In this episode, Dr Amani Alnimr invites Dr Bharadwaj Chada, a GP, Medical Director at Canjo Health, and multi-fellowship holder, exploring the transformative role of non-clinical fellowships in modern medical careers. Dr Chada details his motivation for seeking experiences like the NHS Clinical AI Fellowship and the Harvard Biodesign Fellowship, driven by a curiosity to explore areas beyond the individual doctor-patient consultation, such as health policy, commercialisation, and the practical implementation of AI. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Fellowships Should Focus on Complementary, Not Competing, Interests: Non-clinical roles and fellowships are best utilised when they complement a core clinical identity, providing essential skills in areas like policy. 

AI Deployment Shows Significant Variability and Inequity: The implementation of AI is not uniform; while centres of excellence (like London, Oxford, Cambridge) have mature governance, many areas still struggle with nascent adoption.

Clinicians Must Act as "AI Custodians" for Digital Safety: The most important role for clinicians in digital safety is to preempt and mitigate the unanticipated consequences of change, challenging AI conclusions to prevent cognitive deskilling.

Innovation Requires a Structured Framework: Innovation is not chaotic but can be approached systematically, using structured frameworks (like the Biodesign methodology taught at Harvard) to identify needs.

The Biggest AI Hype is Clinician Replacement: The most overhyped claim is that AI will replace doctors; instead, the reality is that clinicians who embrace and use AI will replace those who don't, as the human role shifts to processing complex data streams and maintaining the essential human-patient relationship.

BEST MOMENTS

"I think the reason for doing these fellowships is really I just wanted to upskill myself from different perspectives... whether that was policy or whether that was commercial or whether that was AI itself."

"I think we have a duty, probably going forward, in terms of the stewardship or being almost being AI custodians."

"The likelihood is that as AI becomes more and more pervasive and as AI becomes better and better, we'll find that the younger generation is going to trust it more, trust it blindly almost and become susceptible to automation bias."

"It's probably given me the clarity that this is probably the core part of who I am and everything else sits alongside that."

"AI won't replace clinicians, but clinicians who use AI will replace those who don't."

TO CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST

⁠https://www.instagram.com/themedicspodcast/⁠ 

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-medics-podcast/about/?viewAsMember=true⁠ 

HOST BIO

Dr Alnimr empowers clinicians, academics, and health professionals to transform their expertise into scalable, evidence-based solutions—without compromising their professional integrity. Her deep understanding of medical research methodology, combined with a talent for demystifying complex systems, positions her as a leading voice in the evolution of healthcare careers.

Through The Medics Podcast, she shares strategic insights, case studies, and frameworks designed to help healthcare experts build meaningful, sustainable impact beyond the traditional clinical path. 

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media.⁠ https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/