Anasuya Mohan Rao is a senior leader based at the Philips Innovation Campus in Bengaluru. She is part of the global innovation and strategy organization at Philips and is currently leading clinical partnerships for the growth region.

 Anasuya comes with 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry. She has led functional, technical, and operational excellence in the research and development of meaningful and innovative software platforms, solutions, and clinical products for the healthcare industry.

Can you tell us about your AI journey?  

My journey in AI started by interacting with clinicians and radiologists across India who expressed critical pain points and unmet needs for faster MR scans without compromising on the quality of the images. The team that I led in Philips MR was responsible to build the underlying foundational platform and algorithms upon which AI-powered solutions leading to faster MR scans was built on. I have played a key role in championing the adoption of AI-enabled MRI solutions in multiple forums involving key opinion leaders and diverse spectrum of customers across the country. This step has involved building customer mindshare and confidence in using AI-based MR solutions to improve patient outcomes and enhance staff satisfaction. I have also been instrumental in enabling Train-The-Trainer sessions for Philips MR sales force leading to competitive positioning and faster adoption of AI-enabled solutions in the field.

How has generative AI impacted healthcare?

Generative AI is a type of Artificial Intelligence that can create a wide variety of content such as images, videos, audio, text, synthetic data and 3D models using generative models. Generative AI models learn the patterns and structure of their input training data and then generate new data that has similar characteristics. Gen-AI technology can take unstructured data sets and analyse them. These unstructured data sets can be used independently or combined with large, structured data sets.

Automating and streamlining administrative tasks: To begin with, Generative AI can help optimizing workflows, reducing inefficiencies and costs by streamlining administrative tasks. This enables healthcare organizations to operate more efficiently in turn leading to increased productivity and improved patient outcomes. Generative AI can free up time for healthcare professionals to focus on needs of patients and complex needs across the hospital enterprise.

Assisting in clinical diagnosis, thereby empowering clinicians: In addition, Generative AI can be used to generate high quality images enabling detection of anomalies and diagnosing early onset of medical conditions. This in turn enables clinicians to make informed decisions with a short turnaround time.

Medical Simulation: Furthermore, Generative AI can create medical simulations of different scenarios enabling healthcare professionals to learn and practice interventions in a risk-free environment. These simulations can also be adapted in real-time based on the responses of the professionals for an authentic learning environment, in turn improving patient outcomes.

What are AI-enabled MRI solutions? What is its importance?

AI can enhance the human experience in healthcare by 

• Augmenting the expertise of healthcare providers and support their decision making.
• Improving operational efficiency to help healthcare providers focus on patient care.
• Empowering people to take better care of their health and well-being.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive imaging technology that produces three dimensional detailed anatomical images of the human body. It is often used for disease detection, diagnosis, and treatment monitoring.

MRI departments in hospitals have three important priorities: increasing productivity, increasing patient satisfaction, and referring physician satisfaction. In short, the compelling need of the hour is speed without any compromise on the quality of the images – this means get it right the first time. I will be sharing an example of one AI-enabled breakthrough innovation in MR called SmartSpeed. 

SmartSpeed is built on two key technologies: (1) A state-of-the-art speed engine called Compressed SENSE and (2) an award-winning AI image reconstruction technique. The successful combination of both led to SmartSpeed. 

So, what are the benefits of this technology? With AI-powered SmartSpeed, we can increase productivity by scanning faster, enhanced diagnostic confidence with higher resolution and increase access by catering to a broad range of patients – for example those that in pain, unable to hold their breath during the exam or those who have MR compatible implants. This is an example of how AI can enhance human experience in healthcare.

Describe some challenges you have faced in reaching where you are now.    

One of the biggest challenges that I faced was a perception that I preferred to work only in the clinical domain and in Magnetic Resonance Imaging R&D. My technical depth and passion for MR ended up being a roadblock in being considered for roles beyond Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 

Subsequently, I took conscious actions to broaden my horizons, and further enhance my breadth through roles outside my comfort zone – one being in the Ultrasound hardware platforms organization and subsequently leading strategic partnerships in the MR Therapy space. These tangible steps further led me to my current role in enabling business to succeed in co-creating and generating value from strategic customer relationships and clinical partnerships in the Growth region.

Do you see enough female leadership roles in corporates? In your opinion, what should change? 

It has been well established that representation of women can improve throughout the corporate pipeline including senior leadership roles. In my opinion, it is important to focus on a few core areas to have a thriving pipeline.

Workplace flexibility enables women to pursue professional ambitions while being able to pursue essential and varied facets of their personal lives.

Set up women for success through effective organizational support while they navigate from individual contributor roles to leadership positions and from middle management to senior management positions.

Build awareness across the employee base to prevent discrimination that might be rooted in bias and stereotypes. This is possible by grooming effective leaders who truly believe in empowering women and fostering an environment of psychological safety and accomplish that in an inclusive manner.

Establish realistic and tangible outcomes across all levels of the organization focused on representation of women.

What do you want to say to women who wish to build careers in AI and other tech-related fields? 

AI and related technology fields have the power to drive change and revolutionize industries including healthcare. Through the years, women have played a pivotal role in AI and technology fields. It is crucial for women to claim their space since their contributions in technology fields will bring in unique perspectives that are needed across all industries. 

To make AI bias-free and impactful, it is essential that the engineers and technologists involved in AI are a true reflection of the diversity of the environment that we are part of. This in turn brings in the need to foster a more inclusive culture. Having more women in the vibrant space of AI improves the design and functionality of AI systems.

It is important for women to build foundational skills and deep domain expertise while they embark on a career journey in AI and tech related fields. Curiosity to learn and striving towards building the appropriate domain expertise will provide an added boost to a fulfilling career in these fields.