The Georgetown University Cawley Career Education Center hosted a panel titled “Hoyas in Health: Bridging Business and Health” on Jan. 30, offering a glimpse into how Georgetown students integrated technology with business and healthcare during and after their academic careers.
Panelists included five Georgetown graduates who shared their experiences studying and working at the crossroads of business and healthcare. The discussion focused on the pivotal role of technology in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.
Stefanie Kurgatt (NHS ’17, GRD ’20), a product manager at CVS Health, said it was important for students to get ahead in computer science and technological skills.
“If you already know how to code, great, that’ll set you up for success,” Kurgatt said at the event. “I think it’s continuously improving in these areas that produce development needs and wants in the industry, and then just adapting to change.”
Rahul Lakhanpal (NHS ’16), current chief of staff at SpectraMedix, a healthcare data analytics company, said it is important for industry leaders to embrace new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI).
“There is a big AI boom,” Lakhanpal told The Hoya. “There are a lot of back-end administrative functions for insurance companies. AI is becoming more and more involved there as well. So I think as technology continues to advance, the goal is that it will drive cheaper healthcare costs and better outcomes.”
Lakhanpal said that it is necessary to utilize emerging technologies as they grow more abundant in various industries.
“Technology is intersecting with every industry, whether that’s healthcare, banking and government — technology is playing in all these sectors,” Lakhanpal said. “We have to become successful in utilizing technology to make better decisions in government, healthcare and consumer spending.”
Lucy Olander (CAS ’26), chief technology officer at Georgetown Ventures, a consulting club for startup companies, said emerging technologies and AI in particular have become indispensable for modern entrepreneurship.
“AI is central to a lot of technological advancement today, so it is a necessary player in the entrepreneurial space,” Olander wrote to The Hoya. “Whether leveraging AI or integrating it into the service being provided, it is necessary to consider.”
“Entrepreneurship cannot function without technology. Many startups are technology-based, seeking to provide apps to serve new purposes in our daily lives,” Olander added.
Olander said Georgetown Ventures has worked with startups creating technology solutions in the healthcare sector such as Enna Health, a symptom tracking app for cancer patients.
“We worked with Enna Health on strategy, creative and tech needs, and it was amazing to see such an impactful startup grow and go on to positively contribute to the healthcare field,” Olander wrote.
Lakhanpal said healthcare technology is vital to improving administrative efficiency and health systems operations.
“We use technology to help both health plans — which are the insurance companies — and health systems — who are the providers of care to provide better care to their members,” Lakhanpal said. “We use technology so you can identify members who are high-risk or high-cost and send preventable care to them.”
Lakhanpal added that these technologies are equally important to improving both patient outcomes and physician performance.
“Provider burnout is a big topic in healthcare,” Lakhanpal said. “You can use technology to give doctors better insights or easier workloads so that they don’t need to go to multiple workflow stations to accomplish a job that they need to do.”
Olander said startups — regardless of what sector they work in — should integrate new tools into their work.
“However, even non-tech-focused startups need to leverage technological tools, like web development and social media to advance and market their businesses,” Olander wrote.
Kurgatt said technology will continue to shape and redefine industries.
“It’s constantly changing, it’s constantly shifting,” Kurgatt said. “You have to meet business goals, but you also have to meet the consumer needs. We’re dealing with people, patients — that’s healthcare.”
