Viz.ai is a tech company on a mission to fundamentally improve how healthcare is delivered through AI. Senior Director of Global Clinical Affairs, Moleen Madziva shares strategy and insights with Jim Cagliostro. 

 

Episode Introduction 

 

As AI continues to reshape healthcare, Moleen explains how Viz’s cloud based system drives efficiencies in patient care, and reveals the unique mobile app with a critical impact on surgeon decision making. She also explains why hospitals must allow the data to lead, how Viz.ai systems work in parallel with clinical workflow and why ‘’kindness wins’ permeates the company’s approach to building relationships. 

 

Show Topics

 

• How our lived experiences shape healthcare leadership
• Detecting disease on a medical image with AI 
• Enhancing patient care with a mobile app 
• Allowing the data to lead
• The importance of human connection
• Inspiring change with personal integrity 
• Getting everyone on the same page 

 

05:04 How our lived experiences shape healthcare leadership

Moleen recalled how her community upbringing taught her the real meaning of wealth and empowered her for her role at Viz.ai. 

 

‘’I was born and raised in Zimbabwe in Southern Africa, so shout out to all my fellow Zimbabweans out there. We are really flying the Zimbabwe flag high. I'm based out here in the US and currently living in Southern California. I was raised in a small village called Macheke and I really lived under communitarian community that really honored what it meant to have each other's back. It wasn't until much later as I was growing up that I realized how wealthy and how rich I was because my upbringing was really filled with so much love and care and really nourishing me with culture that has really been shaping generations for so many centuries, but in such a way that even now as someone in technology and clinical research, I realize that all of those lessons have really empowered me for the type of leader that I am, but also for how I visualize doing ethical clinical science.’’

 

 

07:56 Detecting disease on a medical image with AI

Moleen explained how Viz.ai’s cloud based system drives care efficiencies.

 

‘’So our mission at Viz is to bring lifesaving treatments to patients. …So think of it this way, when a patient comes into the ER for example, they get a medical image like a CT scan. That image actually is shipped to the Viz system that sits in the cloud, and from there it is processed and almost pretty much in real time the care coordination team, the physicians and everyone else in that system is able to get the notification for them to be able to start deciding what to do for the patient. One of the things that we're talking about when we say we drive efficiency in care is that we are bringing all the key stakeholders for that care coordination in one place, in a HIPAA-compliant platform where everyone can communicate and be able to really drive efficiency in how patients are cared for. So that's one piece.’’

 

 

10:18 Enhancing patient care with a mobile app 

Moleen explained how the Viz app enables surgeons to make critical decisions from anywhere in the world. 

 

‘’So we have a mobile app also it's available through the web where the rest of the team that's actually put onto to the Viz system are able to see within their clinical hospital system what they need to be doing for the patients that they get the notifications for. So in many ways it's really more about bringing key stakeholders into one place so that they can actually be able to efficiently make decisions. Think of it this way, let's just say that a very key surgeon is not on campus at the time and they're away somewhere, but a critical case that is come through. Instead of waiting for the surgeon to drive all the way back to the hospital and make some decisions, after looking at a case on a computer on campus, they can actually make that decision from wherever they are in the world, 24/7 by actually being able to access the Viz app on their mobile application.’’

 

12:59 Allowing the data to lead 

Moleen said that allowing the data to lead can help to overcome hesitancy around AI in healthcare. 

 

‘’When we think about hesitancy, a lot of times it's really more about not having really led more from understanding how do you validate it? How do they see the economic impact? How are they actually able to make decisions really from allowing the data to lead. This is where I really come in in my role recognizing that yes, we have an amazing marketing team, we have a great engineering team and AI team, but research is really integral to what we do because then we're able to really validate for real world evidence that can support a lot of the decision makers who may have had questions. So any of the research questions that we ask really should be really lending more to where is the gap within the clinical discourse? Where is some of the hesitancy? How can we actually start making some of those decisions a little bit easier for those that are tied to making these very important decisions for any of their healthcare systems across the country?’’

 

14:45 The importance of human connection

Moleen explained that Viz.ai systems work in parallel with clinical workflow. 

 

‘’So as I pre-empted earlier in my introduction of myself really having been born and raised in a communitarian spirit and recognizing that human touch is really the integral part of who we are as a human experience, but what I can say is at Viz.ai, we really developed our AI systems that work in parallel with the clinical workflow. So we're not replacing radiologists or any other of the specialists. What we're actually doing is just providing a tool that can actually make their work more efficient. So there are several different areas that we work with experts within the field to really be able to drive that point that we are not here to as a replacement, we actually honor the fact that there is a human touch.’’

 

17:49 Inspiring change with personal integrity

Moleen emphasized the need for starting with the ‘’why’’ to get buy-in on strategy and change. 

 

‘’… for me it always starts with my own personal values that then overlay onto my professional brand in the work that I'm actually set to do at Viz. From a personal perspective it is really more about integrity. In who I am I am actually able to define what sort of work I want to do in the world and how I do that work. But most importantly why. So we always want to start with the why because as we're inspired, others then really begin to buy into the story because they're recognizing this is actually legacy work. It is beyond what we are doing in our time. What I really wish to see is 50 years from now, a hundred years from now, well past our time, others will remember and look back and say, we're so grateful that there was this generation that came in and did such quality work with such kindness, with such quality in such a way that they really opened up the door for what AI can do, what clinical trials and clinical research can actually do in terms of shaping the direction in which healthcare is going.’’

 

 

20:30 Getting everyone on the same page 

Moleen said looking for things people have in common helps to overcome differences. 

 

‘’So as part of my self development, my professional development, I recently took a course out of University of Pennsylvania through the MBA program that's called Executive Presence and Influence. One of the things we're talking about in that class is really recognizing that influence is a lot more about narrative. So really beginning more with my story so that we can actually find ways in which we have a lot more in common than we have in differences, but also really being able to have this specific communication that recognizes that you may not be seeing things from my vantage point because you are not there yet. So I tend to be very patient. When I'm building relationships with our clinical partners I recognize that it is really more about waiting until the time is right for us to move a certain project in a different direction. In the meantime we continue to build the relationship through other things where they're kind of ready to actually be able to talk about.’’

 

 

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You’ll also hear:

Moleen’s career history, from engineering graduate at Drexel University, to Viz.ai, via telecommunications and clinical trials. ‘’When I joined about two years ago we didn't have a structured clinical program, so it has really been my task every single day to ensure that we can bring forward a clinical science program, clinical operations program, and expand it.’’

The growing impact of Viz.ai in global healthcare. ‘’We are live in about 1400 hospitals across the US and also live now in the number of hospitals within the European region. So just to be able to say that, yes, there are many hospitals that are recognizing the impact of AI and really leaning into embracing what it can actually do within their systems.’’

‘’Kindness wins’’: How Viz.ai’s core value permeates their approach to customers, physician partners and clinical partners.

Putting patients first: inspiring change based on the premise that ‘’no patient should get left behind.’’ 

Bringing lifesaving treatment more efficiently to patients. Why Viz.ai’s mission is a legacy work. ‘’We’re not doing it just for one company or one patient. We’re really doing that as a global phenomenon.’’ 

 

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