Alex Poniz

Background

About Alex Poniz

As a future physician, my primary goal is to directly provide patients with unparalleled access to the best possible care and advocacy. My clinical interests include EM/CC and disaster medicine. My healthcare experience began in volunteer EMS. Memorable moments include event medicine at mass gatherings like the San Francisco LGBTQ+ Pride Parade (1M+ attendees), working at a field hospital during the height of the COVID pandemic, independent street medicine with homeless communities, and assisting with refugee evacuations and medical aid in Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion. Outside of the clinic, I'm interested in evidence based approaches for empowering vulnerable populations, building community resilience, disaster preparedness, and organizing for social change. My curiosity and solutions-focused mindset also draws me towards research, and I'm currently working on a surgical-sealant project I helped start nearly 10 years ago. I'm also passionate about teaching and hope to someday train the next generation of healthcare providers, and am currently working on integrating artificial intelligence literacy into the medical school curriculum. Prior to medical school I was an engineer at Tesla, where I worked with fast paced interdisciplinary teams on complex systems-level problems related to renewable energy across the entire organizational ecosystem. Soon after joining I became aware of the many ethical concerns of working for a large technology company and committed myself to critically examining every aspect of our work and advocating for more ethical approaches. Ultimately I had very positive experiences with the teams I worked with, but after leaving Tesla I remain aware of the complex dynamics of trying to do good in a system with many negative externalities. Though I appreciate the simpler moral imperative of medicine, I'm committed to vigilance, radical advocacy, and principled action throughout my future career as a physician.