Zafar Chaudry, Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer and Chief AI and Chief Information Officer, Seattle Children's

Summary

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast Summary
Episode: Zafar Chaudry, Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer, Chief AI, and Chief Information Officer, Seattle Children's
Release Date: June 25, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast, hosted by Becker's Healthcare, Zafar Chaudry, the Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer, Chief AI, and Chief Information Officer at Seattle Children’s, shares his extensive experience and insights into the evolving landscape of healthcare IT. Recorded live at Becker's 15th annual meeting, the conversation delves into Zafar’s professional journey, recent technological initiatives at Seattle Children’s, challenges facing the healthcare industry, the impact of data analytics, remote work dynamics, leadership advice, and his passion for pediatric medicine.

Zafar Chaudry’s Background

Zafar Chaudry begins by outlining his unique career trajectory. With 39 years in healthcare IT and 8 years at Seattle Children’s, he emphasizes his transition from being a physician to a technology leader.

Zafar Chaudry [00:46]: "I've been at Seattle Children's for eight years. I'm a recovering physician who defected to healthcare IT many, many moons ago."

He reflects on his early exposure to technology during his medical practice in the early '90s, which sparked his interest and led to a long-standing career in healthcare IT.

Zafar Chaudry [01:16]: "When I was working as a doctor, I was given the opportunity of learning about technology... I realized that this thing could actually be something big."

Recent Initiatives at Seattle Children's

Over the past year, Zafar has spearheaded significant technological advancements at Seattle Children’s, focusing on enhancing their analytics platform to support future decision-making.

Zafar Chaudry [02:06]: "We've migrated all of that to Google Cloud using BigQuery Vertex AI. Now we're fully embedded with Google and have 171 clinical systems feeding into that data lake."

One notable achievement is the reduction of opioid use in pediatric patients through data-driven insights and AI applications.

Zafar Chaudry [02:47]: "We're at 50% non-opioid use in inpatient surgery and 98% outpatient surgery, no opioid use. We don't prescribe opioids as a standard now for kids going home for pain medication."

This initiative underscores the power of leveraging data to drive meaningful changes in patient care.

Challenges in the Healthcare Industry

Zafar addresses the most significant challenges currently facing the healthcare industry, highlighting the uncertainty in funding amidst a rapidly changing technological landscape.

Zafar Chaudry [03:54]: "With the changing healthcare landscape politically, it's going to be hard to fund all these initiatives if you're not necessarily sure how your funding is going to work in the near future."

He discusses the delicate balance between investing in innovative technologies and managing financial constraints, noting that many health systems are experiencing tighter margins.

Zafar Chaudry [04:50]: "Even though everybody wants to use the tools, we're going to have to find a fine balance between what we invest in... most health systems don't make the margins that we do."

The Role of Data Analytics

Data analytics plays a pivotal role in Seattle Children’s strategy to improve patient outcomes and address systemic inequities.

Zafar Chaudry [05:15]: "In our ED, we looked at how quickly we gave pain medication to kids by race. There was an inequity—we were giving white kids pain medication faster than other groups. We normalized that data."

He emphasizes the importance of empowering clinicians with self-service data tools to make informed clinical adjustments.

Zafar Chaudry [05:30]: "If you can teach the docs and the nurses to use their data in a self-service way, then they can make clinical adjustments which will then end up in better patient outcomes."

Remote Work and Employee Flexibility

In addressing modern workplace dynamics, Zafar shares his approach to remote work, prioritizing flexibility and output over traditional in-office mandates.

Zafar Chaudry [06:29]: "My team is predominantly remote. I've not mandated a return to work... If you mandate somebody coming to work, are they really going to be that more productive?"

He highlights the importance of trust and flexibility in attracting and retaining top talent, especially in a landscape where work-life balance is increasingly valued.

Zafar Chaudry [07:14]: "If I want to have the best talent and I want them to be flexible, I need to be flexible."

Zafar further explains how remote work allows for measurable outputs, aligning with the organization’s data-driven culture.

Zafar Chaudry [07:53]: "If I'm not seeing the output, then my job is to make self-correction to get to the output that I need."

Advice for Emerging Leaders

Zafar offers valuable advice to young and emerging leaders in the healthcare IT space, emphasizing the importance of active listening and stakeholder engagement.

Zafar Chaudry [08:53]: "Your biggest superpower... is active listening. Listen to your stakeholders, talk to your stakeholders, learn from your stakeholders."

He shares his strategy of engaging directly with clinicians and patients to understand their needs and challenges, fostering a collaborative environment.

Zafar Chaudry [09:11]: "If I want to know what problem my docs and nurses are facing, I'm going to get them in a room... ask them, 'What are you working on? How can we help you?'"

Inspiration for Pediatrics

Zafar explains his passion for pediatric medicine, describing it as the most fulfilling aspect of his career.

Zafar Chaudry [10:27]: "Pediatrics is the easiest job you're ever going to have, because every day you go to work, you never have to ask yourself why you do that job... I've always found the pediatrics draw."

He highlights the courage and resilience of children as a motivating factor, ensuring that his work remains purpose-driven.

