(light upbeat music) >> Hey, everyone. Welcome back to theCUBE's day long coverage of Women in Data Science 2023. Live from Stanford University, I'm Lisa Martin. We've had some amazing conversations today with my wonderful co-host, as you've seen. Tracy Zhang joins me next for a very interesting and inspiring conversation. I know we've been bringing them to you, we're bringing you another one here. Dr. Irene Dankwa-Mullan joins us, the Chief Medical Officer at Marti Health, and a speaker at WIDS. Welcome, Irene, it's great to have you. >> Thank you. I'm delighted to be here. Thank you so much for this opportunity. >> So you have an MD and a Master of Public Health. Covid must have been an interesting time for you, with an MPH? >> Very much so. >> Yeah, talk a little bit about you, your background, and Marti Health? This is interesting. This is a brand new startup. This is a digital health equity startup. >> Yes, yes. So, I'll start with my story a little bit about myself. So I was actually born in Ghana. I finished high school there and came here for college. What would I say? After I finished my undergraduate, I went to medical school at Dartmouth and I always knew I wanted to go into public health as well as medicine. So my medical education was actually five years. I did the MPH and my medical degree, at the same time, I got my MPH from Yale School of Public Health. And after I finished, I trained in internal medicine, Johns Hopkins, and after that I went into public health. I am currently living in Maryland, so I'm in Bethesda, Maryland, and that's where I've been. And really enjoyed public health, community health, combining that aspect of sort of prevention and wellness and also working in making sure that we have community health clinics and safety net clinics. So a great experience there. I also had the privilege, after eight years in public health, I went to the National Institute of Health. >> Oh, wow. >> Where I basically worked in clinical research, basically on minority health and health disparities. So, I was in various leadership roles and helped to advance the science of health equity, working in collaboration with a lot of scientists and researchers at the NIH, really to advance the science. >> Where did your interest in health equity come from? Was there a defining moment when you were younger and you thought "There's a lot of inequities here, we have to do something about this." Where did that interest start? >> That's a great question. I think this influence was basically maybe from my upbringing as well as my family and also what I saw around me in Ghana, a lot of preventable diseases. I always say that my grandfather on my father's side was a great influence, inspired me and influenced my career because he was the only sibling, really, that went to school. And as a result, he was able to earn enough money and built, you know, a hospital. >> Oh wow. >> In their hometown. >> Oh my gosh! >> It started as a 20 bed hospital and now it's a 350 bed hospital. >> Oh, wow, that's amazing! >> In our hometown. And he knew that education was important and vital as well for wellbeing. And so he really inspired, you know, his work inspired me. And I remember in residency I went with a group of residents to this hospital in Ghana just to help over a summer break. So during a summer where we went and helped take care of the sick patients and actually learned, right? What it is like to care for so many patients and- >> Yeah. >> It was really a humbling experience. But that really inspired me. I think also being in this country. And when I came to the U.S. and really saw firsthand how patients are treated differently, based on their background or socioeconomic status. I did see firsthand, you know, that kind of unconscious bias. And, you know, drew me to the field of health disparities research and wanted to learn more and do more and contribute. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, I was curious. Just when did the data science aspect tap in? Like when did you decide that, okay, data science is going to be a problem solving tool to like all the problems you just said? >> Yeah, that's a good question. So while I was at the NIH, I spent eight years there, and precision medicine was launched at that time and there was a lot of heightened interest in big data and how big data could help really revolutionize medicine and healthcare. And I got the opportunity to go, you know, there was an opportunity where they were looking for physicians or deputy chief health officer at IBM. And so I went to IBM, Watson Health was being formed as a new business unit, and I was one of the first deputy chief health officers really to lead the data and the science evidence. And that's where I realized, you know, we could really, you know, the technology in healthcare, there's been a lot of data that I think we are not really using or optimizing to make sure that we're taking care of our patients. >> Yeah. >> And so that's how I got into data science and making sure that we are building technologies using the right data to advance health equity. >> Right, so talk a little bit about health equity? We mentioned you're with Marti Health. You've been there for a short time, but Marti Health is also quite new, just a few months old. Digital health equity, talk about what Marti's vision is, what its mission is to really help start dialing down a lot of the disparities that you talked about that you see every day? >> Yeah, so, I've been so privileged. I recently joined Marti Health as their Chief Medical Officer, Chief Health Officer. It's a startup that is actually trying to promote a value-based care, also promote patient-centered care for patients that are experiencing a social disadvantage as a result of their race, ethnicity. And were starting to look at and focused on patients that have sickle cell disease. >> Okay. >> Because we realize that that's a population, you know, we know sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder. It impacts a lot of patients that are from areas that are endemic malaria. