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Following within the footsteps of our first two cohorts — Disaster Management and Climate Resilience — the Now Go Build CTO Fellowship welcomes seven new fellows tackling a vital problem: healthcare.
The intersection of well being and expertise is essential to me. Before I began constructing distributed programs, I used to be a radiologist on the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital within the Netherlands. I labored alongside passionate docs who would keep late into the night time, figuring out that any unfinished work meant sufferers must wait one other day for probably life-saving diagnoses. One colleague, Frank, saved telling me my expertise could be higher used constructing expertise that might assist individuals at scale. The transition wasn’t as drastic as you may think, it seems that in each fields an important issues are human issues.
What I’ve come to know, each in healthcare and in expertise, is that innovation means little if it might probably’t attain the individuals who want it most. Having essentially the most superior imaging expertise means nothing if sufferers can’t entry it. The finest diagnostic instruments on this planet are ineffective in the event that they sit in hospitals that individuals can’t attain, or if the outcomes can’t be interpreted shortly sufficient to take motion and supply care. When you’re constructing options in locations with restricted sources, you’ll be able to’t simply scale patterns that work in well-funded areas—you must suppose in a different way about the whole lot.
This batch of Fellows get it. They’re working in environments the place you’ll be able to’t at all times rely on dependable connectivity, the place financial realities form each resolution, the place sufferers may be days away from the closest clinic. And quite than seeing these as limitations, they’re utilizing them as design constraints to reimagine healthcare and companies from the bottom up. For instance, delivering essential maternal well being data to distant populations with out smartphones, or utilizing off-the-shelf messaging platforms to scale psychological well being companies in areas missing skilled sources. These Fellows are proving that the simplest options emerge when expertise is formed by the communities that use it.
With that, I’d prefer to introduce the most recent batch of Now Go Build CTO Fellows (in their very own phrases).
Based in: Abuja, Nigeria
I’ve spent the final eight years turning adversity into motion, constructing tech-powered options that carry healthcare to the frontlines of disaster. As co-founder of Parker’s Mobile Clinic, I’ve led a workforce that has reached over 150,000 individuals in flood-affected and underserved communities, utilizing AI powered telemedicine and cell outreach to shut lethal gaps in care. As the chief director of ITIS, I assist prepare the following technology of African innovators to harness AI and digital instruments for social change. I see the AWS CTO Fellowship as a launchpad to scale resilient programs, sharpen my technical management, and boldly reimagine what’s attainable for communities typically left behind.
Based in: Orlando, FL, USA
As Chief Technology Officer at U.S. Hunger, I’m main the cost to undertake cloud and AI-driven options in pursuit of our mission to attach meals help, social care, and healthcare nationwide. I’m dedicated to our imaginative and prescient of “Feeding Families Today and Uniting Them to a Healthier Tomorrow,” making certain each emergency meals intervention is paired with methods to establish and deal with the SDOH gaps which are the basis causes of meals insecurity. Using meals as a gateway, our platforms ship actionable insights and real-time metrics to attach households with social advantages, empowering organizations and businesses to achieve a 360-degree understanding of the individuals we serve and assist stop billions in assist from going unclaimed. I’m grateful for the chance this Fellowship supplies to advance this mission.
Based in: Minneapolis, MN, USA
I lead NextGenU.org’s mission to make high quality training a worldwide public good. Our AWS-powered platform delivers free well being and STEM training to over 600,000 learners worldwide, from coaching greater than 100,000 healthcare employees within the DRC to educating science and math to 10,000 kids throughout West and Central Africa. We create studying supplies in partnership with main UN businesses, universities, hospital programs, and worldwide training companions.
We lately developed 52 textbooks, workbooks, and trainer guides in a number of languages throughout three nations, alongside skilled improvement and subject analysis, at a fraction of the everyday development-sector prices. Now, we’re constructing the Intelligent Textbook Machine (ITM), an AI-powered platform that scales this method and can facilitate the event of high-quality, localized studying supplies for each trainer and baby. I’m grateful for the chance to hitch the Now Go Build CTO Fellowship and wanting to strengthen the technical management and AWS experience wanted to scale this innovation and assist enhance entry to training worldwide.
Based in: California, USA
I grew up in a distant village in southern India; our household had little past sufficient meals to get by. I’ve been lucky to earn a level and chase my desires – alternatives that also stay out of attain for a lot of kids from my village, even at the moment. This distinction formed my goal: to assist guarantee each baby – no matter gender, geography, or socio-economic background – has a good probability to stay the life she chooses. Technology is my energy, and I consider it may be a strong equalizer when utilized with intent.
At Piramal Foundation, we work with authorities departments to assist them undertake digital applied sciences and AI to enhance public service supply – throughout well being, training, and different sectors – by rising institutional capability and data-informed decision-making. We promote the usage of open-source digital public items, robust public-private partnerships, and sturdy governance frameworks to make digital transformation applications each impactful and sustainable.
I’m excited to hitch the Now Go Build Fellowship to have interaction with fellow technologists from the world over who’re additionally utilizing their expertise for social affect – and to be taught from their journeys.
Based in: Raleigh, NC, USA
Our Wave was based to construct digital therapeutic and assist areas for survivors of sexual hurt, home violence, and baby abuse – a healthcare disaster that impacts 1 in each 3 ladies and 1 in each 6 males worldwide. As CTO, my workforce and I mix trauma-informed scientific analysis on therapeutic strategies with innovative AI to pioneer psychological healthcare platforms for survivors. To date, we now have supported survivors in 70 nations utilizing the ability of scalable cloud computing, which has helped us attain disempowered survivors typically ignored by conventional companies. This fellowship supplies an unbelievable alternative to collaborate with fellow innovators for social good and additional hone my management expertise to amplify our mission.
Based in: Harare, Zimbabwe
I’m Sandra Muzambi, working on the intersection of group psychological well being and digital innovation. My focus is on utilizing expertise to streamline knowledge assortment and suggestions programs for initiatives like Friendship Bench Zimbabwe, serving to us higher perceive and serve our shoppers. I’m tackling challenges round knowledge interoperability, scaling human-centered AI, turning uncooked knowledge into actionable insights and aligning efforts throughout regional groups by constructing instruments which are each scalable and regionally grounded. The Fellowship will assist refine these options with international insights, join me with friends tackling related challenges in their very own context, and assist my objective of scaling affect via smarter, extra inclusive tech.
Based in: Kenya
I’m the Director of Technology at Jacaranda Health, the place I pioneer the usage of AI to enhance maternal and new child well being outcomes throughout Sub Saharan Africa. I led the creation of UlizaLlama, the primary open LLM for 5 African languages, and am at the moment main the event of open Swahili Voice AI fashions. At Jacaranda, my workforce additionally developed UlizaMAMA, a specialised AI that gives pregnant ladies and new moms with practically instantaneous responses to their well being queries. My management has been a key a part of scaling Jacaranda’s digital well being platform to serve hundreds of thousands of customers throughout the continent, and I count on the fellowship to extend the affect of my work and attain hundreds of thousands of extra moms throughout the continent and past.
A brand new collection of Now Go Build is on the way in which
It’s arduous to consider we’re approaching the primary anniversary of the Fellowship. For the previous yr, I’ve had the privilege of working intently with our inaugural Fellows in Disaster Management and Climate Resilience, and their work has been nothing in need of inspiring. And I’m excited to share their tales with the launch of a brand new Now Go Build collection within the coming weeks.
Now, Go Build!