Monica Lopez, PhD, is a human-centered AI and technology leader specializing in AI governance, risk management, compliance, and the responsible adoption of emerging technologies. She is Privacy Officer at VHC Health, where she leads work on privacy, compliance, and AI policy and governance in healthcare. She is also Co-Founder and CEO of Cognitive Insights for Artificial Intelligence, advising organizations and public institutions on the safe, human-aligned design, development, deployment, and management of AI-enabled systems. Her work spans AI-enabled healthcare and biotechnology, autonomous systems, banking and finance, intellectual property, and creative industries. She is also an Artificial Intelligence Expert with the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), contributing to responsible AI projects, research, and global policy deliverables.

Monica has more than 16 years of experience in higher education and has held faculty and academic leadership roles at Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University. She currently serves as Industry Expert Faculty for the Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals' MS in Artificial Intelligence program and holds a joint faculty appointment in Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Previously, she taught AI ethics, global policy and governance, technology, innovation, and business strategy across Johns Hopkins and Georgetown, developing interdisciplinary courses that connected technical design with ethics, law, governance, and society. She is also a Salzburg Global Fellow and has served as a speaker, moderator, and expert across international forums including the United Nations ITU AI for Good Global Summit, Salzburg Global, the World Economic Forum, and UNGA-related programs. A recognized voice in AI ethics and governance, she was named one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics in 2023, and her peer-reviewed research has appeared in journals spanning medical informatics, AI law and regulation, human-computer interaction, and intellectual property.a