julia . fong

I love the moment an abstract idea becomes tangible.

It might begin as a medical question, a tax problem, or a strange visual intuition. I’m an independent AI-native builder and design engineer whose work spans software, digital experiences, and the real-world processes around them. My focus in AI for neuroradiology and real estate tax stems from years with clinical evidence, financial records, and the decisions they inform. My curiosity also wanders into governance, fashion, food, and artistic ways of seeing science.

I take a project from its first spark through naming, copy, visuals, interface, frontend and backend connections, all the way to a shipped prototype or website. With AI in the workflow, it’s easier, and more fun, to catch a spark in the ether and give it a working form. Local builds, review before commits and pushes, and human feedback keeps the work grounded. I care how an experience feels, with rounded and friendly typography and intuitive interactions that invite exploration.

One of my current models is:

Julia Fong

Ventures

Independent products and experiments, built from domain research through design, implementation, and deployment. Hover on a card to read about the concept. Click to explore the live project. For the project thumbnails and notes, click here.

Stage
Legend for coding languages

TS = TypeScript · JS = JavaScript · PY = Python · SQL = Structured Query Language · HTML, CSS, and Swift use their usual names. Percentages are rounded shares of local source-file bytes; only the top three languages at 2% or more appear.

Field

Health & clinical AI

Products and explorations shaped by clinical context and care journeys.

Real estate, finance & tax

An active practice and related tools for investment tax, capital, property, and decisions with shared stakes.

Creative technology

Interactive studies in art, fashion, space, and everyday experience.

Nothing matches that combination — try clearing the search or a filter.

Views

Three concepts in development, shown as short outlines while I shape the full articles. Click a thumbnail to read an article.

Guiding frameworkIntentional AIAdvance with intention. Diffuse with care. A human-centered approach to AI that supports agency and stewardship.
Practical AIToken BudgetingMatch the model, effort, and context to the task. Treat token use as a resource signal, not a measure of productivity.
Systems and societySustainable AIAI depends on physical infrastructure. Use proportionate workflows and ask for clearer impact reporting.
Explore all Views →

Vitae

From clinical imaging to tax returns and property operations, I’m drawn to the details that turn a complicated process into a workable one.

The path to the work

At Christine Chang CPA and Spark + Stone, I help lead a 40-year family tax practice. Since 2020, and in a broader operating role since 2023, I have prepared or reviewed more than 1,000 individual and business returns, supported planning and compliance, modernized documentation, and created optimal workflows that incorporate AI. I’ve especially enjoyed the intricacies of real estate returns and untangling complex client situations, which informs creating my interactive, feature-rich platform for modernized, high-impact advisory with a niche that integrates tax policy and incentives, accounting, real estate practices, property management, and strategic finance.

After finishing med school in Sydney and coming back to the US, I’ve had a variety of roles. Since 2019, as a property manager and Realtor, I’ve overseen leasing, marketing, and tenant screening, coordinated vendors, and responded to service requests while keeping vacancy low and tenancies long. Renovations and maintenance involving plumbing, electrical, HVAC, flooring, paint, and fixtures have taught me to sequence repairs across trades when one task depends on another. In clinical research at USC Keck Medical Center’s Department of Radiology, I reviewed charts and imaging data on bone metastases in lung cancer, curated medical images, and contributed writing for the subcortical structures chapter of Thieme’s Imaging Anatomy: Text and Atlas, Volume 4. As is evident in my projects, I still have an avid interest in neuroimaging and in integrating interpretable and explainable AI into diagnosis and research.

By mid-2025, I began honing my craft as an AI-native product design engineer through the independent portfolio of websites, apps, and applied-AI tools you see here. I carry a project through ideation, storyboarding, branding, copywriting, frontend and backend creation, integration, deployment, and audit. The work spans clinical AI, tax and financial tools, real estate, and creative technology.

Education

BSc, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (minor in Biology)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
MBBS, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery
Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney
CPA Track Certificate
Santa Monica College · 150 units

Credentials

CA Department of Real Estate (DRE) · #02093364
California Registered Tax Preparer (CRTP) · A358261

Languages

Mandarin · fluent speaking
Spanish · conversational

Skills in Practice

Engineering & AI

From framing a product question to prototyping, integrating, deploying, and auditing the result.

