Artificial intelligence (AI) holds promise as a potentially transformative and disruptive force across sectors, including health and healthcare. Around the world, AI-driven solutions are being developed and implemented in health settings at a dizzying pace. While these new technologies could help to improve health and save lives, especially in resource-constrained settings, many still lack a strong evidence base as well as mature policy and regulatory environments to ensure responsible use. 

In this session, we will hear from leading innovators around the world as well as researchers who are studying the growing use of AI in global health. The discussion will focus on the current state of AI, lessons learned, and the pathway forward for evidence-driven, responsible, and ethical use of AI in global health.

SPEAKERS

Krishna Udayakumar, MD, MBA, (moderator) is the founding Director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Center, focused on generating deeper evidence and support for the study, scaling, and adaptation of health innovations and policy reforms globally.  He is also Executive Director of Innovations in Healthcare, a non-profit co-founded by Duke, McKinsey & Company, and the World Economic Forum to curate and scale the impact of transformative health solutions globally.

At Duke University, Dr. Udayakumar holds the rank of Associate Professor of Global Health and Medicine, and is a core faculty member of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. He also serves as Associate Director for Innovation of the Duke Global Health Institute. His work has been published in leading academic journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, and Academic Medicine, and he has been interviewed or quoted in media outlets around the world, including CNN, BBC, NPR, Al Jazeera, New York Times, Washington Post, and Politico.

Moka Lantum, MD, PhD, MHCM,  a visionary in healthtech, is transforming African healthcare as CEO and Co-Founder of CheckUps Medical. This platform provides tech-enabled urgent care and home delivery to over 300,000 uninsured or vulnerable patients in Kenya and South Sudan.

Dr. Lantum's career includes senior roles at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and Eastman Kodak, where he led projects optimizing care access and cutting costs through data analytics, saving millions. He founded MicroClinic Technologies, creating Africa's first government-adopted national electronic medical record system, used in over 200 facilities. An Ashoka Fellow and Foreign Policy Global Thinker, Dr. Lantum's work attracts strategic partnerships, including with Philips Foundation. His goal is to scale CheckUps into Africa's first mass-market health brand, promoting sustainability and shared value, and enhancing healthcare access across the continent.

Michael J. Pencina, PhD, is Duke Health's chief data scientist and serves as vice dean for data science, director of Duke AI Health, and professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics at the Duke University School of Medicine. His work bridges the fields of data science, health care, and AI, contributing to Duke’s national leadership in trustworthy health AI. 

Dr. Pencina partners with key leaders to develop data science strategies for Duke Health that span and connect academic research and clinical care. As vice dean for data science, he develops and implements quantitative science strategies to support the School of Medicine’s missions in education and training, laboratory and clinical science, and data science. He co-founded and co-leads the national Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), a multi-stakeholder effort whose mission is to increase trustworthiness of AI by developing guidelines to drive high-quality health care through the adoption of credible, fair, and transparent health AI systems. He also spearheaded the establishment and co-chairs Duke Health’s Algorithm-Based Clinical Decision Support (ABCDS) Oversight Committee and serves as co-director of Duke’s Collaborative to Advance Clinical Health Equity (CACHE). 

Ruchika Singhal, MSE, MBA, is a seasoned healthcare industry leader with 20+ years of expertise in health technologies and systems innovation, market development, entrepreneurship and strategy across the globe. Currently, as President of Medtronic LABS, she leads a passionate entrepreneurial team across US, Africa and Asia with the mission to expand access to healthcare for underserved patients, families and communities across the world. Through tech-powered and community-based health delivery, LABS is transforming population health management at the primary care level in low-income settings with 1M+ lives touched since inception. 

Previously, she worked at Medtronic for fourteen years in various roles across Strategy, International Market Development, Marketing and New Product Development. She has had extensive experience developing businesses in emerging markets and has pioneered new business models to address healthcare needs at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid. She is actively involved in mentoring social businesses and is passionate about healthcare and women’s empowerment, especially in underserved communities. 

Wendy Taylor, MPP, is President and CEO of the William Davidson Institute, a non-profit affiliated with the University of Michigan dedicated to supporting businesses, entrepreneurship and market-based solutions in low- and middle-income countries. She is charged with leading the development of WDI’s strategy and steering the organization toward its next phase of growth.

Taylor is an innovation leader and entrepreneur with over two decades of experience building and leading high-impact teams. Working at the intersection of public, private and not-for-profit sectors, she has founded multiple enterprises, catalyzed innovations to tackle some of the world’s toughest health challenges and leveraged market-based solutions for transformational impact. As Vice President for Technical Leadership and Innovation at Jhpiego, Taylor led a large, multidisciplinary team focused on driving accelerated impact across women’s health, infectious disease, primary health care, global health security and climate-health. As a Rockefeller Foundation fellow, she identified ways to leverage advances in artificial intelligence, digital health and data technologies to transform global health. And at the US Agency for International Development, she founded and led the Center for Innovation and Impact, which applies innovative, business-minded approaches to accelerate the development, introduction and scale-up of priority global health solutions. 

João Vissoci, PhD, is an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine, Global Health and Neurosurgery. He has a background in psychology and data science with a PhD in Social Psychology from the Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Sao Paulo/Brazil.  

His research interests focus on leveraging data through analytics and technology to bridge the gap in access and equity in care in low resource settings, translating evidence into practice or policy impact. He uses data science and mixed-methods research to design and implement innovative data-driven solutions to address health care gaps. He is also interested in global mental health with an emphasis on the use of daily activities to improve mental health reintegration. Dr. Vissoci has actively worked in Brazil looking into population health, health systems and quality of care, and in Tanzania and Uganda with a focus on traumatic brain injury, mental health and technology.

This is a hybrid event with both in-person and remote attendance options. Attendance in person is encouraged. Lunch will be available.