For Dr. Yann Sakref, reading philosophy — particularly metaphysics — in high school sparked his interest in the field of science.

“The way you think about metaphysics is questioning what it means to ‘be.’ You always arrive at questions you cannot answer anymore,” said Sakref. “Most metaphysicians were physicists and mathematicians, and I thought there might be something unexplored with biology.”

Born and raised in Lyon, France, Sakref studied biology in France’s École normale supérieure de Lyon, where he obtained his bachelor’s in 2017 and master’s in 2020. Then, deciding that he needed mathematical tools to be more “rigorous” in his approach, Sakref completed a master’s in applied mathematics from Sorbonne Université in 2020 and a PhD in theoretical physics and chemistry from École normale supérieure in 2023.

In addition to the more theoretical approaches of math and physics, Sakref was also interested in direct applications of sciences like biology.

“I decided to keep all of the metaphysical pondering for myself and as a passion on the side and to focus on applied research,” Sakref said.

Sakref joined Dr. Lisa Knowlton’s lab in 2024. Working in partnership with CisionVision, a startup company, Sakref is developing computer vision models for surgical assistance, acting as an “in-between” for the clinical team at Stanford and the AI team at CisionVision.

“This position is really perfect,” Sakref said. “What I love about the startup environment is that not only do we do applied research, but we know that there is the opportunity to scale it up relatively quickly, to actually help surgeons, in this case, when it works out.”

Sakref also described Dr. Knowlton’s mentorship. “It’s important that an advisor has your back, and Dr. Knowlton does. She is definitely looking out for you, and wants the best for you, whatever that might be,” Sakref said. “She’s also very interested in AI, and I’m happy that I can share what I know with her and she shares what she knows with me.”

Since pursuing academia, Sakref has felt that the boundary between academia and the private sector is becoming less defined.

“I enjoy supervising students in their research, teaching them as I was taught by my advisors. I also like the relative freedom of academia. But I also enjoy start-ups as an efficient and intense way to get technologies out of the lab. I have realized now that these two are not incompatible, which made me reconsider an academic career,” said Sakref.

"There is a lot we don’t know that we don’t know. And for that reason, to interact with people from different backgrounds, be it MDs or engineers, that almost speak a different language, this always feels great. It’s even the way they think, it’s different… this has been rewarding to experience."