Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship Oxford University

Integrating Artificial Intelligence in medical imaging for increased accuracy, accessibility, and affordability. Prashant Warier is co-founder and CEO at Qure.ai. Prashant holds a MS and PhD in Operations Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he excelled in applied mathematics and computation. With a career spanning over two decades, Prashant has successfully developed and commercialized various data science applications across multiple industries such as trucking, fashion and now healthcare.

Qure.ai, founded in 2016, is disrupting traditional radiology practices by enhancing imaging accuracy with artificial intelligence and machine learning tools. More than ten products in Qure.ai’s portfolio have MDR and FDA clearances and these products are being adopted in the screening and diagnosis of diseases such as Lung Cancer, Tuberculosis and Cerebral Stroke in over 90 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Its mission is to make diagnostic imaging, such as X-rays and CTs, not only more precise but also widely accessible and affordable.

MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine (IHTM) - https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/study-with-us/msc-ihtm

Offering a 10$ DNA based diagnostic test for blood disorders and cancer. Anna Shuh is a medical doctor, an academic researcher, and a healthcare entrepreneur. She started working at Oxford University in 2006 as the clinical director of the haematology lab at Oxford University Hospitals. In 2014, she was appointed as Professor of Molecular Diagnostics. More recently, Anna joined the Muhimbili University for Health and Allied Sciences faculty in Tanzania and co-founded a social enterprise, Seren.

Seren is a social enterprise spin out of Oxford University and aims to promote and support diagnostics in low- and middle-income countries with an initial focus on DNA based tests for blood disorders and cancers. Historically, DNA sequencing required expert staff and high-tech equipment; interpreting tests is slow and expensive, and blood data often needs to be sent overseas to be analysed. The first facility in Dar-es-Salaam has now opened and will offer DNA tests for as little as $10 using low cost and low maintenance equipment, while cloud-based data systems allow remote analysis by experts so that samples do not need to be sent abroad. To prepare for the transfer of all testing to SEREN, Oxford has provided training for laboratory technicians and health professionals from five hospitals in Tanzania and Uganda.

MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine (IHTM) - https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/study-with-us/msc-ihtm

Implementing a digital platform for essential health packages and universal health coverage. Bahbak is the co-founder and CEO of Elephant. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of St Andrews and he graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Manchester in 2004. He subsequently trained and worked as a psychiatrist in the National Health Service. From 2009 to 2016, he was co-founder and director of a business providing health, social care, and housing solutions for people with dementia. After a brief return to the NHS as a psychiatrist he launched Elephant Healthcare in the Summer of 2018.

Elephant Healthcare is a global health technology business, headquartered in the UK with operations in Africa and Asia. The first countries adopting Elephant Health’s solutions are Nigeria, Kenya, and Pakistan. In these countries, most of the electronic health records are still paper based and the health facilities and health authorities don’t have timely, complete, and reliable information for important functions such as disease monitoring, resource distribution, quality assessment and performance improvement. Elephant Health has developed several modules that can assist health facilities such as primary health care centres or hospitals with patient scheduling, inventory management, invoicing, and referral management. Elephants’ customers are governments and public health authorities which is a very different approach than what most start-up take.

MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine (IHTM) - https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/study-with-us/msc-ihtm

Developing a franchise offering for primary health centres in Kenya. Maximilian is one of the co-founders and Co-CEO at Ilara Health. He studied economics and philosophy at Columbia University – with a year abroad in St Peter’s College at the University of Oxford. He then joined Lazard, an investment bank, in their healthcare M&A team before making an unconventional career change to become an entrepreneur in Africa. He was drawn to Kenya and wanted to strengthen the healthcare system in that country and improve the lives of millions of patients by using some of the innovations he was exposed to in North America and Europe.

Ilara Health digitizes primary healthcare clinics across Kenya with a health management information system they have built in house, and they provide a range of financial products that help these clinics to purchase point of care diagnostic tools, consumables, and medicines. To date, they have been able to provide a suite of services to over 2,500 clinics across Kenya that in turn provide care to an estimated 5 million patients each year. To support further growth, Ilara Health has been able to raise about $10 million in funding, from a range of equity, debt and grant investors that include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the French development finance institution Proparco.

MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine (IHTM) - https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/study-with-us/msc-ihtm

Using tampons for STI diagnosis and pain period treatment. Valentina is founder and CEO of Daye. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics and Law, and a Master of International and Trade Law from the University of Buckingham, and she is currently working toward her Master of Public Health at Imperial College London. Prior to founding Daye, Valentina managed the artificial intelligence and machine learning portfolio at the Founders Factory, a start-up accelerator in London, and was a Venture Associate at the global investment company Techstars.

In 2018, after about 180 pitches to investors, Valentina raised £4 million in seed funding and Daye could start on its mission to remove the pain, shame and time wasted by women who are seeking relief from period pain. In 2020, Daye launched its first consumer product: a pain-relieving tampon to help around 90% of women who experience period pain. In 2023, Valentina raised another £10 million in series A funding for Daye. And Daye is now introducing its Diagnostic Tampon, aimed at the detection of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine (IHTM) - https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/study-with-us/msc-ihtm

Use of smart speculum device to screen and diagnose cervical cancer in Cameroon. Conrad is a medical doctor and entrepreneur from Cameroon who passionately believes that technology solutions tailored to the African context can help solve many of the continent's health challenges. After graduating as a doctor, he worked in rural settings in Cameroon, and he has witnessed first-hand how difficult it is for people in these rural areas to access basic healthcare services.

This inspired him to start a health-tech venture that designs and promotes cutting-edge and cost-effective solutions for health challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa. GICMED has developed a smart speculum device. It integrates the concept of a speculum and a colposcope into a single portable device, which can easily be manipulated by a frontline nurse, powered by a smart device, and the GICMED solution enables medical experts to receive and review data for remote diagnosis. The device is designed to work in rural areas that don’t have reliable electricity supply or internet connectivity.

MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine (IHTM) - https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/study-with-us/msc-ihtm