Meet the champions

Jennifer co-leads IDB's regional approach to digital transformation of health and social protection. She supports countries in the region in the design of digital health agendas and national roadmaps. She is in charge of management of digital health projects to support the last mile. Furthermore, she shares knowledge and innovations, co-create open-source software, and regional data exchange.

Jennifer is a public health professional with a focus on digital transformation, health informatics, program management, information use and quality improvement

From Jennifer's first day working in a local public health clinic in her home town, to her current position, she has been passionate about using data for decision making and creating meaningful feedback loops to connect the right data with the right people at the right time. One of the first challenges she encountered professionally was the amount of double reporting and double digitalization front-line workers face, and for the rest of her career she has been working on ways to reduce this burden, reduce data silos, and improve quality and use to create impact in health. She has had the opportunity in her personal and professional life to live the benefits of digital health in terms of improving access and quality of care and empowering patients and populations.

Jennifer believes that making an intentional effort to make women feel welcome and included in STEM field is necessary. She emphasizes that we should celebrate women champions in STEM, and intentionally fighting unconscious bias in language and hiring.

Joseline is a central American leader and an entrepreneur. She serves in leadership positions at both DESISCOM, and RECAINSA, where she has been one of the leading promoters of initiatives such as the Gender and Inclusion Commission of the Network and the women's leadership training program in digital health (both in training). She also has been inspiring other women through her participation in digital health events such as the Global Forum Digital Health Network and the Digital Health Networks Network. She also actively participates in networks of leading women and entrepreneurs at the Latin American level. As the first and only woman in the Recainsa Network, she thought for everyone a place in various committees that would not simply generate voices for governance, gender, ethics, sustainability in total coalition with the agenda of precepts and principles of WHO.

Joseline is a business administrator focused on project management with more than 20 years of experience in marketing products for different private sector companies in Central America as well as in the implementation of projects in the social sector in Honduras. Since 2011, she has worked in the digital technology sector through the digital transformation company DESISCOM, a company of which she is a partner and founder, initially serving as commercial director and currently as CEO. Since 2019, she has been part of the board of directors of the Central American Network of Health Informatics (REDCAINSA) and is part of the coordinating team of the same with the position of coordinator of communication and digital strategy.

Joseline found her passion in digital health because of the possibility of improving access and efficiency of health services. Through digital transformation in health, she tries to minimize the inequities and gaps between different social groups. She gets motivated by her job that she is able to encourage other women and girls to venture into information technology, innovation and business. She believes that women can be anywhere we want to be - Her ultimate goal is to achieve greater participation of women in the field of digital health.

Joseline believes that one of the keys is to promote digital transformation in education at all levels, creating inclusive digital skills and stimulating spaces for entrepreneurship and innovation for girls and young women. Another important aspect is the generation of jobs and decision-making positions equally to reduce the gap that exists. Finally, working through networks and communities of practice where women can exchange experiences, knowledge and opportunities in the field of digital health creates sorority and collective empathy, enabling more women to join the field.

Laura switched her career from a clinical midwife to a MSc. Audit analyst in medical computing. She proposed a thesis of a model for the optimization of the capture and validation of data for the control of the opportunity of the Explicit Health Guarantee (GES). One of the graphs of her thesis was published in "A Look at Data Culture in Chile" of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation (attached document, page 10). She currently participates in the SdS in working groups that collaborate in the drafting of regulation on area issues (telemedicine, remote care) and in the modernization of audit processes.

Laura is an expert with skills in information management, health information systems, and auditing.

The fragmentation of the health system as a whole (public and private) constantly challenges us to look for solutions that allow us to centralize the information system to enable efficient management of clinical and administrative tasks. Some of this information occurs on paper, and another happens in health information systems that do not interoperate with each other. Laura is passionate about the use of information and communication technologies in health passionate due to the possibility of improving the exchange of health data through the technology. Furthermore, she believes that if used correctly, it can positively impact citizens (from obtaining more data from our users and health benefits), health providers, clinical and administrative processes in health (remote patient monitoring and waiting list management) , as respective examples).

Bringing future "champions" closer to the classroom. She believes that it is necessary for all stakeholders (government, education and the health system) to push for measures to attract more women to work in this area of knowledge. Training at all levels (technical, undergraduate and postgraduate) should be promoted, and multidisciplinary work with other areas should be promoted.