Transforming Life
The bustling office of PHE Co. hummed with the energy of young innovators; their faces illuminated by the glow of computer screens. Amidst the creative chaos, Chandra, the company’s co-founder, stood by the large windows overlooking the city, lost in thought.
A young woman approached, her eyes bright with curiosity. “Chandra?” she said, pulling him from his reverie. “Do you have a moment?”
Chandra turned, offering a warm smile. He knew Aisha as a very bright young doctorate researcher from Stanford University who joined PHE about six months ago. “Of course, Aisha. What’s on your mind?”
Aisha hesitated for a second, then dove in. “I’ve been studying your early work in AI and multimedia. Your contributions to immersive video in 1997 were groundbreaking.” She paused, gathering her thoughts. “But Chandra, I can’t help but wonder — how did you start working so passionately in health-related areas? It seems like such a drastic shift from your influential work in multimedia computing.”
Chandra’s eyes crinkled at the corners, a mix of emotions playing across his face. He gestured to a nearby seating area. “That’s quite a story, Aisha. Why don’t we sit down?”
As they sat down, Chandra leaned back, his gaze distant. “You see, Aisha, my journey into health didn’t start with biology or health at all. It began with a fascination for patterns and systems in our society, particularly in personal life.”
Chandra’s voice took on a nostalgic tone. “As a young boy in Nagpur, India, I grew up in a lower middle-class society where we didn’t even have electricity. Through books, I became fascinated by what was happening in remote places like the USA. I was lucky to get into a top engineering college in Nagpur, where I learned about electronics, particularly digital signals.”
He continued, describing his journey through graduate education at IIT Kharagpur, his research in digital control systems, and his fascination with cybernetics. “I became a follower of cybernetics by reading whatever I could get my hands on, especially works influenced by Norbert Wiener. Can you believe my surprise when I saw that a person who calls himself a mathematician was designing sophisticated engineering systems modeled after biological systems?”
Chandra chuckled softly. “My parents didn’t quite understand my obsession, but they initially tolerated and then supported it because during my graduate school days, I was not only independent but contributing to my family. During my PhD at IIT in 1972, I joined the faculty there. Remember, during those days, what I used to read and teach about digital systems was more something that happens somewhere else, not in my surroundings. So, when I was offered a chance to go to Germany on a fellowship, I decided to take it, because it was just for a year. When I decided to leave India to work on these topics in Germany, my family, particularly my parents, didn’t like it because many people did not return, but they went along with my decision knowing that I would love it.”
“As I grew more mature in the research field, my passion evolved. I was lucky to get chances to work with top researchers in the field and at some of the best-known universities in the USA, where I had moved after the first two years in Germany. In Germany, I worked at Hamburg University from 1976 to 1978. There, I was fortunate to work with digital video scenes of traffic, at a time when digital video was not available, and computers were still primitive. Now people use digital video on their mobile phone all the time.
Later, I learned the same lesson when we started working on image retrieval problems and its applications in a company called Virage in 1994 when digital images were not available except if you scanned them on expensive printers/scanners. Now we all take photos all the time and expect that our phone will organize them for us in the background almost instantly. This research gave me tremendous encouragement to consider that in technology, one should consider nothing impossible. This allows you to think big because what you do isn’t just about the technology itself, but about how it could be used to solve complex human problems. I saw endless possibilities waiting to be unlocked.”
Chandra’s eyes sparkled with the memory of his early discoveries. “That’s what led me to dive into AI and computer vision and then building multimedia systems. I was fascinated by the ways humans perceive and interact with the world — through text, images, audio, and video. I wanted to create systems that could understand and replicate these perceptions. During my explorations in computer vision, I interacted with researchers in medical schools to do research in x-ray images and eye-images for analyzing them and measurements leading to diagnoses. But my role was to help them use computer vision as a tool for their medical applications.”
He paused, allowing Aisha to absorb the information. “But life has a way of taking unexpected turns. And it was one of those turns that led me from the world of bits and bytes to the realm of cells and synapses.”
“In 2004, I was diagnosed with Gastro-Esophageal cancer. In those days, cancer was an even scarier term than it is now. I was shocked and worried for my family.”
Chandra looked out the window, his voice steady. “Suddenly, I found myself navigating a world I knew little about. But here’s the interesting part: my background in technology and systems thinking… it gave me a unique perspective on the whole situation.”
He leaned forward, his eyes intense. “After I recovered from my initial shock, and my care team was finalized, I met Dr. Brunson, my surgeon, and Dr. Walker, my oncologist. They were excellent doctors. And they became very close friends from early days. It just happened that these doctors found out about my background too. They asked me about my interest and work in multimedia and video. They became very good friends, but I couldn’t help approaching their proposed treatment plan with the same analytical mindset I’d use to evaluate a new algorithm.”
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He chuckled softly. “I think I surprised them with my questions. I wanted to know not just what the treatment was, but why it was chosen, what the alternatives were, and how the efficacy was measured.”
