HIT Like a Girl Pod: Empowering Women in Health IT Episode Summary: "Empowering HealthTech: Unleashing Insights with GE HealthCare" Release Date: June 13, 2023
Host: Joy Rios
Guests:

• Margaret Martinez: Product Owner for Viewpoint, an ultrasound reporting system at GE Healthcare
• Garima Mathur: Director of Product Management under the Edison Digital Health Platform at GE Healthcare

Introduction

In this engaging episode of the HIT Like a Girl Pod, host Joy Rios delves deep into the realm of Health IT (HIT) with two esteemed women leaders from GE HealthCare: Margaret Martinez and Garima Mathur. The conversation centers around their professional journeys, the impact of technology in healthcare, collaborative efforts within GE, and valuable advice for aspiring professionals in the HIT space.

Guest Introductions

Margaret Martinez and Garima Mathur introduce themselves, highlighting their roles and contributions within GE HealthCare.

• Margaret Martinez shares her role as the Product Owner for Viewpoint, an ultrasound reporting system, emphasizing its global reach and diverse applications across various medical departments.

• Garima Mathur discusses her position as the Director of Product Management under the Edison Digital Health Platform, focusing on solving critical challenges through digital capabilities, enhancing efficiencies, and ensuring interoperability across technologies.

Career Journeys

Both guests provide a glimpse into their professional backgrounds and the paths that led them to their current roles.

• Margaret Martinez recounts her early passion for helping others, steering her towards a university degree in IT and electrical engineering. Initially considering an academic career, she pivoted to the industry after her PhD, gaining experience in radiotherapy startups and oncology follow-up care before joining GE HealthCare.

  "I wanted to be in health early on. After school, I thought I don't want to be a doctor, but I really like the idea of helping others help people." [02:10]

• Garima Mathur shares a personal narrative influenced by her upbringing in India, where her parents' commitment to education propelled her into the field of biomedical engineering. Her first encounter with an MRI scan at age 12 ignited her interest in medical imaging technology. Garima's career spans a decade at Philips before moving to GE HealthCare seven years ago, where she has embraced various challenging roles centered around technology's role in enhancing lives.

  "My career really started when I got my first MRI scan at 12. I was intrigued by how it worked and knew I wanted to do something in technology." [03:54]

Impact of Technology in Health IT

The discussion delves into how advancements in technology are transforming healthcare delivery globally.

• Margaret Martinez highlights the versatility of ultrasound technology, from high-end devices in top-tier hospitals to mobile units serving remote areas. She emphasizes the rapid development in resolution, measurement accuracy, and predictive capabilities, making ultrasound an exciting and impactful tool in modern healthcare.

  "Ultrasound technology is developing so fast. The resolution is getting better, we're getting better measurements, we are getting predictions. It's really, really interesting." [10:32]

• Garima Mathur underscores the importance of making medical imaging technology accessible and affordable on a mass scale. She discusses the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in facilitating image interpretation, especially in settings lacking specialized radiologists. This integration aims to provide critical information promptly, enhancing decision-making in patient care.

  "AI plays a role in providing information to the person who is making the decision based on some very quality product." [11:08]

Global Perspectives and Healthcare Systems

The guests compare healthcare systems across countries, shedding light on unique challenges and opportunities.

• Margaret Martinez expresses surprise at the differences in emergency medical services, noting that in Germany, ambulance staff are highly trained professionals, a stark contrast to systems in other countries.

  "In Germany, the ambulance staff is highly educated people. The entire system is different, the entire workflows are different." [08:32]

• Garima Mathur discusses the disparities in healthcare quality between urban and rural areas in India, emphasizing the need for scalable and adaptable technological solutions to bridge gaps in patient care access and quality.

  "The quality of health care is not the same. The access to patient care is extremely low and the quality is low as well." [09:08]

Collaborative Efforts Within GE HealthCare

Despite having met for the first time just a day before the podcast recording, Margaret and Garima discuss their collaborative efforts and how their roles intersect within GE HealthCare.

