What does it take to disrupt traditional ways of fighting poverty, delivering aid, and providing healthcare in Africa? Veteran digital health / healthtech entrepreneur Rowena Luk interviews social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and activists on how they went from an idea to demonstrating impact, raising funds, and creating sustainable social enterprises. For anyone looking for a better way to do good, explore the strategies and tools successful innovators are applying to make change that lasts. AidEvolved.com
Episodes
Tuesday Feb 23, 2021
Side Chat: Wandering in the Woods in West Africa
Tuesday Feb 23, 2021
Tuesday Feb 23, 2021
This short episode is the first in our experimental ‘side chat’ format.
It started out as I (your host, Rowena) was writing a ‘thank you’ note to our guest from last week, Eric Brewer. Somehow that email ballooned into a 3-page story about how Eric’s work set off a chain reaction which changed my life forever. I go deep to share a pretty formative period of my early career, which I often describe as my years ‘wandering in the woods’ in Ghana. I learned a tonne from that time, lessons which still guide me to this day. I’m sharing this story now in case some of you might also get value from this experience.
Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)
Tuesday Feb 16, 2021
From ICTD Research to Practice with Eric Brewer of UC Berkeley
Tuesday Feb 16, 2021
Tuesday Feb 16, 2021
Dr. Eric Brewer is a remarkable man. He founded a company that made it to the NASDAQ-100 within 4 years. He shaped the backbone of the modern day web. He's gained, and lost, a billion dollars. He is professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, Google Fellow, and VP of Infrastructure.
Today we speak with Eric about his efforts to harness technology research to serve the world's poorest. Eric created and ran the Technology and Infrastructure for Emerging Regions (TIER) research group at UC Berkeley co-hosted with Intel Research from 2003 to 2008. In doing so, he lay the foundation for a new kind of computer science research: ICTD (information and communication technologies for development).
Anyone working in the aid sector knows that the 'holy grail' of our work is successfully handing an intervention off to local government to scale and sustain. Eric did this successfully when he worked with President Clinton to create USA.gov. We also take the time in this conversation to find out how he won President Clinton's attention and support for this effort, and the role he played to ensure this resource continues to be available to the American people today.
If you're an ICTD researcher looking to understand how this field was born, or you're an ICTD practitioner looking to transfer a system to government, you'll enjoy this glimpse into Eric's world.
Tuesday Feb 02, 2021
The Many Sides of Digital Health with Liz Peloso
Tuesday Feb 02, 2021
Tuesday Feb 02, 2021
Liz Peloso has experienced digital health from many sides. With roughly a decade's experience as a practicing nurse, a decade in private sector health consulting, and a decade in global health, she can speak for multiple actors in this field.
In this episode, Liz recounts how technology has helped and hurt her work, as a neonatal intensive care nurse, as a clinical transformation consultant, and as a responder to the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. In each chapter of her life, Liz shares key insights into the business of making change in healthcare.
Most recently, Liz was the Global Director for the Better Immunization Data (BID) Initiative, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project, to improve the collection and use of immunization data in sub-Saharan Africa. This included the development and implementation of electronic immunization registries in both Tanzania and Zambia. She has been a special advisor to the Ministry of Health in Rwanda overseeing the Rwanda Health Enterprise Architecture Project, which saw the successful implementation of a full Health Information Exchange. She worked as a senior manager in the National Health practice of a large consulting company, as well as for one of the largest EMR system vendors, before leaving to focus on Global Health exclusively.