BlackDoctor’s Vision for AI, Trust and Health Equity with Aki Garrett

In this episode, Akinwole “Aki” Garrett, Chief Executive Officer, BlackDoctor, discusses the evolution of BlackDoctor into a technology-enabled health services platform, with a focus on AI, personalization, trust and measurable health outcomes. He also shares his vision for leveraging technology, content and community to help close the health equity gap.

- There's a small circle of people who truly

- understand what it takes to lead a health

- system right now. The decisions are enormous.

- The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes

- of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.

- That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.

- And it's why the most effective c suite

- leaders are deliberate about where they go to

- pressure test their thinking.

- Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable

- brings together more than 1,500

- executive level attendees

- and nearly 400 speakers for four days built

- around growth, financial sustainability,

- workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't

- have easy answers.

- Join us November second through the fifth in

- Chicago.

- For the agenda and event details,

- visit beckershospitalreview.com

- and click on the events tab in the

- upper right.

- Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

- My name is Chanel Banger. Today, I have

- the pleasure of speaking with Aki Garrett, the

- CEO of Black Doctor, who joins podcast today

- to share insights into his background, health care

- trends he's watching, and a bit more. Aki,

- thank you so much for joining me today.

- Chanel, thank you for having me. It's a

- pleasure to be here.

- Of course. Of course. Well, it's great to

- have you. To get us started out, could

- you please introduce yourself and tell us a

- bit about your work in health care?

- Yes. I'm Akanwole Garrett, CEO of Black Doctor.

- Black Doctor is a health and wellness platform

- that is focused on connecting,

- black communities with trusted culturally relevant health information,

- resources,

- and health care professionals,

- as well as solutions.

- We reach about 30,000,000

- users every month across our platform.

- We have a three pillar strategy where we

- engage with both health care practitioners

- and consumers across our digital presence, which is

- blackdoctor.com

- and blackdoctor.pro,

- as well as all of our social media

- handles and as well and also on YouTube.

- And then we also have a whole host

- of events that we put on throughout the

- year, including a film festival,

- an activation

- in Cannes,

- as well as in Martha's Vineyard, Black Doctor

- House.

- And we also put on,

- an event with our partners at USA Today

- called generational health.

- And those are just some of the temple

- events that we have in addition to dozens

- of other smaller events that we do throughout

- the country. And last but not least, we

- also have a technology pillar where we have

- built,

- some AI tools to,

- help both patients with patient preparedness

- and

- to help health care professionals,

- with cultural competency and cultural fluency as they

- engage

- with diverse patients.

- At our core, you know, we sit at

- the intersection of health culture,

- media, technology, and community.

- We built an ecosystem

- that, like I said, reaches millions of consumers

- and all while engaging

- with health care professionals.

- And what excites me about the business today

- is that we are really evolving well beyond

- being a traditional health media company. We are

- truly a health services company where we are

- building an omnichannel health platform

- that really combines,

- you know, the things I just mentioned, which

- are content, community, data,

- AI, health care, professional engagement,

- clinical trial recruitment,

- policy and advocacy, and education.

- Ultimately, our mission really is to, help black

- communities thrive in health by bridging the gap

- between

- black communities and the health care system.

- And we do that by creating and producing

- medically verified

- and medically reviewed content,

- and by engaging our audience in a very

- authentic, and culturally competent manner.

- That's great. And now that we have a

- sense of your background and the mission of

- Black Doctor, I'm curious to hear what trends

- are you currently watching in health care right

- now?

- Yeah. Sure. There there's several. I would say

- first is the convergence of AI and health

- care.

- AI is going to fundamentally change how people

- find health information,

- how they prepare for health, health care encounters

- and appointments,

- and how they interact overall with, health care

- professionals,

- navigating, you know, an increasingly complex health care

- system. I think the opportunity isn't simply to

- introduce more technology.

- I really think, you know, the the opportunity

- is to introduce technology that is going to

- impact have an impact at the point of

- care,

- and to make that patient and physician interaction,

- much more beneficial,

- and ultimately drive better health outcomes.

- I think second to that is really a

- shift from, what we call reach,

- in the digital world, to measurable impact. You

- know, for years, health care marketing has focused

- primarily on impressions,

- clicks, and audience size. And I think these

- metrics, while they still matter,

- clients are increasingly wanting to understand

- whether they are reaching the right people

- and whether that engagement ultimately changes awareness,

- behavior,

- healthcare utilization

- and outcomes,

- on a clinical level.

- Third, I would say,

- is personalization.

