She gave up her childhood dream of becoming a doctor to fix what doctors cannot

Dami Oyenekan, an engineer and AI specialist, once dreamed of becoming a doctor. However, a visit to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) changed her perspective. Witnessing patients waiting hours for care and a doctor unable to save a life in the emergency ward, Dami realized the limits of even the best doctors. She decided to build the infrastructure that medical professionals needed.

After moving to the UK and studying medicine, Dami found that clinical practice was not her calling. She then shifted her focus to healthcare system-level transformation. At the University of Minnesota, she found her niche in Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, a field that combined engineering with healthcare delivery.

During her time at Minnesota, Dami became a leader in the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), eventually becoming Chapter President. Her leadership skills caught the attention of Genentech, where she worked as a regulatory intern for three months, learning about clinical trial documentation, quality engineering, and FDA compliance.

After graduating, Dami joined Medtronic as a Quality Engineer. There, she gained experience in ensuring medical devices met strict regulatory standards. However, she soon realized her true passion lay in AI and software. In 2021, she joined Cleerly, a healthtech startup that utilized AI to analyze coronary CT scans for early heart disease detection. She then moved to Google Health, where she worked on an AI tool for diabetic retinopathy screening in low- and middle-income countries.

Through her journey from witnessing the systemic failure in Lagos hospitals to leading AI initiatives at GE HealthCare, Dami Oyenekan has transformed her childhood dream of becoming a doctor into a career focused on building the future of global healthcare and digital records.