Fiza Shaukat: Digitizing Medical Records for Easy Accessibility and Personalized Care
Ladderworks is a publishing platform of diverse picture books and an online curriculum with the mission to empower over a million kids to become social entrepreneurs. Our current series features interviews by our interplanetary journalist Spiffy with inspiring Social Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builders, and Changemakers who are advancing the UN SDGs.
Spiffy here with the scoop on the entrepreneurial leaders of Planet Earth. As the only interplanetary journalist stationed on this blue planet, I’m thrilled to present this galactic exclusive with Fiza Shaukat, the co-founder and CEO of Patient First.AI. Let’s learn what’s happening at Patient First.AI and how Fiza is making a positive impact in the world.
Spiffy: Hi Fiza, thanks a million for talking to me today. Tell me, what challenge are you addressing through Patient First.AI?
Fiza: Thanks for having me, Spiffy! Globally, 92% of medical data is recorded by pen and paper. These paper-based medical records are easily lost and never updated which leads to delayed diagnosis and irregular monitoring of a patient's health.
Spiffy: What motivates you to do it?
Fiza: My brother and I were working as full-time consultants in the US when a personal incident occurred. The doctors in Lahore, Pakistan lost all the medical data and spent two days re-running tests trying to understand what had happened. We were both working consultants advising digital health strategies in the US, Africa, Peru, and Pakistan, and knew there had to be a better way to have access to medical data when you need it! That's when we decided to go back to Pakistan and began our journey with Patient First.AI.
Spiffy: In your words, what is the impact of your work?
Fiza: We have developed the first-ever smart health card that digitizes health records and uses AI to deliver personalized care to patients in emerging markets.
Spiffy: Tell me about a recent organization milestone or initiative. What impact does it make on your community?
Fiza: We recently deployed our physician product with the "Digipen" technology that allows the physician's prescription to be digitized in real time without the physician changing any behavior—and they say it works like "magic". Since our launch in the past two months, we have 100% of our physicians' patients being onboarded.
Spiffy: Wow, that’s really innovative! Is there anything else you would love to tell our audience?
Fiza: My brother (Farooq) and I are co-founders who have worked extensively in the US, Canada, Peru, Africa and Pakistan. After we saw the same fragmented healthcare system, we are on a mission to make healthcare as accessible and seamless as fintech! Hence, our solution of a smart health card—so that no matter where the patient goes, their medical story is now carried with them in a meaningful way.
Spiffy: Thanks for speaking with me today, Fiza—it’s been an honor!
Fiza Shaukat is the co-founder and CEO of Patient First.AI. She is a biomedical engineer and holds a Public Health degree from Harvard University. She has extensive experience consulting for Fortune 500 clients in the US and has led global health initiatives in Peru, Africa, and Pakistan. (Nominated by Alex Parks at the Harvard Innovation Labs. First published on the Ladderworks website on June 13, 2023.)
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect those of Ladderworks LLC.
© 2023 Ladderworks LLC. Edited by Anushree Nande. Spiffy’s illustration by Shreyas Navare. For the Ladderworks digital curriculum to help K-3 kids advance the UN SDGs, visit Spiffy's Launchpad: Creative Entrepreneurship Workshops for K-3 Kids and their caregivers here.