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And most of our patients here are African American, and when, you know, they suffer so much stigma and discrimination in the healthcare system and complications from their sickle cell disease. And so what we want to do that we feel like sickle cell is a litmus test for disparities. And we want to make sure that they get in patient-centered care. We want to make sure that we are leveraging data and the research that we've done in sickle cell disease, especially on the continent of Africa. >> Okay. >> And provide, promote better quality care for the patients. >> That's so inspiring. You know, we've heard so many great stories today. Were you able to watch the keynote this morning? >> Yes. >> I loved how it always inspires me. This conference is always, we were talking about this all day, how you walk in the Arrillaga Alumni Center here where this event is held every year, the vibe is powerful, it's positive, it's encouraging. >> Inspiring, yeah. >> Absolutely. >> Inspiring. >> Yeah, yeah. >> It's a movement, WIDS is a movement. They've created this community where you feel, I don't know, kind of superhuman. "Why can't I do this? Why not me?" We heard some great stories this morning about data science in terms of applications. You have a great application in terms of health equity. We heard about it in police violence. >> Yes. >> Which is an epidemic in this country for sure, as we know. This happens too often. How can we use data and data science as a facilitator of learning more about that, so that that can stop? I think that's so important for more people to understand all of the broad applications of data science, whether it's police violence or climate change or drug discovery or health inequities. >> Irene: Yeah. >> The potential, I think we're scratching the surface. But the potential is massive. >> Tracy: It is. >> And this is an event that really helps women and underrepresented minorities think, "Why not me? Why can't I get involved in that?" >> Yeah, and I always say we use data to make an make a lot of decisions. And especially in healthcare, we want to be careful about how we are using data because this is impacting the health and outcomes of our patients. And so science evidence is really critical, you know? We want to make sure that data is inclusive and we have quality data. >> Yes. >> And it's transparent. Our clinical trials, I always say are not always diverse and inclusive. And if that's going to form the evidence base or data points then we're doing more harm than good for our patients. And so data science, it's huge. I mean, we need a robust, responsible, trustworthy data science agenda. >> "Trust" you just brought up "trust." >> Yeah. >> I did. >> When we talk about data, we can't not talk about security and privacy and ethics but trust is table stakes. We have to be able to evaluate the data and trust in it. >> Exactly. >> And what it says and the story that can be told from it. So that trust factor is, I think, foundational to data science. >> We all see what happened with Covid, right? I mean, when the pandemic came out- >> Absolutely. >> Everyone wanted information. We wanted data, we wanted data we could trust. There was a lot of hesitancy even with the vaccine. >> Yeah. >> Right? And so public health, I mean, like you said, we had to do a lot of work making sure that the right information from the right data was being translated or conveyed to the communities. And so you are totally right. I mean, data and good information, relevant data is always key. >> Well- >> Is there any- Oh, sorry. >> Go ahead. >> Is there anything Marti Health is doing in like ensuring that you guys get the right data that you can put trust in it? >> Yes, absolutely. And so this is where we are, you know, part of it would be getting data, real world evidence data for patients who are being seen in the healthcare system with sickle cell disease, so that we can personalize the data to those patients and provide them with the right treatment, the right intervention that they need. And so part of it would be doing predictive modeling on some of the data, risk, stratifying risk, who in the sickle cell patient population is at risk of progressing. Or getting, you know, they all often get crisis, vaso-occlusive crisis because the cells, you know, the blood cell sickles and you want to avoid those chest crisis. And so part of what we'll be doing is, you know, using predictive modeling to target those at risk of the disease progressing, so that we can put in preventive measures. It's all about prevention. It's all about making sure that they're not being, you know, going to the hospital or the emergency room where sometimes they end up, you know, in pain and wanting pain medicine. And so. >> Do you see AI as being a critical piece in the transformation of healthcare, especially where inequities are concerned? >> Absolutely, and and when you say AI, I think it's responsible AI. >> Yes. >> And making sure that it's- >> Tracy: That's such a good point. >> Yeah. >> Very. >> With the right data, with relevant data, it's definitely key. I think there is so much data points that healthcare has, you know, in the healthcare space there's fiscal data, biological data, there's environmental data and we are not using it to the full capacity and full potential. >> Tracy: Yeah. >> And I think AI can do that if we do it carefully, and like I said, responsibly. >> That's a key word. You talked about trust, responsibility. Where data science, AI is concerned- >> Yeah. >> It has to be not an afterthought, it