Mr. Akhter leads enterprise digital transformation for one of the nation’s premier pediatric academic health systems, overseeing technology, enterprise data and analytics, AI, automation, research informatics and cybersecurity. As architect of the system’s multiyear digital strategy, he has positioned the organization as a national leader in pediatric digital innovation across AI, automation and digitally enabled care models. Under his leadership, the system launched “CHOP GPT,” a HIPAA-compliant generative AI platform; deployed 26 production AI and automation solutions that return more than 3,000 hours to the workforce each month; became the first organization to scale Epic’s AI-assisted messaging to all clinicians; and is scaling ambient documentation and other AI solutions across the enterprise. To enable digital care, the system has now deployed various remote patient programs, transforming care for over 10,000 children, resulting in life-saving events and reducing readmission by 30% for some programs. In addition, the system is digitizing the patient journey to improve access and experience, cutting some specialty wait times up to 20 days. Mr. Akhter has guided the system to Epic “Magna Cum Laude” and honor roll status, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society “Stage 7” for both inpatient and outpatient, and College of Healthcare Information Management Executives “Digital Most Wired Level 8.” His team developed a modern data and analytics platform, shifting from Netezza to Snowflake on Amazon Web Services, delivering a 50% cost reduction and an increase in active analytics users. To modernize infrastructure, his teams have engineered cloud partnerships with Microsoft, producing millions in five-year infrastructure savings that self-fund the system’s AI and digital investments. He also founded “DnA University,” which has now trained more than 9,000 employees in data, analytics and AI literacy. Mr. Akhter serves on the board of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
