30 Healthcare IT Influencers Worth a Follow in 2024
What does it mean to transform healthcare? For some, it means centering patients in conversations about their care and interactions with the healthcare system. For others, it means using tools such as artificial intelligence to support clinical decision-making. Many in the field are also focused on improving access to care with virtual care solutions.
To celebrate the leaders, researchers and advocates who are creating a better future for healthcare, HealthTech has compiled a list of 30 healthcare IT influencers driving innovation, equity and change in the healthcare space. Follow these leaders for valuable insights into the quickly evolving worlds of AI, digital health and patient care.
Did your blog, podcast or account make our 2024 Health IT Influencer List? If so, be sure to share the news with your followers!
Click the banner below to create connected care workflows that improve healthcare experiences.
Aashima Gupta is the global director of healthcare solutions for Google Cloud. In this role, she accelerates healthcare’s digital transformation through business solutions such as the cloud, artificial intelligence and application programming interfaces. Gupta also sits on the boards of directors for several digital health companies. She posts about Google updates and cloud-enabled solutions.
As chief health equity officer and senior vice president for the American Medical Association, Dr. Aletha Maybank ensures the AMA is focusing on health equity in all of its work. She also leads the AMA’s Center for Health Equity. Before joining the AMA, Maybank served as the deputy commissioner and founding director for the Center for Health Equity at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in 2020 about the impacts of the pandemic on Black communities. Maybank has made appearances on NPR, MSNBC and more. She posts about public health equity and access.
Dr. Amaka Eneanya is the first chief transformation officer at Emory Healthcare, where she is focused on creating systemwide strategies to improve clinician and patient experiences. In addition to bolstering patient experiences through increased care access and community engagement, she also collaborates with the system’s diversity, equity and inclusion office to prioritize DEI in care delivery. Prior to joining Emory, Eneanya was head of strategy and operations for Fresenius Medical Care’s global medical office. She posts about digital transformation and the patient experience.
Brendan Keeler is the interoperability and data liquidity practice lead at software development company HTD Health. He also serves as an adviser for several digital health companies including Flexpa, Vitalize Care, Revero and Elion. He spent several years at Epic as an integration manager and integration product lead. Keeler is a health application programming interface expert and publishes an interoperability-focused newsletter called Health API Guy. He posts about healthcare interoperability.
Dr. C.K. Wang uses his experience as a board-certified oncologist in his role as the chief medical officer at COTA, a company focused on harnessing real-world data to support cancer research. Prior to heading COTA’s clinical and research operations, he was an oncology leader for IBM’s Watson Health, the medical director for USMD Health System and a partner physician at Dallas Oncology Consultants. Wang regularly speaks at healthcare technology conferences and posts about healthcare data and oncology research.
Not only is Christopher Kunney a health IT strategist and adviser for companies including Chilmark Research, ScaleHealth and BIONABU, he is also the host of the Straight Outta Health IT podcast. The podcast includes discussions with healthcare leaders about changes and trends in the healthcare technology industry. Kunney posts about health IT and healthcare news.
For more than eight years, Chris Waugh has served as chief design and innovation officer for Sutter Health in San Francisco, where he applies his human-centered design expertise to the health system’s innovation strategy. Waugh regularly speaks at digital health events and posts about healthcare innovation, digital transformation and leadership.
Dr. Daniel Kraft has founded several digital health startups and companies over his career, including NextMed Health (previously known as Exponential Medicine), Digital.Health, RegenMed Systems and IntelliMedicine. NextMed Health is a program that explores the potential of biomedical and healthcare technology developments. Kraft has been featured on CNN, TED Talks, National Geographic and more. He posts about emerging digital health tools and trends.
Dave deBronkart advocates for improved patient engagement, access and experience through his blog, e-Patient Dave. After overcoming Stage 4 kidney cancer in 2007, deBronkart became a blogger, health policy adviser and international keynote speaker, sharing his medical experience from the patient’s perspective in the hope of improving patient care. He is the author of several books, including Let Patients Help: A Patient Engagement Handbook and The Birth of a Battle Cry: Gimme My Damn Data. He’s been featured in USA Today, TIME, The Boston Globe and Forbes and on CNN, ABC News and more. He posts about patient advocacy, interoperability and digital health trends.
With a strong background in business leadership in the IT and healthcare industries, Deepthi Bathina founded RhythmX AI, a generative artificial intelligence-native health company focused on hyperpersonalized care. She has led the company as its CEO since 2022. In addition, Bathina is chair of the board of the Kerry Murphy Healey Center for Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Babson College, where she received her MBA. She is also former chief product officer at Humana, where she oversaw product design, development and delivery for segments including chronic condition management, behavioral health and social determinants of health. She is a regular speaker at healthcare technology conferences and posts about AI.
Dr. Gabe Charbonneau is a rural family physician at Providence and a co-founder of Medicine Forward, an organization working to unite doctors and healthcare change leaders to recenter the physician-patient relationship. He is also the founder of fightburnout.org, which is focused on reducing the stigma around clinician burnout. He posts about leadership and health IT.
Dr. Harvey Castro is a healthcare artificial intelligence expert, keynote speaker and management adviser. He is the chief medical AI officer for Helpp.ai and an OpenAI Forum member at OpenAI. His posts, blogs and YouTube videos focus on increasing awareness of digital health and AI and creating change in healthcare. He also hosts The GPT Podcast, launched in March 2023, where he discusses the evolution of AI in healthcare.
John Brownstein wears many hats. He is chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a contributor to ABC News. Brownstein is also an infectious disease epidemiologist and has co-founded multiple companies throughout his career. He posts about digital health, innovation and infectious disease news.
