Bloomberg Businessweek

Episode Summary: "Achieving Better Global Health Through Data Science"

Date: September 26, 2025
Hosts: Carol Massar & Tim Stenovec
Guest: Dr. Joan Laravel, Interim Chief Medical Officer at Boston Children's Hospital & Co-founder/President of Virtue Foundation

Episode Overview

This episode tackles the intersection of data science, artificial intelligence (AI), and global health, especially focusing on how innovative technologies are transforming healthcare delivery—and particularly women's and children's health—around the world. Dr. Joan Laravel shares insights from her extensive work at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Virtue Foundation, discussing the real-world potential (and limitations) of using data-driven tools to close care gaps, mobilize resources, and improve outcomes in underserved regions.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Controversy Over Tylenol and Public Health Messaging

• Segment: Begins at [01:44]

• Discussion:

  • Recent comments from President Trump suggesting a connection between acetaminophen (Tylenol) use in pregnancy and autism have caused confusion and concern among the public.
  • Dr. Laravel noted that while Boston Children’s does not directly treat pregnant women, the hospital is receiving calls from worried families.
  • She highlighted the challenge of misinformation:

    "Creating confusion around this is really a challenge. We're really taking that head on in terms of addressing the questions of families as they're coming to us." – Dr. Joan Laravel [03:16]

• Health Policy Tension:

  • Carol Massar observes growing tension and lack of alignment between government health recommendations and professional medical organizations.

    "It doesn't seem like that's happened in the past where you don't necessarily have the government aligned with these professional organizations." – Carol Massar [03:49]

  • Dr. Laravel underscores the hospital’s focus on delivering safe, effective care amid uncertainty:

    "We just stick to our mission that we are trying to provide the best, safest, most effective care to children that we can." – Dr. Joan Laravel [04:21]

2. The Promise and Application of AI in Global Health

• Segment: Begins at [04:32]
• Discussion:

  • AI and data science are entering a new era in healthcare, making actionable solutions at scale more feasible than ever before.

    "I think that the tools that are now unlocked, particularly now with gen AI, cloud computing, big data, we're seeing use cases that are much more actionable than before and at an enterprise scale." – Dr. Joan Laravel [04:56]

  • Virtue Foundation's Early Adoption:

    • Dr. Laravel recounts the organization's 15-year journey, beginning with grassroots efforts in Burundi to gather and visualize granular health data.
    • Partnerships with companies like Databricks, DataRobot, and Carto have enabled real-time, geospatial mapping of healthcare resources and needs.
    • The creation of a "marketplace for global health philanthropy":

      "So you can actually see what is happening in health care facilities and what is the work of health care NGOs on the ground in low and middle income countries." – Dr. Joan Laravel [06:47] "We've built an enterprise grade pipeline ... extracting all the data that exists and co-locating it to a geospatial location." [06:47]

3. Impact and Outcomes: Where We Stand

• Segment: Begins at [07:31]
• Discussion:

  • Current State:

    • The technology is not fully mature, but is rapidly evolving.
    • Data platforms now enable unprecedented visibility—facilitating better team deployment and strategy in real time.

      "For now, I can see this data in ways I couldn't see before. I can send the right teams to the right locations." – Dr. Joan Laravel [07:44]

  • Vision:

    • The primary goal is to bridge the time gap toward universal, quality healthcare by identifying and strategically addressing medical deserts.
    • Outcomes range from increasing life expectancy and improving skills-transfer to lowering infant mortality and boosting systemic efficiency.

      "We personally are using it to send medical and surgical teams to locations where the medical deserts are—the large populations of patients who need that ophthalmologist or that neurosurgeon or that gynecologist." – Dr. Joan Laravel [08:19] "So that the people who are doing it, like myself...know the place they can go to be most useful to the patient and most useful in passing on skill." [08:19]

  • Paradigm Shift in Efficiency:

    • Tim Stanovec notes how these advances are fundamentally changing healthcare response time and scale.

      “It wasn’t so easy to do that before." – Tim Stanovec [09:23]

    • Dr. Laravel agrees, emphasizing the system’s new efficiency and potential for scale.

      "Exactly. This is to create efficiency and scale." – Dr. Joan Laravel [09:34]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dr. Joan Laravel [04:56]:

  "We're at one of the most exciting times in healthcare...the tools that are now unlocked, particularly now with gen AI, cloud computing, big data, we're seeing use cases that are much more actionable than before and at an enterprise scale."

• Dr. Joan Laravel [06:47]:

  "We are building the marketplace for global health philanthropy."

• Dr. Joan Laravel [07:44]:

  "For now, I can see this data in ways I couldn't see before. I can send the right teams to the right locations."

Important Timestamps

• [01:44] – Introduction of Women’s Health segment
• [02:21] – Dr. Joan Laravel introduced
• [03:16] – Addressing confusion over Tylenol and autism claims
• [04:32] – Shift to AI and the global health landscape
• [06:43] – Explanation of data platform and partnerships
• [07:31] – Assessing if data leads to better outcomes
• [08:19] – Broader vision for data-driven global health interventions
• [09:23] – How technology has improved efficiency in medical missions
• [09:34] – Emphasis on scale and efficiency

Conclusion

This episode reveals how bold data science, AI, and multi-sector collaboration are reshaping the landscape of global health, narrowing care gaps, and opening up a world of targeted, efficient intervention. Dr. Joan Laravel’s perspective merges clinical leadership with practical innovation, showing not just what's possible, but what's already underway in improving lives—especially in the world’s most vulnerable communities.