Jehangir Appoo and Georgina Godwin: From Cardiothoracic Surgery to AOIT Health

Georgina Godwin interviews Jehangir Appoo, an incredibly accomplished cardiothoracic surgeon. Among his accolades, are two fellowships, the first from the Royal Brompton Hospital, Imperial College, London and the second from the University of Pennsylvania. He has also held the position of Clinical Associate Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Calgary, helping establish an artificial heart programme and performing Alberta’s first artificial heart device implant.  

Jehangir discusses his fascinating journey, which began as a well-travelled youngster living in at least 7 countries before the age of 18, finally settling in Canada.

Medicine was an unusual choice of career for a young man who hated the sight of blood. After a chance encounter with the Dean of his Medical School, near the Taj Mahal, he offered Jehangir some wise words, ‘once you see the light don’t turn your back upon it’. As his plane took off to return home, the decision was made that his future lay in cardiac surgery.

Sadly, after a long and illustrious career at the frontline of cardiac surgery, issues with Jehangir’s neck, forced him to stop operating. He was determined that his new career would need to have an on-going impact in health care and what followed was two completely different worlds colliding, digital technology and medicine.

Jehangir heads up a capital fund called AOIT Health. His aim is to be part of the evolution of how AI is used for medical diagnosis using machine learning technologies. Using his experiences at the front line of health care, his aim is to develop machine learning in an environment that can make a significant change; to the way medicine is practiced.

Jehangir is also involved in a non-profit organisation called Creative Destruction Lab, a partnership with scientists coming out of Universities, business schools, venture capital and entrepreneurs with the goal of building businesses. The idea being to take a project from the lab and build it into a big business, which is the whole basis of innovation and venture capitalism.

Finally, Jehangir addresses the positive impact that the pandemic has brought by integrating digital technology into health care. Virtual care had never been done before but now it has been accepted as a legitimate form of medical care, the whole space has opened up to remote patient monitoring, COVID has brought 2030 a decade early, accelerating digital technology investment in health care and rethinking how healthcare can work in the future.

Full transcript available here:  https://aqfd.docsend.com/view/7wfqnk9sauntku4y

Contents:

About Jehangir Appoo (00:00)

Journey to Cardiothoracic Surgery (03:08)

Thoughts on Healthcare Around the World (08:32)

Professional Accomplishments (10:58)

Career Change – Healthcare Meets Technology (13:26)

COVID and Digital Technology (20:07)

Jeffersonian Meals (24:33)

Thoughts on Exciting Developments in Healthcare (28:24)