Zafar Chaudry [10:27]: "What I've learned from kids is... they have more courage than anybody else. So that keeps me going."

Final Thoughts

As the podcast concludes, Zafar imparts a succinct yet profound piece of wisdom to listeners.

Zafar Chaudry [11:34]: "Listen. Listen to the people that you serve. If you listen actively and you take action, you'll be successful."

He reinforces the central theme of the conversation: prioritizing patient outcomes and fostering a culture of trust and active engagement within healthcare organizations.

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This episode offers a comprehensive look into the intersection of healthcare and technology, through the lens of a seasoned leader who balances innovation with compassionate patient care. Zafar Chaudry’s insights underscore the critical role of data analytics, the importance of flexibility in the modern workplace, and the enduring impact of active listening in leadership.

Transcript

[Insight Global Health Representative]

At Insight Global Health, we are dedicated to helping you and improving healthcare for everyone. That means building stronger teams and delivering sustainable solutions that truly make a difference. We offer a full spectrum of talent and technical services and deliver cross industry expertise to bring you innovative best practices to solve the problems that we face in healthcare. We're not just promising you results, we are delivering them. Visit [e-mail] hello and welcome to the.

[Podcast Host]

Becker's Healthcare Podcast, recorded live at Becker's 15th annual meeting. I'm joined today by Zafar Chowdhury, Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer and Chief AI and Chief Information Officer at Seattle Children's. Zafar, thank you so much for joining us today.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

Thank you for having me.

[Podcast Host]

Could you begin the conversation by telling us a little bit about yourself, your job and your background?

[Zafar Chowdhury]

So, yeah. I've been at Seattle Children's for eight years. I'm a recovering physician who defected to healthcare IT many, many moons ago. I've been in healthcare IT now for 39 years and I've worked all over the world in disguise of Health it. And here at Seattle Children's, I lead a team of 500 people and we serve the kids of Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

[Podcast Host]

Quick question before we jump a little bit further into the interview. What made you want to take that jump to the it?

[Zafar Chowdhury]

Yeah, so I became a physician because my dad didn't give me much of a choice. It's either physician or dentist and nothing in between. So culturally I decided I'd rather be a doctor than a dentist. And then when I was working as a doctor, I was given the opportunity of learning about technology because they didn't have enough clinicians in that space. And because it was going to get me off some shifts, I was like, well, this is a good idea. Let's learn about technology. And then I. And this was in the early 90s and I realized that this thing could actually be something big.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

Even though back then it was all green screen stuff, no mice and other things, but. And look at where it's grown now over the years.

[Co-Host]

Right, right.

[Podcast Host]

Well, over the past 12 months, what's an initiative you took on at Seattle Children's that you're particularly proud of and what impact has it made on the organization so far?

[Zafar Chowdhury]

So we've spent a lot of time and energy over the last 12 months in making sure that we have the right analytics platform to support the future decision making at Seattle Children's. So we had an on prem data warehouse with IBM Netezza. We migrated all of that to Google Cloud using BigQuery Vertex AI. So now we're fully embedded with Google and on top of that we now have 171 clinical systems feeding into that data lake. And we are now able to make intelligent decisions with that data. So, you know, I'll give you an example. We've used some AI and some of the data analytics to be able to look at how we put patients to sleep and how we manage their pain after they leave the hospital. And what we found was we spend a lot of time giving kids opioids. Opioids are not good for kids because they can be addictive. So using these tools, the intelligence of the data that we were sitting on, we're pleased to say that we're at 50% non opioid use in inpatient surgery and 98% outpatient surgery, no opioid use. And we don't prescribe opioids as a standard now for kids going home for pain. Right, for pain medication. So when you can look at your data, you can model your data, you can actually make the real change.

[Podcast Host]

Well, and you talked about the going from the green screens to where we're at now and right now healthcare is in a particularly fast paced, change challenging environment. What would you say is the most significant challenge facing the healthcare industry today and how is your organization addressing it?

[Zafar Chowdhury]

So I think the paradigm shift in technology has brought some really cool solutions to the table. And this wouldn't be a conversation if we didn't mention AI a few times. Right. And so AI has been around and it's evolved and can be a great tool to enhance clinical care and help our clinicians do what they want to focus on most. But the challenge I see around all of this is with the changing healthcare landscape politically, it's going to be hard to fund all these initiatives if you're not necessarily sure how your funding is going to work in the near future. So even though everybody wants to use the tools, we're going to have to find a fine balance between what we invest in and these are probably going to be more longer term invest to save programs because the money isn't as free flowing as it was a couple of years ago. And most health systems don't make the margins that we do. I mean we, we've gone from being strong from a financial perspective to struggling to now regaining some strength, but it's not, you know, it's not double digit margins for any health system.

[Podcast Host]

Well, and you kind of already adjust the data analytics piece. Is that something you want to kind of Touch on a little bit more or kind of. How do you want to?

[Zafar Chowdhury]

I think, yeah. I mean the, the other examples I can give you in the space of data analytics is looking at prescribing in it. So in our ed, we looked at how quickly we gave pain medication to kids by race.

