Marie-Anne Demestihas

OHT Fellow

What inspired you to pursue a career in HealthTech? 

I was working in Toronto as a management consultant (the usual: long hours, terrible work-life balance and limited meaning in the work I was doing and the impact it was having) and following a motorcycle accident and quite a few trips to the hospital, had a eureka moment that I wanted to move into the healthcare industry. After finding a masters that would enable for that change, I started preparing and reading a bit more about healthcare systems and trends. This is when I read Topol's "Creative Destruction of Medicine" and Wachter's "Digital Doctor" - both of which would possibly appear a bit dated now, but at the time of their publication were all the rave. Both of these books really enlightened me on the real need and the benefits and opportunities that healthcare technologies can bring to the picture. From then on really, my healthcare career of the past 10 years has revolved around the advancement of healthcare technologies that truly address need, are cost-effective and safe. Share a personal experience that showcases the importance of diversity and inclusion in the HealthTech industry. As part of the DHSC AI in Health and Care Awards, my team and I evaluated a skin cancer AIaMD teledermatology platform that helps triage patients into the right place, at the right time whilst conserving dermatologist capacity. It was critical as part of this evaluation to assess whether the solution worked for darker skin types and for that purpose we conducted subgroup analysis segmenting by age, skin type and deprivation. Within national NHS data, only 3% of patients on urgent skin cancer pathways are from Black and Asian background and 3% of the cases seen by the teledermatology platform across NHS organisation had darker skin type and as such matches national figures sample size wise. 

Nonetheless, because the sample size remained small, additional and ongoing data capture and analysis was recommended to capture a more robust dataset. When dealing with health inequalities, sample sizes can often be small and therefore results are limited but it is important to continue monitoring and capturing such data to enhance robustness of results and draw important conclusions to enable for diversity and inclusion in access to healthtech solutions. 

If you could wave a magic wand and advance any area or issue in HealthTech - what would it be? 

Improved data capture of protected characteristics to better training datasets and reduce biases. As a regular collector of data to conduct evaluations, too often do we see patients/staff not completing the questions around protected characteristics (age, ethnicity) which limits our understanding and analysis for improved research and implementation of technologies. 

What's one piece of advice you would give to aspiring HealthTech professionals looking to make a difference in the industry? 

Ensure there is a real need for the healthtech product and for that make full use of PPIE approaches. Always stick to your morale compass and do not try to bypass and regulatory/procedural requirements in the process. Always focus on diverse and inclusive representation and proportionality. HealthTech should continue on the same path of the NHS and whilst not possible to provide free services, always consider its ability to provide affordable and accessible solutions to all. 

What's your go-to karaoke song? 

Torn - Natalie Imbruglia 

If you were a superhero, what would your power be? 

Time travel 

What's your favourite way to de-stress after a busy day at work? 

Exercising: running, cycling, swimming, tennis, football, you name it! 

What's your favourite hobby or activity that has nothing to do with your job? 

Playing the flute or my non-fiction book club 

Do you want to tell us any fun facts about yourself? Or do you have any hidden skills? 

I speak fluently four languages and I double with three more (although I have very rusty days the older I get!) 

Who are your heroes? 

Mona Chollet, Kathryn Jansen, Dan Harris