Before Nvidia, Kimberly Powell was an engineering intern in radiology tech; How she built an 18-year career in AI healthcare, now in the spotlight after Jensen Huang report

Kimberly Powell's journey to Nvidia began long before she became one of its top healthcare executives. Around 25 years ago, she was an electrical engineering student at Northeastern University, working as an intern at a medical imaging company. There, she spent time with radiologists and saw how better imaging equipment was helping doctors examine patients more closely. But there was a problem; the computers processing those images could not always keep up.

She thought Nvidia might have a solution and contacted the company about using its graphics technology. That call opened a door she had not expected. Nvidia offered her a job to explore how its chips could be used in healthcare. She joined in 2008 and went on to spend 18 years building a business that now covers medical imaging, life sciences and AI drug discovery.

Today, Powell is making headlines for reasons far removed from her work. The New York Times reported on November 11 that she had an intimate relationship with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, citing five people who worked at the company. Powell reported directly to him. Neither has confirmed the allegation.


Huang resigned as CEO on November 12, with CFO Colette Kress named interim chief executive, according to the Associated Press.

How a radiology internship brought Kimberly Powell to Nvidia

Powell's interest in healthcare technology began before she joined the chipmaker. While studying electrical engineering at Northeastern University, she took an internship with a medical imaging company that was developing technology for radiology departments.

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She worked alongside radiologists and saw how better imaging equipment could give doctors a closer look at problems inside the human body. But there was a technical limitation. The company was developing its own graphics cards to process the images.

Medical imaging equipment collects large amounts of data from sensors. That data must be processed and turned into an image that doctors can actually read. As scanners became more advanced, the amount of information they produced increased. Processing it quickly became a challenge.

Powell saw an opportunity to use Nvidia's technology instead of building graphics hardware from scratch. She contacted the company.

ALSO READ: From medical imaging to AI drug discovery: The 18-year Nvidia career of Kimberly Powell, now in the spotlight after Jensen Huang relationship report

Nvidia was then moving beyond its traditional computer graphics business and developing accelerated computing. Its GPUs could handle many calculations at the same time, making them useful for workloads that required faster processing.

The company recognised that healthcare could become an important market but did not yet know exactly how to develop it. Powell recalled that Nvidia asked her whether she wanted to join and help find the answer.

She accepted the opportunity in 2008.

What Powell built at Nvidia in 18 years

Powell joined Nvidia with the responsibility of establishing its GPUs as an accelerator platform for medical imaging instruments. The early work focused on two areas: processing data from diagnostic equipment and using computing power to simulate biological processes.

In an interview with Healthcare Brew published on February 6, 2026, Powell explained that the first five years were heavily focused on sensor processing.

Medical imaging devices work as sensors. They collect information and convert it into anatomical images that doctors can examine. As imaging technology improved, conventional central processing units (CPUs) were not always capable of handling the workload at the speed required.

GPUs offered a different approach. They could process large amounts of image data in parallel, helping medical devices produce images in real time.

This was an important step in Nvidia's healthcare business. The company was no longer simply selling graphics chips. It was working with medical technology companies to develop computing systems for healthcare equipment.

Powell later spent time leading Nvidia's higher education and research business, strategic programmes, NVIDIA AI Labs and its Inception programme for AI startups. She eventually became vice president of healthcare in 2017.

Her responsibilities have since expanded to include the company's global healthcare and life sciences business.

Medical imaging was only one part of the opportunity Powell identified.

Around 2010, another major use of powerful computing systems was molecular dynamics simulation. Scientists used these simulations to study how proteins behave and how potential drug molecules might interact with them.

Powell explained that researchers could use computing power to examine a protein associated with a disease and study whether a particular molecule might fit into it. These simulations help scientists understand the physical interactions involved in drug development.

This work remains relevant to drug discovery. Researchers can use computing simulations to narrow down possibilities before moving to more expensive laboratory experiments.

Nvidia has since developed a broader healthcare technology platform.

Its MONAI framework supports the development of AI models for medical imaging. BioNeMo provides tools for AI-driven research in biology and drug discovery. Parabricks accelerates genomic data analysis.

In her February 2026 interview, she discussed Nvidia's work on physical AI, where artificial intelligence can interact with the physical world rather than simply process data.

She pointed to the company's work with GE HealthCare on making medical imaging equipment smarter and more autonomous.

Nvidia has also developed Holoscan and IGX, which combine hardware and software for real-time processing of data from medical devices. These systems are designed to support applications where information from sensors needs to be processed quickly.

Why Kimberly Powell is now part of Nvidia's leadership crisis

The New York Times report published on November 11 has brought Powell's professional relationship with Huang under scrutiny.

The newspaper alleged that the two had an intimate relationship and cited five people who worked at Nvidia. It also reported that they were seen being affectionate in a video recorded at a hotel in San Jose during an Nvidia conference in March. Powell is married, according to the report.

When the Times asked Huang about his relationship with Powell, he reportedly said, "I don't think you should be talking to me directly," before ending the call.

Powell and Nvidia had not responded to Business Insider's requests for comment as of November 12. Neither has confirmed the reported relationship.

Powell was responsible for a major business division but reported directly to the CEO. Nvidia's code of conduct identifies personal relationships as a potential source of conflicts of interest.

Alice Huang case and Jensen Huang's resignation

The Powell report also emerged while Nvidia was investigating a separate controversy involving Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed.

US intelligence agencies have been investigating allegations that Alice Huang had links to Chinese intelligence and helped facilitate shipments of Nvidia chips to Chinese companies. The allegations have raised national security questions because Washington restricts exports of advanced AI chips to China.

This is a separate case. Kimberly Powell has not been linked to the allegations involving Megaspeed or Chinese intelligence.

On November 8, Jensen Huang also sent an apology to employees, acknowledging that he had been unfaithful to his wife. He did not identify either woman in that message.

The leadership crisis then took another turn. On November 12, the Associated Press reported that Huang had resigned as CEO. Nvidia named CFO Colette Kress as interim chief executive and appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first board chairman. The AP said it could not independently confirm the reports about the two relationships.