[Co-Host]

Right, right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

And there was an inequity there. Right. We were, we were giving white kids pain medication and it was faster than other groups. So we were able to normalize that data. Yeah. I think the, the point is you've got the data and you've got to use that data to figure out what problem are you trying to solve. And if you can teach the docs and the nurses to use their data in a self service way, which is what we've tried to do, then they can make clinical adjustments which will then end up in better patient outcomes.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

Because it really is just about patient outcomes.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

Because that's the business we're in. We're not in the business of technology, we're in the business of patients.

[Podcast Host]

Correct, correct. And I'm curious, in your role, you know, especially in it, you probably see a lot more people wanting to do the work from home, remote work model. How are you addressing kind of those employee expectations and desires there?

[Zafar Chowdhury]

So certainly my team is predominantly remote. I've not mandated a return to work. I think what you have to look at is what outputs are you looking for in terms of the services that you're delivering? So the way I look at this is if you mandate somebody coming to work, are they really going to be that more productive?

[Co-Host]

Right, right, right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

And then you will face the wrath of not providing a flexibility to great people who want to work for you but would struggle to work for you because they have other responsibilities.

[Podcast Host]

100%.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

And in today's world, the cost of child care as an example, it's not what it used to be. It's a lot higher.

[Co-Host]

Right, right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

So if I want to have the best talent and I want them to be flexible, I need to be flexible. And so that's the approach we've taken. So, no, there is no return to work mandate in my department. I allow people to do good work as long as they do the work, 100%. And the trick here is if you've got remote workers and you are giving them tasks to do, you can absolutely measure those tasks. Going back to the whole idea of data analytics. Right. I can know what somebody's doing because I'm giving them project work and I see the output. If I'm not seeing the output, then my job is to make self correction.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

To get to the output that I need. Bringing them into the office and having them look at my face isn't necessarily, not necessarily going to give me the outputs I want.

[Co-Host]

Right, right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

So I think flexibility has to be there. You also have to trust your employees to do the right thing 100%.

[Podcast Host]

I mean, it's that whole concept of too, if they, if they like working for you and appreciate the flexibility and freedom you give them, they're going to work harder for you.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

Yeah, I would say that would be the assumption.

[Podcast Host]

Right, right, right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

At the end of the day, trust your employees, respect your employees, encourage them to do the right thing in the right way at the right time.

[Podcast Host]

And I want to kind of circle back a bit to something you said at the beginning. You had mentioned that you'd been in your role for what, 39 years?

[Zafar Chowdhury]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

So you're the kind of person, there's probably a ton of people at this conference walking around just like wishing they could pick your brain. Young emerging leaders in the IT healthcare space. You know, what advice would you have to pass on to a young emerging leader?

[Zafar Chowdhury]

I would say your biggest superpower, if you're trying to develop it, is active listening. Listen to your stakeholders, talk to your stakeholders, learn from your stakeholders. Truth be told, I've been doing this for a long time and I profess to know nothing about anything.

[Co-Host]

Right, right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

If I don't know, I go and ask the questions. If I want to know what problem my docs and nurses are facing, I'm going to get them in a room, probably give them lunch because they'll show up 100% and ask them, hey, what are you working on?

[Co-Host]

Right, right.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

How can we help you? What problem do you have? What's keeping you up at night? So you don't ever have to assume. And we've done the same with our patients and parents. So I have a patient and parent advisory group. We meet with them every month and they give me advice on what we should build, what do they need, what problems do we have. And so when I look at kids, the average 12, 13 year old kid is more digitally enabled than any CIO. I mean, I'm ancient when it comes to, I can see myself using my smartphone and I look across and I see these kids and they're not even looking at the screen and they're using their smartphone and I'm typing away with one finger or one thumb. So you've got to listen to what these kids want.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

Well, and I guess as we close out, quick question for you. What inspired you to get into pediatric medicine as opposed to working at a traditional hospital?

[Zafar Chowdhury]

So pediatrics is the easiest job you're ever going to have, and I'll tell you why. Because every day you go to work, you never have to ask yourself why you do that job. Because every time you see a kid in a hospital who's being taken care of, what I've learned from kids is even with all the pain they suffer when they're not well, they have more courage than anybody else. And to me, that keeps me going. So I can see that I don't ever have to question because pediatrics is always about the child, taking care of the child. It's not necessarily about margin. Yes, you need some margin to run the org, but it's about the purpose that you serve. So it's. And it can be a fun environment too. Right. You can build cool things with kids and see them smile. So I think it's never a. I never go to work on a day not knowing why I do the job. So I've always found the pediatrics draw.

[Co-Host]

Right? Right.

[Podcast Host]

Well, I spent the first six months of my life in the hospital and had to deal with quite a bit of pediatric medicine when I was a child. So I really have a special place in my heart for people that work in your industry. So as we close out, do you have any final thoughts you'd like to leave with our listeners?

[Zafar Chowdhury]

I'll just leave you with, you know, listen. Listen to the people that you serve. If you listen actively and you take action, you'll be successful.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you so much for joining us on the show today, Devara. I really appreciate it.

[Zafar Chowdhury]

Thank you for having me.