TALKS
Svetlana Makarova | Human-First AI Builder
AI excels at identifying patterns, predicting outcomes, and automating tasks. But when it encounters situations that require empathy, sensory memory, intuition, or imagination, it simply cannot deliver. Svetlana Makarova, an AI strategist at Mayo Clinic, calls this boundary the Synthetic Ceiling—the point where AI gets smarter but still can’t access human meaning, emotion, or lived experience. Beyond it lies the Human Margin, where intuition, imagination, and emotional courage give us an irreplaceable edge. The future isn’t humans versus machines—it’s humans doubling down on what only we can do.
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Svetlana Makarova is an AI strategist, product leader at Mayo Clinic, and founder of Spark Change, helping individuals and organizations adopt AI with clarity, confidence, and measurable impact. With over a decade of experience across healthcare, tech, and innovation, she has led enterprise-scale AI initiatives that support over 90 medical specialties and impact tens of thousands of clinicians and patients. Her work focuses on building intelligent systems that streamline clinical workflows while preserving what makes healthcare profoundly human. Svetlana has co-authored peer-reviewed research on large language models and clinical decision support, and she speaks regularly at global conferences, including the American Telehealth Association and AI Summit. She holds degrees in Biochemistry and Psychology, an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler, and is a Doctor of Engineering candidate in AI/ML at George Washington University.