- Healthcare

- consumers are increasingly

- expecting healthcare experiences to reflect who they are,

- their culture,

- circumstances,

- preferences,

- and health journeys. And so the era of

- this kind of one size fits all approach,

- is really starting to disappear, and people want

- a customized, more personalized health care experience

- that truly reflects who they are at their

- core. And I think that that will continue,

- to resonate,

- as we see the explosion in AI. I

- think the winners will be those that can

- create experiences that really tap in authentically with,

- certain communities and make them feel seen and

- heard.

- And finally, I think, you know, the,

- a trend that we have been on for

- the last twenty years, I think, is is

- is really starting to resonate a lot,

- in this kind of new era of health

- care is the idea of trust.

- You know, we have, you know, more health

- information available than at any point in our

- in history,

- yet, you know, trust really is one of

- those things that is a challenge for for

- health care. I think that organizations such as

- Black Doctor,

- that build authentic relationships with communities will ultimately

- become the most important places for brands to

- communicate

- with consumers,

- and also with health care practitioners, to be

- quite honest. Trust really,

- has you know, it becomes a scarce asset,

- you know, when, you know, you look at

- AI,

- making that volume of information limitless.

- Trust becomes scarce. And so how do you

- help some how do you build trust such

- that a health care practitioner or a patient

- can kind of call through

- and get to the information that is most

- meaningful for them and the information they can

- trust

- to actually,

- impact their journey?

- Absolutely. And as we

- creep closer to the end of 2026,

- I'd love to hear what you're most focused

- on and excited about in your role.

- Yeah. I continue to be super excited about

- the transformation we're having at Black Doctor.

- Over the last six to eighteen months, you

- know, we've been really intentional about involving the

- company from being primarily a digital health media

- platform into a much broader

- health care ecosystem and technology enabled platform.

- We started off the year with, by refreshing

- the Black Doctor brand. We expanded our health

- care professional network,

- through Black Doctor Pro, which is our, HCP

- focused,

- website. We strengthened our leadership team bringing in

- a number of different c suite executives

- that had that comprise over a hundred and

- twenty years of health media and health services

- experience.

- We expanded our policy and advocacy work through

- our generational health initiative,

- and we began building AI power solutions, you

- know, that can help patients prepare for health

- care,

- engagements and encounters.

- That can also help health care professionals strengthen

- cultural fluency and improve how patients are identified

- and recruited for clinical trials.

- So we continue to see an evolution of

- our platform.

- I'm particularly proud that of all the work

- that we're doing,

- and and how we're doing it while maintaining

- the thing that has made black doctor valuable

- in the first place, which is the trust

- of the communities that we serve. At our

- core and at our heart is making sure

- that we maintain that trust, and that is

- something that is,

- embedded in

- any in all expansion and and development of

- the black doctor platform. It all starts with

- how do we embed trust into all that

- we do. And really, you know, that matters

- because growth for us isn't simply about becoming

- a bigger company. You know, it's about increasing

- our ability to create

- outcomes, measurable health outcomes and impact for the

- communities that we serve. And one of the

- questions I continue to ask my team really

- is if we're successful,

- whose life is actually better because black doctor

- exists? And so that keeps us grounded.

- You know, that helps us to focus and

- prioritize all the things that we wanna work

- on.

- Revenue, audience,

- growth, technology, and scale

- are really important. But really answering that question,

- and making sure that we're crystal clear on

- that, whether it be as we're developing our

- tools or executing events is really the the

- secret sauce and the key for us to

- have sustained impact and sustained growth within the

- community that we serve.

- That's amazing to hear. A lot of exciting

- initiatives on the horizon for Black Doctor.

- And now that we've heard what you're looking

- forward to, looking back for a moment, what

- are you most proud of accomplishing over the

- last six to eighteen months or so?

- I would say developing,

- really rounding out and and expanding on on

- the core of black doctor,

- and being able to to step into to

- places and spaces that we have traditionally not

- been in. I would say us being able

- to execute a stellar black doctor house experience

- in Cannes, France

- with our partners at Novo Nordisk is something

- I'm super proud about. One, because it broadened

- our reach beyond just, you know, The United

- States. It, was our first international execution. So

- our brand got exposed to other black communities,

- that are over in Europe. And that to

- me is exciting as we look as we

- think about how do we expand

- black doctors presence and become an internationally known

- brand and not just, so North American focused.

- I would also say that, you know, it

- was exciting for us because

- it gave us the opportunity

- to really,

- engage in a premium environment

- with,

- so many different creators

- and health care professionals and executives,

- and kind of convene and bring,

- those two, what often seems to be disparate

- worlds

- together to really focus on how do we

- how do we storytell around

- health care, how do we storytell around,

- chronic conditions, especially within the black community,

- and really start to make,

- health more relatable. Right? And give face and

- give voice

- to those that suffer oftentimes in silence. That

- was an opportunity

- where we had a rap man who created,

- Supercell,

- the Netflix hit show. We also had,

- Ryan Clark,

- former Super Bowl champion,

- as well as, a big advocate for sickle

- cell disease,

- talk about storytelling and talk about touching the

- community in unique ways to talk about a

- condition that, again, a lot of people suffer

- in silence with. But how do we bring

- that to the forefront and change the narrative,

- right, and do it in a creative but

- very authentic way. And so that that that

- for me is probably the the most,

- one of the most proud moments over the

- last, you know, six to eighteen months.

