Andrea Downing
Andrea Downing is the co-founder and Board President of The Light Collective, a nonprofit working to protect patient rights, safety, and real-world interests in how healthcare AI is built, deployed, and governed. A self-described “BRCA mutant hacker” and longtime cybersecurity and digital rights advocate, she focuses on the risks and promises of AI in medicine from the perspective of patients. Her research and publications on cybersecurity and responsible AI include recent co-authored work in JMIR, Cell Patterns, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
At The Light Collective, Andrea launched the Patient AI Rights Initiative, a first-of-its-kind effort to ensure patients have a direct voice and voting power in the design of AI systems that affect their care. This work has shaped national conversations and led to collaborations with the National Academy of Medicine’s AI Code of Conduct, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Andrea currently serves on the Steering Committee of CancerX and the Advisory Board for the Health AI Partnership, where she pushes for stronger patient governance, community co-design, and accountability in cancer and AI innovation across the U.S. health system.
