies and translate developments for working clinicians. The company has developed a web platform that curates and evaluates developments in AI for oncologists and other healthcare professionals. Company leaders describe TensorBlack as a “GPS for oncology.”
TensorBlack’s platform serves as a centralized hub for curated news and developments in AI, cancer research and healthcare technology, while its AI Academy offers educational videos and courses focused on applying AI in oncology.
In addition, the company produces original content, including a weekly newsletter and podcast, and hosts a professional community that helps healthcare organizations integrate AI products into clinical workflows.
From Flora’s perspective, the U.S. healthcare system faces myriad challenges, including staffing shortages, limited resources, late cancer diagnoses and treatments that remain taxing for many patients. Within oncology specifically, 59% of oncologists report experiencing burnout, according to a 2023 survey from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The survey also found that 22% of respondents were likely or definitely planning to leave their current practice within the next two years.
Amid those challenges, Flora believes artificial intelligence and other digital technologies could serve as force multipliers for healthcare providers.
“The problem is that we can't afford mistakes. We can't afford hallucinations. We can't afford hype,” Flora said. “We are cautiously optimistic about things that might help our patients and our teams. What I wanted to do was curate a team of experts in AI that happen to be oncologists, and let us help you understand vetted materials. Let us help you identify what's worth reading in your 12 free minutes a day to stay on pace with all this rapid change.”
TensorBlack is part of Flora’s broader work at the intersection of AI and medicine. He is also the founder of AI and Precision Oncology, a peer-reviewed journal focused on the responsible integration of AI into cancer medicine.
Flora said AI is already being used in oncology in three primary areas: administrative support, pattern recognition and clinical decision support. Those applications range from automating administrative work and documenting patient visits to helping clinicians analyze medical images and identify potentially important information in a patient's medical record.
While AI can enhance those processes, Flora believes physicians should remain responsible for interpreting the information it provides and making clinical decisions. He said one of the central challenges of integrating AI into healthcare is getting physicians comfortable enough with the technology to understand both its capabilities and limitations.
Flora is particularly interested in AI’s potential to help detect cancer earlier by analyzing conventional imaging, blood tests, genomic information, radiomics, metabolomics and other forms of patient data.
“It's a whole new version of medicine,” he said. “What happens when I can detect a cancer with a high degree of specificity and sensitivity? The tests are not there yet, but they're getting closer every study.”
While Flora is optimistic about the technology’s potential, he emphasized that much more research is needed before its promise can be translated into proven clinical practice. That balance between embracing innovation and demanding evidence is also central to what Flora hopes to accomplish through TensorBlack.
Ultimately, Flora’s work as a physician and entrepreneur comes back to one foundational question: Can his efforts reduce suffering at scale?
“It's very simple,” he said. “If I can reduce suffering at scale with lung cancer screening — go. If I can reduce suffering at scale by improving AI implementation — go. If I can improve suffering globally by fighting for innovations in precision mental health — go.”
Listen to Middle Tech’s podcast with Flora here.