has to be intentional. >> Tracy: Exactly. >> And there needs to be a lot of education around it. Most people think, "Oh, AI is just for the technology," you know? >> Yeah, right. >> Goop. >> Yes. >> But I think we're all part, I mean everyone needs to make sure that we are collecting the right amount of data. I mean, I think we all play a part, right? >> We do. >> We do. >> In making sure that we have responsible AI, we have, you know, good data, quality data. And the data sciences is a multi-disciplinary field, I think. >> It is, which is one of the things that's exciting about it is it is multi-disciplinary. >> Tracy: Exactly. >> And so many of the people that we've talked to in data science have these very non-linear paths to get there, and so I think they bring such diversity of thought and backgrounds and experiences and thoughts and voices. That helps train the AI models with data that's more inclusive. >> Irene: Yes. >> Dropping down the volume on the bias that we know is there. To be successful, it has to. >> Definitely, I totally agree. >> What are some of the things, as we wrap up here, that you're looking forward to accomplishing as part of Marti Health? Like, maybe what's on the roadmap that you can share with us for Marti as it approaches the the second half of its first year? >> Yes, it's all about promoting health equity. It's all about, I mean, there's so much, well, I would start with, you know, part of the healthcare transformation is making sure that we are promoting care that's based on value and not volume, care that's based on good health outcomes, quality health outcomes, and not just on, you know, the quantity. And so Marti Health is trying to promote that value-based care. We are envisioning a world in which everyone can live their full life potential. Have the best health outcomes, and provide that patient-centered precision care. >> And we all want that. We all want that. We expect that precision and that personalized experience in our consumer lives, why not in healthcare? Well, thank you, Irene, for joining us on the program today. >> Thank you. >> Talking about what you're doing to really help drive the volume up on health equity, and raise awareness for the fact that there's a lot of inequities in there we have to fix. We have a long way to go. >> We have, yes. >> Lisa: But people like you are making an impact and we appreciate you joining theCUBE today and sharing what you're doing, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you- >> Thank you for having me here. >> Oh, our pleasure. For our guest and Tracy Zhang, this is Lisa Martin from WIDS 2023, the eighth Annual Women in Data Science Conference brought to you by theCUBE. Stick around, our show wrap will be in just a minute. Thanks for watching. (light upbeat music)

>> Announcer: Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE, covering AWS re:Invent 2019, brought to you by Amazon Web Services and Intel along with its ecosystem partners. >> Welcome back to theCUBE, the leader in live tech coverage, live from AWS re:Invent 19 in Vegas. I am Lisa Martin with John Furrier and we're going to be taking something that was an exclusive from John's interview with Andy Jassy from a couple days ago, something that he told John. We're going to be talking about it here with Verizon. Please welcome Steve Szabo, Head of Global Products and Solutions IOT and 5G Edge. Welcome, Steve. >> Thank you, thanks for having me. This is an exciting day. >> It is an exciting day. So one of the things that Andy Jassy told John in that exclusive interview that went viral, if you haven't read it check it out, was that companies are going to want to eliminate network hops and find a way to have the compute in the storage much more local to the 5G network edge. Tell us, what did AWS and Verizon just unveil this morning? >> Yeah. So today it's all about Verizon's network in AWS cloud, right? So we've taken what they're calling Wavelength, their centralized cloud platform. We're moving it into Verizon's network, fully integrated. This is 18 months of engineering effort so this isn't something that you just wake up and you have access to. This is a lot of blood, sweat and tears that the companies have put in together to get this opportunity. What this does is it takes their cloud capabilities, it puts them on our network, fully integrated with the radio access layer so that customers will have access to everything that they were using from an AWS perspective but then also be able to leverage Verizon's network capability. So all the API's, the Eight Currencies that Hans talked about on stage today, giving developers and businesses alike the opportunity to leverage the best of those and go ahead and leverage the bandwidth, the latency type use cases and really transform the way that folks are thinking about leveraging the network. >> You know Steve, one of the things in the networking the computer industry, everyone always talks about trade-offs, hops on the network spectrum. I got a longer range or shorter throughput. 