Andrey Yazhuk

“I’ve worked in partnership with Andrey for the last several years at Elsevier.   As of this writing, Andrey is currently the technical leader for Elsevier Text Mining (ETM).  ETM is a sophisticated product, encompassing an information retrieval platform built on semantic understanding of biomedical text.  The information retrieval engine is custom built using open source technology and is powered by a custom-built semantic annotation engine based on a very large biomedical taxonomy.  Andrey led the architecture, design and development of ETM, and he continues to direct a team to innovate and improve the product.   As a senior technologist, Andrey is also an ambassador to increase the availability of advanced text mining technology and information retrieval in the company.  In addition to managing ETM development, Andrey has been leading the next generation of text mining and information retrieval capabilities using a scalable information retrieval engine built on a microservice architecture.   Andrey is particularly effective in his role because he is a hands-on leader with deep technical understanding.  Andrey clearly communicates complex technical concepts, and he is an excellent communicator, both for technical and lay audiences.   It’s been a great pleasure working with Andrey.  He is very approachable and always willing to share his expertise.  As an example of Andrey’s character, even today as he is transitioning to a new role, in a new company, Andrey continues to meet with others, to help with technology decisions, and to advise and counsel.  I consider Andrey as one of my most knowledgeable colleagues and an always willing partner to tackle tough challenges.”

“It's been a great experience working with Andrey. He has a combination of expertise and personality that every team can wish for. His technical knowledge is absolutely top notch, and this combined with Andrey's absolute commitment to creating a solution that people will want to use, makes him a great partner in product development. Andrey lead the development of Elsevier Text Mining from ideation phase to a mature solution that was used by top pharma companies as well as internally to deliver services projects. At every stage Andrey not only acted as a fantastic developer and a great team lead, but was absolutely a key in shaping a vision, perfecting scope and requirements, predicting and mitigating risks, and designing the best process to ensure the best quality as a result. I worked with Andrey on numerous internal and external projects which yielded praised outcomes, and I'm very grateful that I had this chance. I learnt a lot from Andrey in the process and just working along him helped me to become better at what I'm doing. I believe that the best products and solutions come from a kind of collaboration between a product owner and a development lead that requires someone like Andrey, a collaboration that enriches both sides and promotes excellence.”