Product FramingPrompt EngineeringMarkdown WorkflowsAI AgentsAI-Assisted PrototypingFrontend DevelopmentBackend IntegrationDeploymentIterative Product Audits

Visual & Interaction Design

Building coherent interfaces through layout, color, type, spatial thinking, and responsive interaction.

UI/UX SystemsDesign Systems & CurationCohesive LayoutsPalette & Color SelectionTypography & HierarchyGrid SystemsSpatial CompositionInteraction DesignInteractive 3DSystem Aesthetics

Operations & Workflow Systems

Project leadership across tax operations and real-estate renovation, including research synthesis, writing, staff guidance, video, and client communication.

Delivery CoordinationOrganizational LogicCompliance WorkflowsSoftware AdoptionStakeholder & Client AlignmentClient Communication

Collaboration & Decision Making

Listening closely, framing decisions neutrally, and helping teams move together.

Relationship BuildingCross-Disciplinary SynthesisResearch SynthesisNeutral Issue FramingTeaching & Staff DevelopmentStakeholder Communication

Toolbox

My tech stack supports the full path from concept and brand to copy, visuals, interface, frontend and backend wiring, audit, and release. I pick up new software quickly and adapt it to the problem at hand.

Frontend & Hosting

Interfaces and where they go live.

HTMLCSSJavaScriptTypeScriptReactCloudflareNetlify

Backend & Data

App services, data, scripting, and customer records.

SupabaseAppwritePythonCRM

Design & Media

Visual design, video, and communication.

CanvaFigmaCapCutLoom

Interactive Media

Web animation, 3D, and sound.

Three.jsTone.jsLottie

Development Workflow

Building, reviewing, and collaborating.

Claude CodeCodexGitHubMac Terminal & CLI

Specialized Software

Tax, operations, analysis, and earlier scientific research.

LacerteQuickBooksExcelMATLAB

Research & Publications

Localized CT-guided irradiation inhibits neurogenesis in specific regions of adult mouse brain
Ford E, Achanta P, Purger D, Armour M, Reyes J, Fong J, et al. · Radiation Research 175(6), 2011
NADPH oxidase as a therapeutic target in experimental ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke
Tang X, Xu L, Fong JC, et al. · Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, 2007
Imaging Anatomy: Text and Atlas, Volume 4: Brain, Spinal Cord, Spine, Head, and Neck
Edited by Farhood Saremi · Thieme, 2027
Contribution to the subcortical structures chapter
DHA and uridine supplementation in the adult gerbil hippocampus
Research acknowledged in Sakamoto T, Cansev M, Wurtman RJ · Brain Research, 2007

Vision

Complex, regulated systems are easier to navigate when the right information is transparent and visible. I build tools that help people understand what is happening to make a decision and act with more facts-based confidence. In the domains I've developed expertise in, the same design challenge keeps surfacing: translate specialized knowledge into a simple, appealing and informative tool that promotes optimal action.

My aim is to integrate AI in building systems and structures that expand sovereignty: education that opens doors equally, financial tools that empower self-directing of capital, accessible housing with transparent governance, community-led healthcare knowledge that shapes people's habits, and society that cultivates both the collective well-being and individual empowerment. Individual autonomy and community can interact to elevate multiple facets of the human experience. I believe AI, done right, can unleash human motivation, unearth genuine purpose, and unlock freedom to choose, explore, express, and create.

Values

Three principles that meet in the middle of the work. Hover over a disc to read more; on touch screens, the details are already visible.

Value 01
Integrity
Clarity > optics
Be candid about evidence, tradeoffs, and limits.
Value 02
Depth
Understanding > shortcuts
Learn the domain before designing the answer.
Value 03
Empowerment
Agency > dependence
Use innovation to strengthen collective autonomy and practical self-reliance.

Vibe

I naturally look for patterns. The subject can be medicine, tax, real estate, or AI design. The practice is to find what matters and make the next step clearer. My multidisciplinary work is about cross-pollinating ideas: a question from one field can reveal a better approach in another. Imagination provides the breadth; depth makes it helpful.

Two working drafts

A more human data portrait

Playful estimates
of the mix

Work mode

    Play mode

      Version

      V1: curiosity. V2: a working prototype. Current build: always iterating, always improving. Feel free to get in touch.

      past beta mode · juliafong.com