From pioneering personalized news to transforming patient care in clinical trials, MIT Media Lab alumna Gilberte Houbart (MS '94), reflects on the intense, perspective-shifting experience that continues to shape her human-first approach to technology.

Gilberte Houbart's story is a vivid reflection of the MIT Media Lab’s power to transform not just ideas, but lives. As a graduate of the Lab, she recalls an experience defined by intensity, innovation, and deep community. “I remember 60 hours or more weeks, you know, working 14 hours a day. And, my life was here,” she says. But that rigor wasn’t a burden—it was part of a shared mission. 

Houbart studied under Glorianna Davenport as part of the News of the Future group, working alongside Media Lab pioneers like Walter Bender. Her research focused on what was, at the time, a bold new idea: personalizing the news. “My focus was on tailoring news to individual interests and also opinion...navigating opinion through different news sources,” she explains. “I am still looking for it because we could use it.” Her early exploration into personalized media laid groundwork for technologies that are now commonplace, but her goal was always more than convenience—it was about deepening understanding in a fractured information landscape.

The environment at the Media Lab was exhilarating. Inspired by Marvin Minsky’s mantra, “You don't understand something until you've understood it from different perspectives,” Houbart embraced the Lab’s interdisciplinary ethos. It shaped how she approached problems, combining technical rigor with human empathy.

That perspective continues to guide her. Today she works in the Life Sciences, focusing on speeding up patient access to treatment across the full “molecule to market” journey and improving quality of care.

The thing that connects the dots is the human interaction with technology.

Her work centers not only on the patient experience—through platforms that ensure their safety—but also exploring new technology to take drugs to market faster and improving the patient journey of finding a clinical trial with AI enabled assistants.

Still based in Cambridge, she remains closely connected to the Media Lab’s energy. “When I come back, I feel energized again,” she says. Houbart’s journey is a powerful example of what the Lab strives to cultivate: innovators who not only imagine the future, but do so with compassion, ethics, and a people-first mindset.

Her story reminds us that technology is most transformative when it starts—and ends—with humanity.