Emergency Medicine · Clinical Informatics

ALEX
FENN, MD

Building safer healthcare AI at the point of care.

About

Who

BIO

Emergency physician and clinical informaticist at UNC Health. My work sits at the intersection of EHR design, AI in clinical practice, and the daily reality of caring for patients in a busy Level I trauma center.

I’m a 2nd-year Clinical Informatics Fellow transitioning to EM/informatics faculty in September 2026, working as an attending in the Emergency Department while taking part in informatics initiatives across UNC Health.

Before medicine I spent three years as a bilingual third-grade teacher in Denver through Teach For America — which still shapes how I think about education, equity, and the craft of building something that actually helps the person in front of you.

Work

Experience

Clinical Informatics Fellow & Clinical Instructor in EM

2024 — present
UNC School of Medicine

Attending EM physician at a Level I trauma center while leading informatics work across UNC Health. EM clinical lead for clinical pathways now live at 10+ UNC Health entities statewide, and a member of the Responsible AI workgroup evaluating vendor tools.

Clinical Integration Advisor

2025 — present
Vega Health

Actively-practicing clinical advisor for a vendor-neutral healthcare-AI platform. I translate between clinical workflow and technical architecture so AI tools behave correctly against messy, real-world EHR data.

Medical Consultant

2022 — 2024
Synapse Medicine

US-based clinical consultant for a French health-tech company building safe-prescribing tools. Advised on US prescribing workflows and market dynamics, reviewed clinical content, and ran clinician-facing vendor evaluations.

Emergency Medicine Resident

2021 — 2024
UNC School of Medicine

Administrative Chief Resident (voted by faculty + peers). Built an EHR clinical decision support tool for critical-care documentation (presented at Epic XGM). Honors: EM Research Award (2024), Cefalo House Officer Award (2023), Golden Glove most-valuable intern (2022).

Bilingual 3rd-Grade Teacher

2012 — 2015
Teach For America · Denver Public Schools

Taught bilingual (Spanish) math & science at a Title I school as a TFA corps member for three years.

Education

  • Clinical Informatics Fellowship · ABPM Clinical Informatics board-eligible UNC School of Medicine 2026
  • Emergency Medicine Residency · ABEM board-certified UNC School of Medicine 2024
  • MD, Doctor of Medicine Duke University School of Medicine 2021
  • Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Program CU Boulder 2016
  • MA, Curriculum & Instruction CU Denver 2014
  • BA, English · Phi Beta Kappa CU Boulder 2011
Off the clock

Hobbies

Things I'm into outside of the hospital.

Ultrarunning

2,247-day run streak · 19,303 streak miles · 23,871 all-time miles (since I started tracking) · Zero rest days since 4/9/20 · Most recent run on 6/3 · 9 miles at 7:26 pace

Ultras, trails, backyard ultras, and timed events. And one Taco Bell 50k.

Coffee

Hario V60 as my daily driver, with the occasional Aeropress.

Gardening

Over 50 houseplants. Growing citrus in North Carolina! Currently working on a miracle berry plant.

Fermenting Things

Kombucha, kimchi, tepache — you name it.

Ice Cream

My top three:

  1. Salted Oreo — Little Man Ice Cream, Denver, CO
  2. B3 — Toscanini’s, Cambridge, MA
  3. Lemon Curd with Blueberry Basil Swirl — Milk Jawn, Philadelphia, PA
Baked Goods

Recently out of the oven: rustic sourdough, banana chocolate-chip cookies, shokupan, and a spoof of Levain chocolate-chip walnut cookies.

SAY HI

Let's talk.

Open to conversations about informatics research collaborations, AI in EM, vendor consultation, speaking, and mentorship.