Associate Professor
Kaiser Permanente
Alexander Rivero, MD, FACS is an otolaryngologist–head and neck surgeon and clinical AI leader whose work focuses on the practical integration of artificial intelligence into surgical education, clinical workflow, and health system operations.
He is Assistant Chief and Director of Undergraduate Medical Education in the Department of Head & Neck Surgery at Kaiser Permanente East Bay, with faculty appointments at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Head & Neck Surgery Residency Program.
Dr. Rivero serves as AI Champion for his department, where he leads efforts to evaluate and implement AI tools across clinical and educational workflows. He is a national speaker on AI integration in medicine, with a focus on moving beyond hype to address the implementation gaps, regulatory realities, and infrastructure needs that determine whether AI actually improves care delivery. His research spans AI-generated content quality, vibe-coding and multi-agent AI orchestration in healthcare, and frameworks for layered AI adoption in surgical training.
As a comprehensive Otolaryngologist, he sees the breadth and depth of the specialty with clinical niches in complex otology, sialendoscopy, and endocrine surgery, grounding his AI work in the day-to-day realities of surgical practice and health system operations.