• They elaborate on working within the Edison Digital Health Platform, which spans multiple modalities, allowing for cross-functional collaboration on AI-driven solutions. Though their immediate projects might not overlap directly, the shared goal of enhancing healthcare through technology fosters a cohesive working environment.

  "We're building applications and features that can help any device to be successful work on AI. So ultrasound is definitely leading in a lot of different innovations." [12:16]

Advice for Aspiring HIT Professionals

When asked to provide advice to those entering the healthcare or health IT space, both guests offer insightful perspectives based on their experiences.

• Garima Mathur emphasizes finding purpose and passion in one's work. She highlights the vast opportunities within HIT, from project management to engineering, and advises embracing challenges as rewarding experiences.

  "Find the place where you care about, find your passion. When you burn for something, you can achieve nearly everything." [14:42]

• Margaret Martinez echoes the importance of passion and encourages newcomers to explore different facets of HIT, assuring them that their questions and unique perspectives are valuable.

  "Test around, find your space and don't worry to ask questions. If you are the one person in the room who has this question, very probably there are more." [14:42]

Overcoming Challenges in Health IT

The conversation shifts to the various challenges both women have faced in their careers and how they've navigated them.

• Garima Mathur shares her initial struggles with language barriers upon moving to the U.S., overcoming fears of her accent affecting her professional interactions. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's strengths and seeking support from managers and teams.

  "I asked a woman in my class and she's like, Garima, I don't even notice your accent. You're the one who's noticing it the most." [15:35]

• Margaret Martinez discusses the complexities of product development, particularly in creating user interfaces that meet diverse stakeholder needs. She underscores the significance of transparency, clear communication, and building trust to successfully incorporate feedback and ensure product stability before broader rollout.

  "Trust is very important. If I would just not listen to them and say, no, we do it like this... we work with each other." [15:09]

Listener Engagement: Driving Diverse Teams Towards Common Goals

A listener poses a question about managing and uniting diverse teams toward a shared objective in product management and ownership.

• Margaret Martinez responds by highlighting transparency and communication as pivotal. She stresses that every team member, regardless of their role, should understand the "why" behind projects to foster collaboration and cohesive problem-solving.

  "Everyone should understand why we are doing this... we find common solutions, and then it's not so difficult anymore." [20:23]

• Garima Mathur likens product management to parenting, emphasizing the importance of clarity in goals and support from one's team and managers. She advocates for clear communication of objectives and leveraging trust within the team to navigate challenges effectively.

  "Show what the path towards is... making why clear. Support from your own teams and managers is crucial." [20:24]

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Joy Rios expressing gratitude to her guests for their invaluable insights. Both Margaret Martinez and Garima Mathur encourage listeners to connect with them via LinkedIn, fostering a community of informed and empowered professionals in the Health IT landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Passion and Purpose: Finding what drives you is crucial in navigating and excelling within the Health IT sector.
• Global Perspectives: Understanding the nuances of different healthcare systems can inform the development of adaptable and impactful technological solutions.
• Collaboration and Communication: Transparency and clear communication are essential in uniting diverse teams toward common goals.
• Overcoming Challenges: Embracing personal and professional challenges fosters growth and resilience.
• Technological Impact: Advancements in medical imaging and AI are revolutionizing patient care, making healthcare more accessible and efficient globally.

Quotes at a Glance

• "Find the place where you care about, find your passion. When you burn for something, you can achieve nearly everything." — Garima Mathur [14:42]
• "Everyone should understand why we are doing this... we find common solutions, and then it's not so difficult anymore." — Margaret Martinez [20:23]
• "AI plays a role in providing information to the person who is making the decision based on some very quality product." — Garima Mathur [11:08]

For more insightful conversations and empowering discussions in Health IT, follow the HIT Like a Girl Pod on their website and social media platforms. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review to support the podcast and help spread the knowledge shared by leaders like Margaret Martinez and Garima Mathur.