Shreya Tekriwal JD Candidate
The following is a first person perspective from JD Candidate and Hacking Health founding member, Shreya Tekriwal, on her experience attending and participating in Australia's largest health-technology conference.
"Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity of presenting as a panelist at Australia’s largest health-technology conference hosted by the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA). Held in Brisbane, Queensland, this conference also served as a debut for an organization I work with called Hacking Health. Both HISA and Hacking Health partnered to bring together healthcare experts, designers, developers and patients to create solutions and digital health prototypes to problems in the healthcare industry. (Click here to read more about the event).
In addition to hosting Hacking Health at the conference, I was also part of a panel titled, “Innovation, digital disruption and the future of health,” which consisted of young healthcare leaders. It was a truly humbling experience for me as I shared my experiences in the industry alongside young doctors, dentists and data scientists.
The panel discussion covered topics such as the difficulties students face in trying to involve themselves in innovative projects and ways in which schools and employers can encourage as well as support them in their endeavours. We also discussed the sincere need for new technologies in the healthcare industry – a need that also applies to the legal industry. This experience reinforced my belief in the importance and value of cross-functional training. Although both the legal and healthcare industries are very different, a great way to innovate within a particular industry is to learn from other professions.
Over the past three years of attending both healthcare and legal tech events, I was unpleasantly surprised by a lack of student involvement. Therefore, it was great to see a national organization invite young professionals and students as panelists to share their perspectives and experiences. I found it to be very motivating and hope that all major legal conferences make such events more accessible for students. The education that we gain from interacting with professionals in the industry in an environment outside of the classroom and independent of the recruiting process stays with us for a lifetime. These places are where we gather soft skills that are needed to succeed no matter what career we choose to pursue.
On the panel, we also discussed the importance of technology and its impact on the healthcare industry. As a panel, we collectively recognized that technology is here to stay and this applies to the legal industry as well. This past summer, two major legal incubators were launched in Toronto to support advancements and entrepreneurs in the legal space. Technology is slowly changing our professions and instead of discussing ways in which we will be ‘troubled’ by it, it would be better to embrace it and discover ways in which we can adapt. The right time to realize this and begin the process of adaptation is as baby lawyers."