“I had become really close friends with both Dr. Brunson and Dr. Walker,” Chandra explained, his eyes twinkling with fond memories. “We often discussed various topics and even joked with each other. I used to tell them that the current state of medicine was more like magic than science, reminiscent of old days when we knew very little about the causes of problems. They’d retort, ‘If we can use magic to cure you, why are you worried?’”
Chandra continued, his voice taking on a more serious tone. “As we discussed my treatment options, I found myself particularly intrigued by the chemotherapy plan. During one consultation, I couldn’t help but voice my curiosity. I asked Dr. Walker, ‘Why this particular combination of chemical agents for treatments? What’s the rationale behind it?’”
“Dr. Walker explained that the protocol was a global standard for Gastro-Esophageal cancer patients. But you know me, Aisha, I couldn’t stop there,” Chandra said with a slight chuckle. “I pressed further, ‘But how do you know it will work? Particularly, how can you be sure that it will work in my case? What’s the science behind it?’ I could see Dr. Brunson and Dr. Walker exchange glances. They weren’t used to patients asking such detailed questions.”
“Dr. Brunson promised to provide a more comprehensive answer the next day. True to his word, he returned with research papers detailing a study that solidified the protocol’s credibility. The study had followed 92 Gastro-Esophageal cancer patients in Dublin, Ireland, tracking their survival rates over 10 years after treatment under three different protocols.”
Chandra paused, allowing Aisha to absorb the information before continuing. “Protocol 1 showed a 52% survival rate, Protocol 2 had a 44% survival rate, and Protocol 3 yielded only a 20% survival rate. Protocol 1, which was recommended for me, had emerged as the clear winner.”
“But something didn’t sit right with me,” Chandra said, his brow furrowing slightly. “I couldn’t help but see parallels to other fields where grand conclusions are drawn from limited data. When Dr. Brunson asked about my reaction, noting my dissatisfaction, I started by saying, ‘You folks are like astrologers.’”
Chandra leaned forward; his voice intense. “I explained that astrology tries to predict the future so it can be managed, but without reliable sufficient data, it becomes more a wish than a science. In this case, the data used was so scant that if in the first protocol two patients didn’t do well and in the second two did well, we’d go with the second protocol without any particular reason.”
“But that wasn’t my only concern,” Chandra continued. “I pointed out that each individual is a unique product of their genetics, environment, and lifestyle. I was an Indian, not Irish, and my lifestyle and environment had no similarity to the patients in Dublin. I asked them if it even made sense to treat me using a protocol developed based on such different data.”
Chandra’s voice softened as he recalled their response. “They said, ‘But that’s the best we’ve got.’ And that’s exactly what’s wrong with the approach in the modern world. We’re not data poor now; we’re data rich. We just have to use our situation right.”
“Dr. Brunson challenged me,” Chandra said, a smile playing on his lips. “‘I know your background is all about dealing with data. Why don’t you do something about it?’”
“I replied with determination, ‘If I survive, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll look at the problem from a data perspective.’ A cybernetics-lover in me was speaking loudly and confidently. ‘I’m sure we can do much better by studying data of each individual.’”
Chandra’s eyes gleamed as he concluded, “Dr. Brunson promised that I would be cured, and I vowed that if I lived long enough, I would dedicate my life to this. We shook hands on that deal.”
Turning to Aisha, Chandra said softly and with a broad smile, “As I delved deeper in health, I realized that though our lifestyle and environment are the biggest factors in our health, people know very little about their own health and how they are controlling it. I believe that we can empower people to steer their own health by empowering them and giving them responsibility for being healthy. My studies in cybernetics taught me that if we know our current health state and our desired health state, we can navigate through our health state-space effectively. And my Dear Aisha, that is what I’m doing now, and that’s what drives me. And you are a partner in this.”
Aisha sat back; her eyes wide with understanding. “Wow, Chandra. Your journey from tech innovator to health pioneer is incredible. It’s amazing how your personal experience shaped your mission.”
Chandra nodded, a gentle smile on his face. “Life has a way of leading us down unexpected paths, Aisha. But it’s what we do with those experiences that truly matters. Now, let’s get back to work. We have a healthcare system to transform!”
As they stood up, Chandra paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping across the bustling office of PHE Co. The energy of innovation was palpable, a testament to the transformative power of his journey. From his early days in Nagpur to his battle with cancer, and now to this moment of reimagining health care, Chandra’s life had been a series of transformations. Each challenge, each discovery had shaped not just his path, but the potential future of health for countless others.
“You know, Aisha,” he said, his voice filled with quiet determination, “transforming life isn’t just about personal change. It’s about taking our experiences, our knowledge, and using them to create ripples of positive change in the world. That’s what we’re doing here at PHE Co. We’re not just transforming healthcare; we’re transforming lives.” With that, Chandra turned back to his work, ready to face the next challenge in his ongoing journey of transformation.
