Seasoned physician executive and health tech leader joins to drive clinical strategy, AI validation, and enterprise-wide transformation
Dr. Sandhya Gardner, Chief Medical Officer, Autonomize AI
AUSTIN, Texas, April 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Autonomize AI, a leader in artificial intelligence solutions for healthcare, today announced the appointment of Dr. Sandhya Gardner as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). In this role, Dr. Gardner will lead clinical strategy and execution, AI validation, and enterprise adoption of Autonomize AI’s solutions with a direct focus on helping healthcare organizations reduce administrative burden and optimize how they deliver care.
As healthcare AI moves from experimentation to enterprise-wide deployment, the role of clinical leadership has become mission-critical. Industry analyses from Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, and the World Economic Forum emphasize that successful AI adoption in healthcare requires deep clinical integration, governance, and trust, not just successful technology implementations.
“We’ve always believed that AI in healthcare rises or falls on clinical credibility. Not benchmarks, not demos — real credibility, earned in the exam room and the operating suite. Dr. Gardner brings exactly that,” said Ganesh Padmanabhan, CEO of Autonomize AI. “Her leadership will shape how our solutions are designed, validated, and experienced by the people who matter most: the clinicians using them and the patients depending on them.”
What This Means for Customers
Dr. Gardner’s appointment signals Autonomize AI’s continued commitment to delivering AI that is not only technically advanced, but clinically validated and operationally practical. Healthcare organizations partnering with Autonomize AI can expect greater confidence in AI safety and clinical rigor, as Dr. Gardner brings expertise grounded in real-world clinical practice. Her proven track record deploying care management and digital engagement platforms at scale across both provider and payer markets will help drive more seamless enterprise adoption.
Critically, her work will focus on solutions that relieve the administrative burden clinicians face daily, freeing care teams to focus on what matters most: their patients. And by serving as a bridge between clinical and technology teams, she will ensure that AI implementations reflect the actual workflows and needs of healthcare professionals on the ground.
About Dr. Sandhya Gardner
Dr. Gardner is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, with more than a decade of clinical practice before transitioning into healthcare education and technology. She brings 15 years of experience working with both providers and payers in the health technology space.
Most recently, Dr. Gardner served as General Manager and CMO of the Clinical SaaS division at Healthedge, where she led clinical strategy, operations, and execution for the company’s care management and digital member engagement platforms. Prior to that, as CMO of Wellframe, she drove clinical and content strategy for member-facing education and engagement solutions until its acquisition by Healthedge in 2021.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Gardner served as Chief Content Officer at Advanced Practice Strategies, guiding the company through its acquisition by Relias in 2017. At Relias, she became the company’s first CMO, providing strategic direction for assessment-driven learning solutions to improve healthcare provider and nurse performance and patient outcomes.
Dr. Gardner holds a B.A. in Psychology and an M.D. from Brown University.
“I’m excited to join Autonomize AI at such a pivotal moment for the healthcare industry,” said Dr. Gardner. “AI has the potential to fundamentally transform the way care is delivered, but only if it’s built with clinical integrity and implemented in a way that actually works for care teams. I look forward to ensuring that our customers can harness that potential with confidence.”
About Autonomize AI
Autonomize AI transforms healthcare by pairing specialized AI agents with human expertise to tackle the industry’s most complex processes. Powered by the Autonomize Intelligence Platform, our AI-human collaboration streamlines workflows like utilization management, care management, claims, pharmacy, and appeals, eliminating administrative bottlenecks while keeping people at the center of every decision.
The Autonomize Intelligence Platform operates as a continuously learning intelligence layer, combining structured knowledge, real-time case context, and longitudinal memory to improve with every decision it processes. Built around a context graph of over 10 million clinical, regulatory, and coverage concepts, the platform spans the full enterprise lifecycle: from AI design and testing in AI Studio, to ready-to-deploy Agents in the AI Marketplace, to real-time oversight in the Command Center, with compliance, auditability, and human oversight built in at every step.
Operating at scale across three of the five largest U.S. health enterprises, Autonomize drives measurable impact: up to 55% faster clinical reviews, 60% faster decision turnaround, 30% fewer human errors, and 3–5x ROI within 6–12 months.
Backed by Valtruis, Asset Management Ventures, Cigna Group Ventures, ATX Venture Partners, and TAU Ventures, we are building the critical infrastructure to power AI-native healthcare operations.
Learn more at autonomize.ai.
Media Contact: AutonomizeAI@watersagency.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/27c40cd4-fb0f-4d24-a4f3-9ccc77eda261.
