Dr. Lukasz Kowalczyk on Practical AI Adoption in Healthcare
Dr. Lukasz Kowalczyk, gastroenterologist and Healthtech advisor, shares how AI streamlines surgical scheduling, empowers staff, and builds clinical trust. He offers real-world lessons from deploying healthcare AI in environments with limited data maturity and evolving workflows.
Episode Overview
In this episode of AI Today, host Kathleen Walch, Director, AI Engagement and Community at PMI, continues the AI in Healthcare mini-series, produced in partnership by PMI and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Kathleen sits down with Dr. Lukasz Kowalczyk, a practicing gastroenterologist and seasoned Healthtech advisor, to explore how AI can meaningfully support operational efficiency, clinical decision-making, and healthcare equity.
Tune in to learn how AI is advancing healthcare through:
- Automating surgical scheduling by embedding clinical intelligence into workflows, helping schedulers deliver safer and more consistent care instructions
- Empowering under-resourced staff through AI-enabled decision support, boosting the performance of surgical schedulers without requiring high medical literacy
- Navigating AI deployment challenges—from lack of data access to user adoption—and designing around real-world constraints in community and rural care settings
- Building trust and clinical adoption by deeply understanding user workflows, embedding human-in-the-loop systems, and preserving physician autonomy in decision-making
- Moving beyond pilot purgatory by prioritizing early wins, cross-functional buy-in, and practical tools designed for low-data-maturity environments
Dr. Kowalczyk also reflects on lessons learned from building and selling AI-enabled platforms, his experience in the Mayo Clinic AI Accelerator, and the importance of designing for both people and processes—not just technology.
Whether you're a healthcare leader, project manager, or curious observer, this episode offers practical, hopeful, and forward-looking insights on building AI-enabled healthcare systems with empathy and vision. To learn more about on AI in healthcare, including access through HIMSS membership, please visit: https://bit.ly/3TSpHDZ
Featured in This Episode
Dr. Lukasz Kowalczyk, MD
Founder of Soothien HealthTech Advisory and Executive-in-Residence at MATTER Health
Dr. Lukasz Kowalczyk, MD is a practicing gastroenterologist and healthtech advisor focused on aligning clinical innovation with enterprise value. He is the founder of Soothien HealthTech Advisory and Executive-in-Residence at MATTER Health, where he helps digital health and AI companies design products that meet clinical workflow needs, support reimbursement, and drive measurable ROI.
Dr. Kowalczyk brings 15 years of practice experience and deep operational insight, having scaled and exited a 40-physician GI group and built a surgical scheduling automation platform acquired in 2021. He completed the Mayo Clinic AI Accelerator and advises startups and health systems on responsible AI adoption, product strategy, and go-to-market alignment.
He currently serves on the HIMSS AI Advisory Board and speaks nationally at health innovation forums, including HIMSS, ACHE, and digital health accelerators. His work emphasizes actionable clinical integration, stakeholder alignment, and closing the gap between AI promise and enterprise execution.
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