When Dami Oyenekan watched a patient die waiting for care in the emergency ward at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), she realised a hard truth: even the best doctors are helpless when the system behind them is broken. Instead of putting on a white coat, she chose to build the infrastructure of medicine. Today, after building quality engineering and AI systems at Medtronic, Cleerly, and Google Health, she leads AI initiatives at GE HealthCare, engineering the exact healthtech solutions she once wished existed. In this week’s edition of My Life in Tech, Dami shares with JOHN ADOYI her journey from witnessing systemic failure in Lagos to building the future of global healthcare and digital records.
In April 2012, 14-year-old Oluwadamilola “Dami” Oyenekan thought she was catching a glimpse of her future.
For years, she had insisted she was going to be a doctor. When Greensprings School, a private school in Lagos, sent its Year 10 students on an “experience week” career placement, Oyenekan knew exactly where she wanted to go.
Her father, however, had a different plan. Rather than placing her in a comfortable private hospital, he insisted she spend her two-week placement at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). He wanted her to see the unfiltered reality of public healthcare in Nigeria.
Originally published by TechCabal.