Sahir Ali is a highly accomplished technology and healthcare leader, investor, and board advisor with extensive experience in Artificial Intelligence, medical imaging, cancer research, enterprise technology, and cloud computing. He has advised and led some of the world’s largest companies and organizations in implementing and integrating cutting-edge technologies and data science practices.
As a researcher and scientist, Sahir is widely recognized as a thought leader in the field of precision medicine and AI. He is a frequent keynote speaker and guest lecturer at conferences worldwide and has also been a TEDx speaker. Sahir’s academic achievements include graduate research that resulted in 30+ publications, patents, and funding from various national and international organizations. He has attended Rutgers University (BSc. & MSc. Electrical Engineering) and Case Western Reserve University (Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering).
In addition to his professional achievements, Sahir is also an accomplished entrepreneur and investor. He has successfully exited from several companies and his venture fund actively invests in the areas of AI and biotechnology.
Connect with Sahir on LinkedIn
For more than 20 years, Tom has served as a trusted investor relations advisor to companies raising capital on public and private markets. His firm Snow Hill Advisors is headquartered in London, with additional offices in New York, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Tom and his team blend decades of experience in corporate investor relations, investment banking, top tier journalism and management consulting. He is a certified member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) in the United States, as well as the Investor Relations Society in the United Kingdom.
Connect with Tom on LinkedIn
Interview questions:
Q1: Less than a month ago Modi Ventures launched the new $32M Tech+Bio Fund I. Tell us about the fund’s mandate and why you’ve decided to focus on Tech Bio, life science and healthcare AI right now.
Q2: Your background in biomedical engineering and research certainly gives you an edge as you evaluate opportunities for Modi Ventures. I understand the fund has already made several investments into some promising health tech companies. Can you walk us through what drew you to these companies?
Q3: Looking ahead at the next 5 years, how do you envision AI and robotics playing a transformative role in the healthcare industry, and in which areas do you see them having the most significant impact?
Q4: It’s an understatement to say that there’s been a lot of enthusiasm about AI over the past year. There’s also been a fair amount of concern, even calls for caution from industry leaders who have petitioned for a 6-month “pause” in AI development. In areas as critical as medicine and healthcare, how do you see the right balance being struck between development at breakneck speed and a more risk-averse approach? As a capital allocator yourself, what is your role in that process, Sahir?
Q5: AI is capable of analyzing massive amounts of medical data, health information and imagery with greater precision and accuracy — as well as much faster speed — than humans. This clearly unlocks new frontiers and possibilities in early diagnosis and so on. At the same time, we’ve seen that the outputs produced by AI are really only as good as the datasets and models used to train them. Take for instance ChatGPT, which still produces so-called hallucinations, or answers that seem plausible but are actually nonsense. When it comes to something as critical as one’s health, how do we ensure the datasets and models used to train AI in healthcare are ready to make the right diagnosis or map out the appropriate treatment plan?
Q6: One of the greatest issues in healthcare whether it be in the US / UK, or even developing countries, is the question of affordability. What potential do you see for AI to rein in the cost of healthcare and increase not only efficacy but also accessibility?
Q7: Back to your investment activities, your fund Modi Ventures has partnered with some truly impressive names in VC like Khosla Ventures, Antler Group, Draper Associates, Section 32 and Artis Ventures to name a few — can you tell us a bit about what those partnerships and collaboration look like?
Q8: To wrap things up, what emerging health innovation excites you the most personally at this time?
Modi Ventures Capital Management is a Texas-based investment firm investing in fund managers and founders building companies shaping the future of humanity. The company’s primary investment focus is into disruptive and emerging AI and Medical technology applications. Investments in successful funds include Khosla Ventures, Section 32, Artis Ventures, Draper Associates and Antler Global. Direct investments include Lapsi Health, Starling Medicine and Cyberdontics. For more information please visit www.modivc.com.
Recent News: https://www.modivc.com/
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