Curiosity Fuels EKU Graduate’s Rise in Healthcare Cybersecurity

When attending his first class as a broadcasting and electronic media major at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), Chris Gabel, ’05 ’09, had no idea his career would one day lead to advancing healthcare cybersecurity and even helping develop AI standards at a national level.

From Northern Kentucky, Gabel had applied to schools like Duke and the University of North Carolina and was accepted to Notre Dame, where his family had attended. But he was introduced to EKU by a friend, and when the scholarship offers arrived, EKU stood out. The offer included acceptance into the EKU Honors Program and financial support covering tuition, room and board. The decision ultimately allowed Gabel to pursue a quality college education without significant financial burden, a decision he said he is glad he made.

“When I got an acceptance letter from another school, I also got accepted into the honors program at EKU with a scholarship offer,” said Gabel. “So, I decided, ‘I’m going to Eastern.’” 

At EKU, Gabel quickly found a sense of community. He joined the club soccer team, became a member of Sigma Nu fraternity and worked a student job with the honors program, maintaining websites. While his major focused on broadcasting and electronic media, those hands-on experiences quietly introduced him to the technical skills that would later shape his career.

After graduating in 2005, Gabel went to work for a company that produced video content for Thoroughbred racing. At the time, he envisioned a future in athletic communications or media relations. That plan changed, though, when the company began moving video content online.

Realizing he could make a better video conversion system than what the company had purchased, Gabel built a new video player over a single weekend. This triggered a pivotal shift in his career, merging his degree focused on video production with a skill in web programming and development.

Gabel later returned to EKU to earn a master’s degree, encouraged by his wife, Amy Jo, ’05 ’08, who was working at the university at the time. Employee tuition benefits made it possible to continue his education.

After completing his graduate degree, Gabel continued to expand his technical skillset while working at the University of Kentucky, where he developed websites for researchers to promote their work and pursued advanced studies in instructional systems design.

When he and his family relocated to Nashville in 2013, an introduction to a recruiting firm led him to HCA Healthcare, where he still works today. Initially, Gabel started the job thinking he would focus on web development; however, he was soon being trained in cybersecurity. 

Embracing the challenge, Gabel moved from contract roles into leadership, managing larger and more critical projects. One milestone came when a boss called him from the White House to brief him on security threats in healthcare. 

“After that, I was a representative for HCA on some government committees,” Gabel said.

Gabel’s career progression continued as he took on responsibility for site reliability engineering, leading teams that monitored and ensured the efficiency and security of important healthcare systems. His willingness to ask questions often opened new doors.

Today, Gabel serves as senior director of product and platform security, overseeing security for electronic health records, artificial intelligence products, operations platforms and cloud systems. 

“I tell people I have probably the coolest job in security. I get to work on some of the most cutting-edge technology that’s coming through the company,” he said. “We do a quarterly business review with our chief medical officer, and I get to see before anyone else which problems they’re trying to solve and how they’re trying to solve them with IT solutions. And then I have a team that gets to go in and fix it.”

Collaborating with government entities, he focuses on developing standards for securing AI in healthcare, where his work will soon be published.

Looking back, Gabel credits EKU with helping him develop the mindset that made his career evolution possible. While the technical skills mattered, curiosity mattered more.

“Stay curious. That’s what Eastern taught me,” Gabel said. “It was OK to ask questions. I hire people who are curious and are open and honest with me when they don’t know things. There’s value in that.”

Extending advice to current students, Gabel says, “Ask questions, admit when you don’t know something and work with professors who are willing to cultivate that curiosity.”

By: Ethan Sirles