As the chief medical officer for WebMD, Dr. John Whyte develops and executes the company’s strategy and vision while fostering strategic partnerships to tackle important public health challenges. During his career, he’s worked at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Discovery Channel and the Food and Drug Administration. Whyte has also advocated for increased diversity in clinical trials. He hosts WebMD’s Health Discovered Podcast and is a frequent panelist at healthcare conferences. He posts about healthcare change management, health IT and public health.
José Pedro Almeida is an advisory board member at Intelligence Ventures, a venture capital firm dedicated to innovation at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare. He posts about Big Data and generative AI in healthcare.
Judy Murphy is an experienced nurse executive and health IT leader. She served as the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s chief nursing officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services before becoming the chief nursing officer for IBM Healthcare. Murphy now serves as a board member and advisory chair for organizations including the University of California, Irvine and NHS Digital in the U.K. Murphy posts about nursing informatics and technologies impacting nurses.
Dr. Karandeep Singh is the inaugural chief health artificial intelligence officer at UC San Diego Health, where he focuses on bringing innovation to the bedside to improve patient safety and health outcomes. He is also a nephrologist and AI expert with a master’s degree in biomedical informatics from Harvard Medical School. Singh participated in the Google Health Bioethics Summit in 2022, where he advocated for transparency in Google’s approach to AI in healthcare. His research was cited in the White House’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. Singh posts about AI and healthcare innovation.
Equality AI CEO Dr. Maia Hightower leads the organization in its quest to reduce the digital divide created by an influx of digital health technology and artificial intelligence algorithms into healthcare. Prior to joining the company, Hightower was the chief digital transformation officer for UChicago Medicine. Before that, she was the senior director of health equity, diversity and inclusion at University of Utah Health. She posts about driving digital transformation in healthcare.
As a telehealth advocate and healthcare leader, Dr. Matthew Sakumoto is moving virtual care forward in the industry. He is a virtual-first primary care physician at Sutter Health and the chief medical information officer for its Sutter West Bay Medical Group. Sakumoto is passionate about improving healthcare delivery, with an interest in telehealth, population health management, and improving patient access and outcomes. Sakumoto posts about virtual care, informatics and health IT. He also has a food blog.
Dr. Natalie Pageler is the chief medical information officer at Stanford Children’s Health in addition to her role as a clinical professor at Stanford University. She is a board-certified pediatric intensivist and clinical informaticist. Pageler has led the creation of the health system’s digital health program; implemented tools and processes to enhance clinical efficiency; and developed clinical decision support tools to improve education, efficiency, patient safety and quality of care. She posts about digital health and clinical informatics.
In addition to his role as the CISO for Databricks, a data and artificial intelligence platform, Omar Khawaja is a faculty member in Carnegie Mellon University’s CISO program. He’s also a member of the board of directors for HITRUST, a security organization that provides a universal framework related to security. Khawaja posts about healthcare cybersecurity and risk management across his platforms.
Oriana Beaudet is the vice president of innovation for ANA Enterprise at the American Nurses Association. She has a doctorate in nursing practice from the University of Minnesota and posts about supporting nurses with innovative solutions.
Pranav Rajpurkar is passionate about the potential of artificial intelligence to revolutionize medicine. He is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, and he runs the Rajpurkar Lab at Harvard, where he and his team develop advanced medical AI. He is also the program director at Harvard and Stanford University’s Medical AI Bootcamp. His work has been published in more than 100 academic journals and he’s been featured on NPR and in The Washington Post and Wired. Rajpurkar posts about medical AI.
Under the leadership of CEO Robert C. Garrett, Hackensack Meridian Health merged with behavioral health provider Carrier Clinic. He also helped establish a collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and oversaw the opening of Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, which was New Jersey’s first new private medical school in decades. Garrett posts about healthcare management and leadership in addition to updates about Hackensack Meridian Health.
Robyn Stone is the senior vice president for research at LeadingAge and co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston. She served as deputy assistant secretary for disability, aging and long-term care policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration in addition to serving as assistant secretary for aging. She advocates for policy concerning long-term care quality, care for people with disabilities, affordable senior housing, family caregiving and the workforce in the aging services industry. Stone posts about aging services.
Solome Tibebu founded the Behavioral Health Tech community and conference to expand access to mental health and substance misuse care using technology. She is passionate about emerging technologies, health equity and the digital transformation of the behavioral health industry. Tibebu serves on the board of directors and in advisory roles for several organizations and startups, including BeMe Health, CaringBridge and Pivotal Ventures. She posts about mental health, well-being and health IT.
Stacy Hurt is the chief patient officer at Parexel, a clinical research organization. She brings her own experiences to her role as an advocate who represents patients as internal stakeholders in clinical decision-making, the digital patient experience and drug development. Hurt overcame Stage 4 colorectal cancer in 2015. She also has experience as a caregiver for her son, who has a rare chromosome disorder. Hurt posts about patient advocacy and the importance of engaging patients about their health and healthcare experiences.
Dr. Stephanie Lahr has held several executive healthcare roles during her career. She is currently the president of the ambient artificial intelligence software company Artisight. Previously, she was the CIO and chief medical information officer for Monument Health. Lahr is a prolific speaker and moderator at healthcare events and posts about healthcare change management.
Tatyana Kanzaveli is the CEO and founder of Open Health Network and the founder of WomenInGenAI. Over her career, she has been a programmer, a senior executive, a founder and a CEO. Kanzaveli posts about medical artificial intelligence, data and emerging technologies.
Dr. Tiffany I. Leung holds many positions, including internal medicine physician, scientific editorial director at JMIR Publications and adjunct associate professor at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She is interested in clinical informatics, health IT, value-based health care, telemedicine, preventive care and more. Leung posts about emerging technology, clinical IT and health equity.