5G's got some pretty significant bandwidth up to 10G's >> Yeah. >> Gigs on that. That's phenomenal but the foot press is a little bit different. So that begs the question for high bandwidth needs whether it's gaming, immersive experiences, whatever, you got to bring the compute. This is the whole thesis of Amazon's shift. They're bringing Amazon to the Edge, you guys are providing it. What's different about the Verizon 5G that makes this a unique opportunities? Is it the throughput, is it the topology, is that the-- >> We'd like to think it's a little bit of everything, right? >> John: Tell us how it works. >> Yeah, I mean listen at the end of the day, we have 5G. It's opening up the Eight Currencies. When you factor in 5G Edge, that's when you really see the power of 5G and then when you layer on the AWS Wavelength stack, integrate it into the network, it just gives an opportunity for folks to take advantage of these Eight Currencies. A hundred feet behind me at our booth, we have Bethesda gaming and that was one of the things that we talked about. But if you think about it, they have an Orion gaming platform. They leverage AWS today, they want to reach out and have the ability to have their gaming platform stream to Verizon customers using mobile devices. If you think about the fact that you can almost take the console out of the home, folks are literally leveraging GPU/CPU intensive graphic and gaming streaming content and they're using a Bluetooth controller and they're doing it on a Verizon 5G device. I mean who would have thought that you'd be able to do that and you could see it and that's live in Chicago now, they're piloting it on our network. >> Talk about the partnership with Amazon. You mentioned it wasn't just an overnight thing. Multiple months in the making announced on a statutory wave length, was their product, that's the stack. It's essentially an outpost for Telco that's where I'm going. >> Steve: Yeah. >> There's some things in there but they still got to deploy it. What does that look like? How long have you guys been over at Amazon? And you shared some details on the relationship. Where is it located? Is it under, in your network close to the Edge? How close is it? Has it all all worked? >> Yeah. So we'll touch on what we can here but it's live in Chicago, so that's our first market. We'll take an approach to announce it similar to what we've done with our 5G city announcements which is we'll work with our partners. We'll talk internally and then we'll announce those, does it make sense into other markets and cities. Currently, the way that it works is that our SAP sites or our service access points, AWS will have their equipment. It'll be tightly integrated with our radio access network which is when you could see the benefits of the low latency and the computer are all kind of working together. The way for folks to procure that is they would go through. If you're an AWS customer today and you're getting storage and compute, you would be able to access that through AWS's portal environment. It'd just be labeled as Verizon 5G Edge capabilities. If you're buying bandwidth, if you need pro services help or other network service capabilities, you'd work with the Verizon just like you do today. It's a true partnership opportunity and it allows us to kind of work together and kind of head on this journey. >> So the key thing is here, Amazon console, access, click, provisioning? >> They're in, yeah. We did all the hard work and engineering between the two of us to make it as easy as possible for the developers and the businesses, quite honestly. We want what they're familiar with today both on our network and in the tools that they're using in the cloud to be the same experience that they have only just with the benefits of Wavelength and with Verizon. >> Any feedback you can share on the early returns or early engagements or early tinkering and playing around that you could share? >> You know, I would tell you that it's operating as we would expect it to and that's why I would encourage people to go over to our booth and see what's happening over there because when I say that it's live and it's working, it isn't a video, it isn't anything that folks are talking about. This is on our production network. Bethesda is actually gaming with it, leveraging AWS Wavelength and we've got other customers that are all working with it as well. >> And if they're not on here on site, can they go to the website? Is it online now or-- >> Yeah, you'll be able to see whether you go through Verizon's web experiences or AWS portal, it will redirect you either way to learn more. So if you want to learn more about the capabilities on Verizon's side, you'll punch into our site. If you want to go learn more about Wavelength, and what Amazon is doing, we'll punch it back to them. >> So let's talk about benefits. You gave a great example of somebody gaming and that they're accessing live streaming content from wherever they are from the Bluetooth device. So I can understand it from that perspective. But from a business perspective, business apps to business apps, what are some of the projected benefits that enterprises are going to see with that respect? >> Well, I think a couple of things. One, it's going to open up used cases for latency intensive so I brought up Bethseda for a reason. Their cloud gaming to actually stream DOOM which is the game that the demoing in our booth. They couldn't do it without the Edge, right? They would not have the real time gaming capabilities to actually work without it. When you start thinking about retail environments and getting into AR/VR, these immersive experiences to get customers to come into the four walls of your retail building, the ability to have application services that will reach out and engage with consumers for a variety of things whether that's helping them with their buying experience or just for the benefit of your business, gathering intensive sensory data and kind of getting into the AI NML of how your business is operating on a day to day basis, it opens up a variety of things. It's really an ecosystem which is what I think the power of this partnership is all about, right. We're bringing our customers in our network, combine that with AWS services and their developer community and I think you know it's a tool in the developer toolbox that whether you're a developer at a large enterprise, a small business, public sector, et cetera, it's something that you can use your imagination to go out and do something with and kind of test the balance of-- >> You think about the headroom available in terms of