Her Story
About Namita
Namita Azad serves as Head of Digital Transformation at Columbus University Medical Center in New York City. In this role, she leads the organization's digital transformation strategy and AI strategy, drawing on more than 17 years of experience in academic medical health systems. Her career began in clinical trials and advanced science before shifting to transformation work focused on the intersection of people, process, and technology to improve care delivery efficiency and outcomes. Azad attributes her approach to mentorship emphasizing the need to document systems clearly in order to change them, always grounding efforts in frontline understanding through direct engagement with process owners. She is also a faculty member at the SUNY University System in New York, where she teaches university courses and workshops, which she describes as her favorite way to give back to the community. Azad values maintaining clear boundaries between work and personal life, prioritizing time with family and self-care through balanced living and appreciation of the world around her. She advises young women entering healthcare to work hard, deeply understand their expertise by getting into the field, challenge assumptions with curiosity, and ask questions to drive improvement.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Namita
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think the biggest sort of mentorship I've received is that if you don't if you're not able to put on paper what happens in a system, you can't change the system. Always lean in on understanding the system by being on the front line, being sort of where the work is happening. Being able to put transparency on the system, and talking with the process owners. That to me is sort of at the core of how I do my work.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't be afraid to work hard. Put in the hard work and understand your area of expertise and grow your area of expertise in and out. Get out in the field. Sit down with the scheduler, sit down with the triage tech. Challenge everything. Don't be afraid of asking questions and have curiosity of how could this be done differently.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest opportunity that we have is with the scaling of AI and doing that in a way that really is sustainable and not just putting AI tools in front of people just for the heck of doing it. We have a real opportunity here to create efficiency and optimization, but it's a huge challenge how do you do that in an industry that is so fearful.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My work is a part of me and I'm not a part of my work. It has to be imbalanced with the rest of my life. Understanding when work needs to end and creating that boundary of alright now is my time with my family or for my own personal whatever that is is really critical for me. And to me that is self-care. Appreciating the world around me and living life in a balanced way.
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