- That's really incredible. And I could tell from

- the short conversation that you're very passionate and

- driven

- as a leader. And with that in mind,

- I'd love to hear the advice you'd give

- to

- evolving leaders looking to have that same drive

- in their careers as you have.

- Yeah. I mean, I would say, you know,

- first and foremost, you know, I think

- you have to treat trust as an operational

- asset that you build deliberately.

- I think trust is the foundation for any

- successful business. I think trust is the foundation

- for any great leader. You have, you know,

- whether it's, you know, the people that you

- that work with you or for you, your

- customers,

- your partners. I think you have to have

- a solid foundation of trust, and that is

- something that is built in one interaction at

- a time. And, you know, it takes a

- long time to build, but it it takes

- a very, very short time to tarnish. And

- so think about how you're building trust as

- a leader so that way people are invested

- in what you're trying to accomplish.

- I would say second,

- you know, become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

- I think, every step in my career

- has required me to really operate in an

- environment where I didn't have all the answers.

- There was a fair bit of ambiguity.

- But what I realized,

- in in in being a leader is that

- leadership isn't about knowing everything. Right? It's about

- being able to make, you know, thoughtful decisions

- with, you know, imperfect information

- and then adjusting,

- quickly as you learn.

- And you have to get comfortable with that

- reality and be nimble,

- and agile,

- to make changes, to recognize

- patterns, to leverage data, and and recognize when

- adjustments need to be made.

- And then I would say

- third, you know, is really kind of develop

- your own point of view. Right? You know,

- with AI, the proliferation of AI, information is

- really becoming commoditized. Right?

- And I think, you know, leaders will increasingly

- distinguish themselves

- not by having, you know, access

- to information

- because we'll all have it, you know, due

- to AI. But it's really those leaders that

- are gonna shine

- are gonna be the leaders that are able

- to synthesize

- the information that they get from AI, exercise

- judgment, understand,

- and have a clear perspective about what matters

- and what doesn't when it comes to making

- decisions,

- and being really,

- really good at honing in on those key

- factors that allow them and and those key

- pieces of information that allow them to make

- the right decisions, to launch the right products,

- to pivot in the right direction,

- to execute at a high level. I think

- those are those are really three things, you

- know, for me

- as a leader that I would offer to,

- an evolving leader,

- or someone that is, you know, looking to

- step into a a leadership role.

- Thank you so much. That's excellent and very

- actionable advice. Well, Aki, I wanna thank you

- for your time today. But before I let

- you go, is there anything else that listeners

- should know?

- No. I mean, I think, you know, if

- if you, you know, wanna follow Black Doctor,

- we'd love to have you on our journey.

- We'd love for you to engage with the

- platform. You can visit us at blackdoctor.com.

- If you're a consumer or a patient, you

- can go to blackdoctor.pro

- if you're a healthcare professional, a doctor, a

- nurse,

- a PA. There's tons of information. You know,

- we are continuing to build this platform.

- We want our platform. You know, I always

- tell my team, I envision this platform being

- the operating system for health equity

- and leveraging all the content, all of the

- activations, all the all the technology that we

- develop to really help close the health equity

- gap

- between communities within within this country and and

- globally. I think it's it's incredibly important,

- because if we solve

- the health equity issues of people of color,

- and in this case black people, I think,

- you know, everybody will benefit from that, and

- and the whole entire healthcare system will benefit

- from that. Right? When you think about it

- from purely an economic perspective, there's a heavy

- burden, heavy tax on on the healthcare system

- and healthcare costs

- when you look at, health health inequities. Right?

- And so we can close those inequities

- by leveraging technology,

- awareness, content,

- you know, information, so forth and so on.

- If we can close those gaps, we will

- have a better health care system overall for

- everyone.

- Health care companies,

- whether it be hospitals, insurers will have better

- economics

- as for profit institutions.

- And so I think, you know, we are

- squarely focused on that. We love to, you

- know, we love when when people come to

- our platform, engage with our content, come to

- our events, engage with our events, and engage

- with our technologies,

- as we're building.

- Perfect. Aki, I wanna thank you once again

- for your time today, all the important work

- that you do for both the black community

- and just health care overall,

- and for sharing your insights on the Becker's

- Healthcare podcast. Thank you so much. Thank you.

- Have a good day.