Shaun Rossiter, CEO and Founder of AiHealth.SG Pte Ltd

In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, the pursuit of innovation has become paramount, driven by visionary minds unafraid to challenge the status quo. These trailblazers, fueled by passion and expertise, challenge the conventional norms, questioning why certain limitations persist and envisioning a future where healthcare knows no boundaries.

Embracing cutting-edge technologies, they revolutionize the way we approach health and wellness, creating a more interconnected, accessible, and patient-centric healthcare ecosystem. As the world holds its breath for the next paradigm-shifting breakthrough, these luminaries remain steadfast in their commitment to pushing the boundaries of possibility, inspiring countless others to join them in the pursuit of a healthier and brighter future for humanity. Among such leaders standsShaun Rossiter, the visionary CEO and Founder of AiHealth.SG Pte Ltd.

Intriguingly, Shaun’s journey of healthcare innovation was sparked bya life-changing event. After enduring severe surgery due to a collapsed carotid artery, triggered by a non-communicable disease (NCD) known as Cardio-Vascular Disease, he couldn’t help but wonder, “Why didn’t I recognize the symptoms and comprehend the risks earlier?”.This drove him to explore existing solutions on the market, only to discover there was a lack of available options in the market to self asses, identify and track personal NCD risk factors. Therefore, Shaun delved deeper into the existing options and came to the conclusion that whilst maybe he couldn’t solve something as complicated as a collapsed artery there were certainly options available to be truly effective at scale and it had to be at the preventative stage. Moreover, witnessing children playing near dangerous railway tracks reaffirmed his conviction that whatever solution he develops should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their socio-economic background. Driven by his newfound purpose and equipped with knowledge from completing an AI course at MIT, Shaun brought his vision to life, giving birth to AiHealth.SG—a groundbreaking initiative centred around AI-driven Population Health, with the noble aim of making preventive healthcare accessible and impactful for everyone.

Transforming Healthcare at Scale

AiHealth.SG has developed an AI platform that offers unprecedented capabilities at a population scale, accessible through mobile devices. Among its groundbreaking initiatives, the launch ofNCD Risk Assessment and Management ‘NCD Detect’ has proven to be highly effective in identifying persons at high or very high risk that were otherwise undiagnosed, unaware or unmedicated.With extensive Public Health trials conducted across 14 clinics in Southeast Asia, ‘NCD Detect’ has achieved an impressive average accuracy rate to be able to establish a persons risk equivalent to a standard healthcare Provider process of more than 92%.

AiHealth remains committed to refining and expanding its offerings, with continuous improvements and the introduction of new services like ‘Blood Oxy Detect,’ ‘Skin Cancer Detect,’ and ‘Blood Glucose Detect that allow these services to beseamlessly integrated into existing ecosystems or offered as white-label solutions.

Beyond its cutting-edge offerings, AiHealth’s uniqueness also comes from its ability to deploy AI at a population scale. Its AI is meticulously trained across diverse demographics, ensuring exceptional local accuracy and creating a robust and validated local data set. A148.83Health has also successfully navigated and conquered real-world challenges on the ground,unlike most competitors who still report from a small clean lab environment that simply doesn’t exist in the real-world environment.

Successfully Riding the Waves of Challenges

Being an entrepreneur often comes with its fair share of challenges and obstacles and Shaun’s journey with AiHealth was no different.In the early stages, Shaun encountered a host of challenges, some of which were entirely unprecedented, demanding groundbreaking solutions.Reflecting on one of the key challenges, Shaun remarks, “I liken deploying Artificial Intelligence in HealthCare to a walk in the Park – Jurassic Park! Every step of the way something is trying to jump out and eat you.”

During a trial in Southeast Asia, the team faced connectivity issues and encountered patients using older smartphones. To overcome this, they had to reconfigure their AI models for BMI and Blood Pressure to function offline on older Android phones from 2016 and beyond, and at scale. Although it was a demanding journey, they successfully achieved their goal.In addition to technical challenges, the team faced a revealing moment when their AI, based solely on facial analysis, mistakenly identified women wearing hijabs as bald males. This underscored the critical importance of precise training for localised AI to yield more effective results. To tackle this head-on, they developed a specialized AI model specificallytrained to recognize women wearing hijabs, a focused approach that dramatically bolstered the overall accuracy of their AI system.

Cultivating a Culture of Integrity and Customer-Centricity

At AiHealth, a set of core values forms the bedrock of their vision and approach. Their first guiding principle, “Accuracy before evolution,” underscores their unwavering dedication to the precision and reliability of their AI models. Rather than chasing fleeting trends, AiHealth prioritizes extensive research and development to enhance the accuracy of its existing offerings.

The second principle, “Validated data before velocity,” exemplifies their commitment to transparency and accountability. Before exploring new opportunities, AiHealth ensures a thorough understanding of demographic nuances and validates its data to maintain the highest standards.

Security holds the utmost importance at AiHealth, as they abide by their third principle, “Security before sales.” Recognizing that a breach in security can jeopardize their market position and future prospects, they prioritize robust data privacy in compliance with local requirements. The company ensures that its infrastructure security adheres to the highest industry standards. These guiding principles collectively define AiHealth’s approach, instilling a culture of integrity, excellence, and customer-centricity.

Aspire To Make Accurate AI Easily Accessible To All

Looking ahead, Shaun envisions building a comprehensive library of AI microservices that are easily accessible and affordable for diverse markets. For instance, if a government seek to implement NCD screening campaigns to deliver on early intervention and drive population healthcare costs down, through platforms like AWS Marketplace, they canintegrate AiHealth’s NCD Detect into their existing Health Apps or ecosystemsand be able to screen population-wide within a week.

Likewise, Private Hospitals, digital insurance, tele-medicine and corporate wellness companies also stand to benefit from AiHealth’s capabilities. By providing non-invasive risk assessments for their customers, these companiescan gain valuable insights with actionable outcomes that captures those customers ay risk and brings them back into their eco-systemswithout the need for intrusive tests – all from their Mobile phone and without the need for any 3rd party hardware or devices. This win-win scenario allows these companiesto captiure greater population share of at risk patients and assist themin maintaining their well-being over time.Moreover, the private sector can leverage AiHealth’s technology to offer patients an enhanced unified touchpoint with advanced digitial capabilities from their preferred healthcare providers.

Pearls of Wisdom for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Drawing the valuable life lessons from his entrepreneurial journey, Shaun advises emerging entrepreneurs tounderstand the product-to-market process, form the right team, and be customer-centric.“When you look at this journey you quickly realise – you cannot do it alone, the team makes the dream is a commonly attributable phase to which I subscribe but similarly, the team and direction need to be led. Don’t lead in isolation; include the right team members and the right Industry mentors and your customers’ feedback as part of your decision-making cycle,” he affirms.

Another key aspect Shaun highlights is the significance of asking the right questions to potential customers, such as ‘If we deliver this, what’s the value’, do they recognise the need, can they get a budget? Entrepreneurs often overlook these critical inquiries, leading to a lack of vital information that both the entrepreneurs and their investors need to know which is basically ‘Is there a Market out there and is it ready’. Lastly, most importantly – Shaun advises entrepreneurs to be customer-centric. “Because at the end of the day, your customer can be your biggest advocate, can define your roadmap and can help you survive the journey,” concludes Shaun.