Michael Cook has been providing advice to us since inception of the idea behind Master Medical Network®. In his own words: “I have an interdisciplinary background which is somewhat unique. My PhD is in mathematics, and I spent a number of years in academia, teaching and doing research. On the way to the PhD, I took a break of 8 years, and worked in industry as a computer programmer, gaining valuable business and life experience.
For a year after finishing my thesis I took courses at Holy Apostles Seminary, in Cromwell, Connecticut, in Philosophy, Christology, Bioethics, and the Early Church Fathers. I then went to Rockefeller University, where I did post-doc work in computational neuroscience and artificial intelligence, with a special interest in the modeling of discovery. To that end, I studied the history of science – for case studies – and the philosophy of science – for insights into methods of research, theories of induction, and epistemology.
In 1995, I moved to Wall Street, where I worked as a strategist, portfolio manager, and risk manager. For several years after the financial crisis I worked in People Analytics applying predictive methods that demonstrated repeatedly that human capital–especially knowledge workers–remains one of the least appreciated assets in determining the return on investment for an organization. To gain exposure to a greater number of modeling techniques I took a job in Model Risk Management at Citigroup, where I have validated Anti-Money Laundering, retail credit loss, and segmentation models.
Along the way, I have written and produced two musicals, written a book of poetry, recorded a CD of my songs, started a small publishing imprint, and produced two albums of previously unrecorded music by 20th century composer Deems Taylor.
