The AI Expert Who Became His Own Case Study

Advocacy at Work · Sep 17, 2026 · 29m

John Duffield was living a completely normal life.

He was working in AI. Fortune 500 companies. Helping healthcare organizations rethink how they work. Staying on top of an emerging field that was changing everything.

He was a previous triathlete. Healthy. Active. Playing with his kids. No sense of what was coming.

Then in June 2024, he ended up in the neurology ward at UCLA Ronald Reagan with a brain bleed.

He didn’t go to the hospital expecting a brain bleed. He certainly didn’t go expecting what came next.

The Double Hit

While John was recovering from the brain bleed, the cardiologists…