Following within the footsteps of our first two cohorts — Catastrophe Administration and Local weather Resilience — the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship welcomes seven new fellows tackling an important problem: healthcare.
The intersection of well being and expertise is essential to me. Earlier than I began constructing distributed methods, 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, realizing that any unfinished work meant sufferers must wait one other day for probably life-saving diagnoses. One colleague, Frank, stored telling me my expertise could be higher used constructing expertise that might assist folks at scale. The transition wasn’t as drastic as you may think, it seems that in each fields a very powerful issues are human issues.
What I’ve come to grasp, each in healthcare and in expertise, is that innovation means little if it could actually’t attain the individuals who want it most. Having essentially the most superior imaging expertise means nothing if sufferers can’t entry it. The perfect diagnostic instruments on this planet are ineffective in the event that they sit in hospitals that folks can’t attain, or if the outcomes can’t be interpreted rapidly sufficient to take motion and supply care. If you’re constructing options in locations with restricted assets, you’ll be able to’t simply scale patterns that work in well-funded areas—it’s important to assume in a different way about all the pieces.
This batch of Fellows get it. They’re working in environments the place you’ll be able to’t all the time depend on dependable connectivity, the place financial realities form each determination, the place sufferers is likely to 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 assets. 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 newest batch of Now Go Construct CTO Fellows (in their very own phrases).
Primarily 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 Cell Clinic, I’ve led a crew that has reached over 150,000 folks in flood-affected and underserved communities, utilizing AI powered telemedicine and cellular outreach to shut lethal gaps in care. As the manager director of ITIS, I assist prepare the subsequent 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 methods, sharpen my technical management, and boldly reimagine what’s potential for communities typically left behind.
Primarily based in: Orlando, FL, USA
As Chief Expertise Officer at U.S. Starvation, 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 Households Right this moment and Uniting Them to a More healthy Tomorrow,” guaranteeing each emergency meals intervention is paired with methods to determine and handle the SDOH gaps which can be the foundation causes of meals insecurity. Utilizing meals as a gateway, our platforms ship actionable insights and real-time metrics to attach households with social advantages, empowering organizations and companies to achieve a 360-degree understanding of the folks we serve and assist stop billions in help from going unclaimed. I’m grateful for the chance this Fellowship gives to advance this mission.
Primarily 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 youngsters throughout West and Central Africa. We create studying supplies in partnership with main UN companies, universities, hospital methods, and worldwide training companions.
We not too long ago developed 52 textbooks, workbooks, and instructor guides in a number of languages throughout three nations, alongside skilled growth and discipline analysis, at a fraction of the standard development-sector prices. Now, we’re constructing the Clever Textbook Machine (ITM), an AI-powered platform that scales this method and can facilitate the event of high-quality, localized studying supplies for each instructor and little one. I’m grateful for the chance to affix the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship and desirous to strengthen the technical management and AWS experience wanted to scale this innovation and assist enhance entry to training worldwide.
Primarily 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 youngsters from my village, even right this moment. This distinction formed my objective: to assist guarantee each little one – no matter gender, geography, or socio-economic background – has a good probability to dwell the life she chooses. Expertise is my power, and I imagine it may be a robust equalizer when utilized with intent.
At Piramal Basis, 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 growing institutional capability and data-informed decision-making. We promote using open-source digital public items, robust public-private partnerships, and strong governance frameworks to make digital transformation packages each impactful and sustainable.
I’m excited to affix the Now Go Construct Fellowship to have interaction with fellow technologists from internationally who’re additionally utilizing their expertise for social impression – and to be taught from their journeys.
Primarily based in: Raleigh, NC, USA
Our Wave was based to construct digital therapeutic and assist areas for survivors of sexual hurt, home violence, and little one abuse – a healthcare disaster that impacts 1 in each 3 girls and 1 in each 6 males worldwide. As CTO, my crew and I mix trauma-informed medical analysis on therapeutic methods with leading edge AI to pioneer psychological healthcare platforms for survivors. Thus far, we now have supported survivors in 70 nations utilizing the ability of scalable cloud computing, which has helped us attain disempowered survivors typically missed by conventional companies. This fellowship gives an unbelievable alternative to collaborate with fellow innovators for social good and additional hone my management expertise to amplify our mission.
Primarily based in: Harare, Zimbabwe
I’m Sandra Muzambi, working on the intersection of neighborhood psychological well being and digital innovation. My focus is on utilizing expertise to streamline information assortment and suggestions methods for initiatives like Friendship Bench Zimbabwe, serving to us higher perceive and serve our shoppers. I’m tackling challenges round information interoperability, scaling human-centered AI, turning uncooked information into actionable insights and aligning efforts throughout regional groups by constructing instruments which can be each scalable and domestically 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 aim of scaling impression by smarter, extra inclusive tech.
Primarily based in: Kenya
I’m the Director of Expertise at Jacaranda Well being, the place I pioneer using 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 present main the event of open Swahili Voice AI fashions. At Jacaranda, my crew additionally developed UlizaMAMA, a specialised AI that gives pregnant girls 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 thousands and thousands of customers throughout the continent, and I count on the fellowship to extend the impression of my work and attain thousands and thousands of extra moms throughout the continent and past.
A brand new collection of Now Go Construct is on the way in which
It’s arduous to imagine we’re approaching the primary anniversary of the Fellowship. For the previous 12 months, I’ve had the privilege of working carefully with our inaugural Fellows in Catastrophe Administration and Local weather Resilience, and their work has been nothing wanting inspiring. And I’m excited to share their tales with the launch of a brand new Now Go Construct collection within the coming weeks.
Now, Go Construct!