What's New | Welcome | Consulting | Training | Research | About Me | Contact Me
What's New
February 20-22, 2026: I'm excited to take part in the
Winter Analytics Summit, where I'll be a panelist in the "Learn from the Experts" Q&A on Saturday February 21st.
Hello and welcomeI'm Russell E. Walker (mostly I go by Russ). I'm a data science consultant, educator and developer.
I've been around awhile, and my career has crossed and recrossed lines between technology, business and academia. I've built software; managed R&D; been a corporate executive; started and run my own consulting company; and spent 20+ years in higher ed, teaching classes and managing curricula in business, engineering and data analytics.
All that has convinced me that success is about building bridges, not silos. I like to help people and teams from different backgrounds connect and work together, using data to guide collaboration.
Here's what I do for clients. If any of these services sound useful for you, please
get in touch.
Biomedical Data Science and R&D ConsultingThrough my consulting practice, Walker Associates, I help medical device manufacturers and healthcare organizations use data to improve both patient outcomes and business performance.
Are you creating a data-intensive medical device or healthcare application, but having trouble getting the clinical science, technology and business pieces to fit together?
Could your team use an assist from a biomedical industry veteran who knows data science, software development, and applied physics—with executive-level leadership experience in operations and R&D, and a track record of successful product developments and launches?
Here's what I can do to make your project a success:
- Develop, fine-tune or validate algorithms and machine learning models for disease detection, diagnosis, or clinical risk stratification.
- Perform comprehensive data analyses for internal evaluations, white papers, clinical studies or regulatory filings.
- Work with medical SMEs and engineering teams to turn clinical wish lists into buildable specs.
- Translate technical product features into marketable physician and patient benefits.
- Apply data-guided strategies to align your technology and business teams around a product you can design, manufacture and sell at a profit.
I've assisted organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies, and helped bring products to market in bone densitometry, nuclear medicine, electrocardiography and pulmonary function testing.
Contact me to talk about overcoming data roadblocks and getting your project across the finish line.
Training for Data-Informed CollaborationYou want to make data-informed decisions for your healthcare organization—but it feels like your business, data and clinical teams are living in different worlds. (Or, you don't have a data team, and everybody's doing the best they can with spreadsheets and good intentions.)
Get your team members the training they need to collaborate effectively and make better decisions with data. Classes and workshops are designed specifically for biomedical and healthcare professionals based on my 40+ years of industry experience. Available programs include
- Leveraging Data for Biomedical Business Professionals: Prepares decision-makers to use data effectively, either in concert with data teams or in a self-service analytics environment
- Biomedical Business Collaboration for Data Professionals: Gives data team members the concepts and tools needed to partner effectively with business stakeholders.
- Persuading with Biomedical Data: Proven techniques for the ethical use of data to impact decisions, either within an organization or with external stakeholders.
Training can be conducted onsite or online. Topics, duration and schedule can be tailored to your individual needs. All sessions are interactive, collaborative and hands-on.
To create these learning experiences, I draw on my background as a data scientist, software developer and business leader; my experience in higher ed as a senior professor and curriculum manager; and what I learned about communication and persuasion as a former national debate champion. My focus is on creating better cross-functional teams that can solve problems effectively together.
Research
My current research interests center around skill-based education. I'm studying best practices for incorporating durable skills (aka "soft skills") and business skills into data science and analytics education. I also investigate the use of natural language processing (NLP) for curriculum analytics in higher ed.
Here's one recent paper:
Walker, R. E., "
Mapping Curricula to Skills and Occupations Using Course Descriptions," 2024 IEEE World Engineering Education Conference (EDUNINE), Guatemala City, Guatemala, 2024, doi: 10.1109/EDUNINE60625.2024.10500452
If you have similar interests, please
get in touch; I'd love to discuss how we might work together.
More About MeI've done a few things:
Consulting: I've helped clients develop and launch innovative medical products including an online fracture risk calculator, bone densitometers, and a nuclear medicine probe to assist with cancer surgery. I've worked with nonprofits, startups (including one that was literally operating in a garage) and Fortune 100 companies.
Education: I taught online, hybrid and in-person classes, undergraduate and graduate, in technology and business, and earned awards for teaching and community service. Most of this was for a major national university, but I've also taught at community colleges and for the California State University system. I estimate I've taught over 10,000 students. I also served as a national faculty chair for engineering and information systems, leading data-driven curriculum improvements, and co-founded my school's business intelligence and analytics concentration.
Software development: I've built systems for space shuttle rocket nozzle design, satellite image processing, military air traffic control, quality testing for nuclear reactor parts, healthcare analytics for a large HMO, and automated ECG interpretation (an early medical AI application).
Business leadership: For a publicly traded medical systems company, I took on successive roles as engineering manager, VP of R&D, COO, and a member of the board of directors. I was a key contributor to product strategy, acquisitions, technology licensing, and a multimillion dollar secondary public offering.
Degree-wise: I have an MS in Applied Physics from Caltech, an MBA, and a PhD in business with a specialization in applied computer science.
Personal: I live in Southern California with my beautiful, smart and patient wife and a dog we call Koda the Chaos Poodle. Hobbies include building Lego models, reading sci-fi and fantasy, and being really bad at golf.
It's been (and continues to be) quite a ride, and it's never boring.
Ways to Reach Me
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/profwalker
X/Twitter: @RussEWalker
Email: russ@russellwalker.com