future proofing. You got optimization closer to the Edge Edge >> Steve: Yeah. >> You got inside the network capabilities to manage software, to manage resources kind of a new architecture. >> Steve: Yeah. >> A new way to think about resources allocation from bandwidth to compute to data. >> You bring up a great point because that's something you had mentioned earlier about the difference between what we've done versus cola or something like that and this is a full integration. So the ability to architect something that did not actually exist before. A Wavelength is new for AWS, our 5G Edge and our 5G network capabilities. Integrating that seamlessly so that the developer and the enterprise business can have access to that with having a minimal impact of their user experience is really important and then you figure on the layering of possibilities as they start getting more familiar with it. >> Andy Jassy mentioned on Steve with your chairman and CEO a comment. I don't know if it was just a preambling of the intro but he said Verizon, the leader in 5G. I'm sure he meant that. For the folks that aren't following the 5G situation, are you guys the leader and in what way are you leading compared to the others? How should consumers think about 5G? It's almost like this magic pixie that's almost a magic, wait a minute we can't have those speeds, some say hype. What is the reality of the 5G and why are you guys being called the leader? >> Yeah, well we were the first to market with 5G so by default, I think that makes us the leader. But we'll be in 30 cities by the end of the year. The fact that we're the first to have 5G Mobile Edge Computing capabilities, it's integrated with AWS Wavelength, that's to my knowledge not out there in the market yet today. The ability is the fact that we have this live in Chicago, we have customers using it, it's demonstrating real world views cases on a live production network. I mean we're excited about it, it's something we're proud of and it's something that we expect to watch grow and actually ID it with the customers in mind. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> One of the things that Andy and John talked about, and with this whole not just the notion of transformation and there's a lot of talk about transformation today, but also the fact that businesses you know, the vast majority that are around today, if they're not already iterating and moving towards digitalization and modernization that there are a million companies probably doing the same thing or very similar that are going to be able to take them over. But that's a hard change for an legacy enterprise to be able to do. This new ecosystem that Verizon and AWS are building and delivering, what do you guys see together as its ability to be an enabler to transform businesses such that we don't see a business doesn't go by way of Toys R Us, for example? >> Yeah. Well, I think the fact that 5G and the Edge, it offers you to touch out and reach the customers in a way that you couldn't before for your business, that's one. Two, this is geared around 5G and Edge and that's when you really see the power of what we're doing between Verizon and AWS. But one thing that I'd like to highlight is wherever you're at on your digital transformation, some people are going to be starting from zero and some are going to be more advanced. I mean that's a reality of kind of the technology and business alike. We actually have solutions today. AWS has products today. They're already in the cloud. We have LTE capabilities and other network services capabilities, virtualized network, software-defined network capabilities. We can work with customers and help them kind of grow into where they want to be. We did not want somebody to feel like they're buying in and almost isolating themselves into a technology. What we're all about is helping them build the solution that's right for them at whatever point in the journey they're at and then helping them grow into where they can be with 5G and Edge compute. >> Yeah, and I think this is also instructive for the industry structures. You look at the landscape of everyone thinking about re platforming their business in the modern era. You guys have a great footprint, great leadership. Just the idea of this win-win, it makes you guys so much more powerful for future applications. I mean, I can almost see if the Edge is just becoming a very fertile ground for entrepreneurial activity, applications that you guys are going to be powering. I mean "Born on the Edge" might be the new phrase, not "Born in the cloud". >> It could be yeah. >> Born on the Edge. >> You can trademark that. (laughing) >> Now, we're excited. I mean listen, it could be anyone from two people in a garage developing something to developers at a small, medium or large business, taking advantage of use cases and things that might not been achievable. >> We'll go for it. >> Global education. >> Yeah. >> I mean it's endless opportunity there. >> There are opportunities in energy management sustainability we're very proud of. Education, health care, are going to be areas that we'll focus on so there's a lot of opportunity out there. We're at the forefront in our opinion at helping just jumpstart that ecosystem and we're excited about it. >> Congratulations. Really, really great. >> I'll echo that, congratulations and thank you for sharing with John and me more detail about AWS and Verizon, this new ecosystem that opens up tremendous amount of opportunity. We appreciate your time, Steve. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much for the time and we're excited, it's a big day. >> It is a big day. >> Big announcement. >> For Steve and John Furrier, I'm Lisa Martin and you're watching theCUBE from re:Invent 19 from Vegas. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music)