You can create a Wikidata entry and mark it as "different from" the other folks that it's being conflated with. Then the Googlebot has the information it needs to do the right thing.

Perhaps I'm using it wrong (I've long wanted to, but haven't yet seriously played with Wikidata), but there don't seem to be any Andrea Vassells listed?

https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=Andrea+Vassell

So OP would need to create multiple entries, for the wrong people too? And since Google currently displays this panel without it coming from a Wikidata entry, how does it then know that this new Wikidata entry ties up to what it wants to show; that the image it is showing is related to one of the other new Wikidata entries?

Wikidata doesn't look great. Tried searching myself. I have a pretty big web presence in general and all Wikidata has is a scientific paper I didn't write with one author with my first name as their last name and another author sharing my last name.

Well, it's worth noting that it's not intending to be specifically for publications, it's not like Google Scholar or ORCID for example.

The reason it's interesting / useful for things like 'knowledge panel' is perhaps clearer if you look at a more complete entry, such as for 'apple': https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q89 and something on using the SPARQL API, such as https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:SPARQL_tutorial or https://www.markhneedham.com/blog/2020/01/29/newbie-guide-qu....

As I say, I haven't actually got around to using it at all myself, but that's why I hold it in higher regard than 'not great'. :)

That doesn't usually stop it from picking an image from the image search results.

Yes, at some point she would still need to "claim" the "knowledge panel" for herself by complaining to Google. But having accurate info in the community-curated Wikidata graph (that's used by pretty much every Big Tech firm out there btw, not just Google) ought to ease that process by avoiding that "Knowlege Graph" entry being fed from less accurate sources.

Use a fake photo as provided above, algorithmically generated. Or use a photo of Sergey Brin or Larry page, they deserve the credit for this "feature" eh?

that would be vandalism of wikidata