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 a vital problem: healthcare.
The intersection of well being and expertise is essential to me. Earlier than I began constructing distributed programs, I used to be a radiologist on the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital within the Netherlands. I labored alongside passionate medical doctors who would keep late into the evening, realizing that any unfinished work meant sufferers must wait one other day for probably life-saving diagnoses. One colleague, Frank, saved telling me my abilities can 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 grasp, each in healthcare and in expertise, is that innovation means little if it will probably’t attain the individuals who want it most. Having essentially the most superior imaging expertise means nothing if sufferers can’t entry it. One of the best diagnostic instruments on the planet are ineffective in the event that they sit in hospitals that individuals can’t attain, or if the outcomes can’t be interpreted rapidly sufficient to take motion and supply care. While you’re constructing options in locations with restricted assets, you’ll be able to’t simply scale patterns that work in well-funded areas—you must assume in a different way about every little thing.
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 determination, the place sufferers may be days away from the closest clinic. And somewhat than seeing these as limitations, they’re utilizing them as design constraints to reimagine healthcare and providers from the bottom up. For instance, delivering vital maternal well being data to distant populations with out smartphones, or utilizing off-the-shelf messaging platforms to scale psychological well being providers in areas missing skilled assets. These Fellows are proving that the best 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).
Based mostly 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 staff that has reached over 150,000 individuals in flood-affected and underserved communities, utilizing AI powered telemedicine and cellular 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 potential for communities usually left behind.
Based mostly in: Orlando, FL, USA
As Chief Know-how 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 As we speak and Uniting Them to a More healthy Tomorrow,” making certain each emergency meals intervention is paired with methods to determine and tackle the SDOH gaps which might be the basis 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 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 mostly in: Minneapolis, MN, USA
I lead NextGenU.org’s mission to make high quality schooling a worldwide public good. Our AWS-powered platform delivers free well being and STEM schooling to over 600,000 learners worldwide, from coaching greater than 100,000 healthcare staff 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 programs, and worldwide schooling companions.
We lately developed 52 textbooks, workbooks, and instructor guides in a number of languages throughout three international locations, alongside skilled improvement and subject 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 hitch the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship and desperate to strengthen the technical management and AWS experience wanted to scale this innovation and assist enhance entry to schooling worldwide.
Based mostly 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 as we speak. This distinction formed my function: to assist guarantee each little one – no matter gender, geography, or socio-economic background – has a good probability to stay the life she chooses. Know-how is my power, and I imagine it may be a strong 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, schooling, and different sectors – by growing institutional capability and data-informed decision-making. We promote the usage of open-source digital public items, sturdy public-private partnerships, and strong governance frameworks to make digital transformation packages each impactful and sustainable.
I’m excited to hitch the Now Go Construct Fellowship to interact with fellow technologists from internationally who’re additionally utilizing their abilities for social influence – and to study from their journeys.
Based mostly 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 staff and I mix trauma-informed scientific analysis on therapeutic strategies with leading edge AI to pioneer psychological healthcare platforms for survivors. Up to now, we’ve got supported survivors in 70 international locations utilizing the ability of scalable cloud computing, which has helped us attain disempowered survivors usually ignored by conventional providers. This fellowship supplies an unimaginable alternative to collaborate with fellow innovators for social good and additional hone my management abilities to amplify our mission.
Based mostly 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 purchasers. 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 might be each scalable and regionally grounded. The Fellowship will assist refine these options with world insights, join me with friends tackling related challenges in their very own context, and assist my aim of scaling influence by means of smarter, extra inclusive tech.
Based mostly in: Kenya
Because the Director of Know-how at Jacaranda Well being, I’m pushed by the idea that no mom or child must be left behind. My work is targeted on harnessing the ability of AI to bridge vital gaps in maternal and new child healthcare throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
I’ve had the privilege of main an unimaginable staff on the event of groundbreaking instruments like UlizaLlama, the primary open LLM for 5 African languages, and UlizaMAMA, an AI-powered platform that delivers important well being data to moms in their very own language. These instruments have enabled thousands and thousands of ladies to take a extra lively function of their maternal well being, equipping them with the information wanted to navigate being pregnant and childbirth extra safely.
I’m thrilled to hitch the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship to collaborate with different purpose-driven leaders and to speed up our mission of making certain each mom and little one has a wholesome future.
A brand new collection of Now Go Construct is on the way in which
It’s laborious to imagine we’re approaching the primary anniversary of the Fellowship. For the previous yr, 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!
