Spotlight on: Dr Satya, Head of Clinical at Accurx
We recently caught up with Dr Satya Raghuvanshi, our wonderful Head of Clinical, to quiz her about everything from her career journey to how the clinical insights and expertise of her team help to shape Accurx’s software. Here’s what she said!
Q. To kick us off Satya, can you tell us about your career so far and what led you into healthtech?
A. My current role is Head of Clinical at Accurx and my background in the NHS is as a paediatric doctor. I joined Accurx just over three years ago when we were about 20–25 people.
Throughout medical school, I was interested in specialising in paediatrics, and really enjoyed working with young patients. While working on some quality improvement projects in paediatrics at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, I started to think about how to have an impact beyond individual patient care.
This led to a masters in Public Health in the US. After that, I really wanted to experience more in healthtech. I returned to paediatric training full-time before being offered the opportunity to become an early Clinical AI Fellow — and that started my career in healthtech.
Q. And that led you to work at Accurx?
A. Yes. I loved working with engineers, data scientists and product teams and learnt so much from them about building and scaling healthtech and the difference this could have on patient experience and care delivery. I was exploring new roles within this space and how to build a career when I discovered Accurx. I spoke to my sister — who’s a GP — and as soon as I mentioned Accurx, she was so complimentary:
“It’s amazing! It’s revolutionised our lives in general practice. It’s such a game changer.”
When I got this vote of confidence from someone I trust and respect so much, it was a no brainer. I came in and met the team at Christmas Dinner. Everyone was so motivated and passionate about what they were doing and the impact they were making. It was the perfect role and a great cultural fit, and therefore a very easy decision to make. I’ve never looked back since — I love working here and it’s been such a privilege to see the team grow and contribute to such an important mission.
Q. How would you describe your role at Accurx?
A. My roles and responsibilities have definitely evolved over time from Clinical Lead to Head of Clinical (HoC), which is also different to my role in our Executive Team. As HoC, the role is about supporting the professional development of our Clinical Leads in-house, as well as our product teams, to build their understanding of the challenges which users face. A large part of the role is making sure the software we develop has users at the heart of it, and making sure we maintain clinical safety and are pragmatic about any risks we take.
Q. Great, so what function does your role have in the wider picture of Accurx?
A. So I think what’s really unique to Accurx is that we’re very user-led in the software that we build. My role supports our teams to better understand the healthcare context, and the reason behind the things they’re building as well as the approach they’re taking. A lot of this involves being the voice of the clinician or the patient in some of those situations.
Our software is currently in 98% of GP practices and 68% of Trusts. That’s fantastic — but with that coverage comes a responsibility. We need to make sure that we’re continuously adding value for our users, solving the problems that they face, and supporting everyone to deliver safe and effective care. It’s about balancing some of these pressures that naturally come with the service we provide, and getting the right resources, capacity, and support to do it well.
Q. What perspective do you think having a clinical background adds to a healthtech team?
A. A huge part of the role is bringing subject matter expertise. I say that because I’ve lived with these problems as a clinician, faced communication challenges daily, and experienced the day-to-day grind of trying to navigate systems that aren’t built to be the most intuitive or user-friendly. I think that really helps to shape how we think about our products and implementation.
Q. It’s been great chatting with you Satya! To finish, we’d love to know what you think you’d be doing now if you weren’t at Accurx?
A. I would have definitely stayed in paediatric training and gone into emergency paediatrics. Some of the best experiences I’ve had are with teams working in A&E in paediatrics, who are phenomenal. The nurses and consultants are incredible. Everybody involved in just one child’s care is there to do the utmost for them. Often, there are huge stresses and pressures working in A&E just like there are in many other roles, but for me personally, it’s some of the best team work I’ve ever experienced.
If you’re interested in joining the Accurx team, check out our careers page for our current roles. You could help Accurx to connect healthcare professionals and the patients they care for.
