AI consulting
I help owners and managers figure out where AI actually saves hours in their operation, then stand it up with them. No 40-page strategy deck, just working systems.
Book a working session
David Marek
I put AI to work for El Paso businesses.
Founder of DropDev and HealthAtlas. I consult, build custom software, teach workshops, and host the hackathons where this city's builders show up.
15+
years in tech, from Intel to founding DropDev
8
workshops taught in 2026
$70k+
in pitch competition wins, between cash and cloud credits
Where I can help
People come to me for different things. Pick the one that sounds like you.
Healthcare and benefits
I build HealthAtlas, a patient-centered way to keep medical records in one place, and I spend a lot of time on how border employers buy health coverage. If you run benefits for a company, I'd genuinely like 15 minutes with you.
Give me 15 minutesCustom software
DropDev designs and ships web apps, internal tools, and integrations for businesses that outgrew spreadsheets. Small team, senior work, El Paso based.
Start a project conversationWorkshops and hackathons
I teach hands-on AI workshops (eight so far in 2026) and organize pitch competitions and hackathons with UTEP and partners across the region. Hire me to teach your team, or sponsor the next event and put your name in the room.
Bring one to your teamRooms I've worked in
Career
Teaching, clients and partners
Out in the field
Workshops, pitch nights, judging panels, and the people who make them worth running.
Short notes
Things I keep saying out loud, written down.
This week I gave the El Paso Chamber's Healthcare Coalition a ten minute update on AI. The short version: the interesting work is not chatbots. It's ambient documentation that lets a doctor look at the patient instead of the keyboard, imaging models that catch what tired eyes miss at 2 a.m., and the unglamorous back-office automation that gets claims paid faster. None of it removes the clinician. All of it removes the clipboard. If you lead a healthcare organization here and want the longer version, the talk fits in a lunch hour and I give it without a sales pitch attached.
I've taught eight AI workshops in 2026, to founder cohorts and to corporate teams. The pattern is consistent: demos impress, but nothing changes until people build something with their own data before they leave the room. So that's the format now. Bring a real problem, leave with a working start and the judgment to know what to automate next. If your team is curious but stuck at the "we should look into AI" stage, that's exactly who the workshop is for.
Between El Paso and Juárez, a person's medical history lives in a dozen systems in two countries and two languages, and the patient carries none of it. HealthAtlas is my answer: records that follow the patient, not the provider. HealthAtlas won the $15,000 Elevate prize at the Medical Center of the Americas and Best in Show in the payer category at HIMSS, for member engagement and trust. Winning the SBA's AWS pitch competition added $50,000 in cloud credits to build on. I'm now deep in customer discovery through the NSF I-Corps program at UTEP, interviewing everyone who touches the problem. If you run benefits or care for a workforce on this border, I want to compare notes.
Every hackathon and pitch night I've hosted has surfaced someone remarkable: a student who ships faster than agencies, a nurse with a product instinct, a founder one intro away from their first customer. Companies spend thousands on recruiters to find people who show up at these events for free pizza. Sponsoring a hackathon puts your brand in front of them for a weekend at a fraction of that cost, and I make sure sponsors meet the standouts personally. There's usually one on the calendar. Ask me about the next one.
I'm researching how companies on the border buy health insurance. If that decision crosses your desk, I'd love 15 minutes of your perspective.
Give me 15 minutesTalk to me
Tell me what you're working on. It lands as a text on my phone, so keep it short and I'll answer fast.