What I'm Doing Now

Quick Snapshot

I’m deeply immersed in exploring how AI can empower patients and caregivers while advancing personal health advocacy.

Agentic AI and Patient-Driven Healthcare

I’ve been working with large language models since ChatGPT’s public launch in November 2022. As someone living with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and as a caregiver to my elderly parent, I’m particularly excited about agentic AI for healthcare needs.

Right now I’m:

• Automating research tasks with Perplexity Comet

• Experimenting with the new Opera Neon browser

• Following Project Mariner and awaiting affordable agentic-AI integrations in Chrome

• Practicing critical AI literacy by using AI tools strategically for research, translation, medical analysis, and advocacy

Writing and Research

Critical AI Health Literacy: This is my main intellectual focus. I’m developing a framework around critical AI health literacy that examines how patients can use AI tools to reflect on health-determining factors and take informed action. I'm refining the definition of what this means for patients and caregivers in practice, responding to reviewer feedback, and making the concept clearer for academic audiences while keeping it accessible.

Awaiting Peer Review: Anxiously awaiting peer review to be complete on my most recent paper “Critical AI Health Literacy as Liberation Technology: A New Skill for Patient”, co-written with Liz Salmi of The Liz Army.

Healthcare Liberation Work: Applying Paulo Freire’s ideas of oppression and praxis to today’s systems, exploring how patient-directed AI can become a tool for liberation from impersonal, profit-driven care.

Personal Health Advocacy

I continue to actively advocate for healthcare needs, both my father’s and my own. I’m currently dealing with my own ICD generator replacement dispute while supporting my father through complex medical situations and navigating insurance systems. This isn’t just abstract theory for me. I’m living it, using AI to challenge institutional decisions and ensure patient-centered care.

Recent work includes translating rheumatology blood tests and medical recommendations between English and Portuguese, helping family members understand complex medical information across languages.

What I'm Learning About

AI as Liberation Technology: I’m fascinated by the idea of “Howard, your healthcare agent”, envisioning personalized AI that serves patient-defined goals rather than institutional efficiency. I’m documenting real cases (like Courtney’s story of finding answers after 17 doctors over three years) where AI helped patients break through healthcare system limitations.

The Praxis Cycle: How critical reflection, strategic action, and liberation through agency let patients reclaim authorship of their health decisions and narratives.

Cross-cultural Healthcare Communication: Bridging Portuguese and English in medical contexts, ensuring my father remains engaged in his own care.

Current Challenges

I’m wrestling with how to define Critical AI Health Literacy clearly enough for academic reviewers while keeping it accessible for the patients and caregivers who need it most. I’m also navigating the tension between what healthcare institutions allow and what patients actually need, both theoretically and in my own family’s care.

Hugo Campos lives in Oakland, California, with his elderly father, managing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy while advocating for patient rights and exploring how AI can democratize healthcare knowledge.