Naji Gehchan: Welcome to SpreadLove in Organizations, the healthcare leadership podcast where we explore leadership with purpose.
This is a special episode, the second of a series in partnership with Biosciences Lebanese International Network – BIOLINK.ORG.
I’m Naji your host, joined today by Zahra Timsah a scientist, entrepreneur, and AI governance leader with 18+ years of experience across biotech, pharma, MedTech, and financial services. She began her career in biomedical research with published work, patented innovation, and affiliations with leading institutions including Cancer Research UK and the Royal Society, gaining deep exposure to the full bench-to-bedside pathway from discovery through IND and BLA to commercialization. She later transitioned into building and scaling AI-driven platforms and has held leadership roles at IQVIA, GlaxoSmithKline, and MassMutual, where she also helped establish AI and Data Analytics Centers of Excellence. Zahra has founded and exited multiple companies, including one IPO, and has advised Fortune 500 organizations on AI, data, and regulatory strategy. Today, her work focuses on translating complex regulatory frameworks into real-time, enforceable systems that govern AI, MedTech, and enterprise workflows before risk occurs.
Zahra – it is great to have you with me today!
Zahra Timsah: Thank you, Naji, for having me.
Naji Gehchan: So your story spans science, entrepreneurship, AI, policy, healthcare, and global leadership, but underneath all of those accomplishments, who was Za- Zahra before the titles and the success, and what experiences truly shaped the way you see the world today?
Zahra Timsah: Yeah, absolutely. So I’ve always been curious, even in school. You know, like, I’ve always been focused on experimentation, biology, physics, chemistry, and all of that, fascinated by lab work, fascinated by the, um, basically the actionable part of all of this, um, um, scientific, uh, scientific knowledge. So when I had the opportunity to take this, uh, forward, of course, I did a bachelor’s, and I was doing medicine back, uh, at AUP.
But I noticed that, uh, medicine is not allowing me to come up with new knowledge, new experimentation, that sense of adventure. So this is why I pivoted from medicine and I ended up doing a master’s and a PhD. I can assure you my family wasn’t so happy about it, but here I am
Naji Gehchan: Oh, this is great. So te- so tell us from there, uh, I, I love you bring up your family not being happy about it.
I’m sure they’re proud today. But tell me a little bit more about that, so from PhD to entrepreneurship. Uh, yeah, tell me, like, the second part of the story.
Zahra Timsah: Yeah, absolutely. So I got a scholarship. I was very lucky. I got a scholarship. I came here to Texas, where I live now, um, went to MD Anderson. I did a PhD in biochemistry and another one in cancer biology, very much focused on research, kind of like all focused on publishing in high, you know, like, uh, impact publications, Nature, Cell, and so on, getting grants, discovering a cure for cancer.
Uh, and then I actually went to be a professor in the UK. I spent a couple of years there, um, actually three years there. Uh, I was teaching, doing research and so on. But again, I noticed one thing. If I wanna make an impact specifically on patient life, research is not enough. You know, I also need to be understanding of finance, being an entrepreneur, business, all of this good stuff.
I went and got an MBA. Again, I’m all about education. Learn from the best. I came back to the US, and I was actually part of this company, uh, which was a biopharma company, and we ended up taking the company public. My focus at that company was interesting because I had to bring the data science machine learning.
I’m always… I’ve always been very, uh, curious about coding. I brought that into the drug discovery and disease modeling life cycle, brought the experience not just of bench work, but also the clinical AI part, and we patented a, an AI system, and this is where the novelty comes into play, the ability to discover, create, and customize, uh, therapies for cancer patients using artificial intelligence, and this was first of a kind, and this is when I started preaching about AI, and everyone called me crazy because back in the day it was very futuristic
Naji Gehchan: So, and, and when was that?
It was way- Um … before, like, AI became a thing, so.
Zahra Timsah: Yeah. Yeah. So that was back in 2016.
Naji Gehchan: So looking at it, like, and you’ve been at the forefront of creating a patent, patenting, uh, uh, you know, getting patents through those. Like, how, how have you seen this build up accelerate, and where do you see it today, and kind of when you think about the future?
Zahra Timsah: Yeah. Yeah. That’s, that’s a very good question. So today we are fortunate and unfortunate. We are fortunate by the fact that we have the technology. We have AI. We can use it for so many good things. But unfortunate with the noise. The focus is so much on the technology itself. The focus is on the algorithms, innovation, and so on.
But what about the value add? You know, what about the ROI? We cannot eliminate the experts. Like, you are an expert, right? We can’t just depend on AI to achieve our goals. There should always be a blend of AI and people. Not artificial intelligence, collective intelligence. Human in the loop, you know? This is extremely important, and people are becoming more and more dismissive of this.
So in the future, it’s gonna actually be the reverse. AI is gonna be everywhere, and what’s gonna be really of value is the expertise.
Naji Gehchan: So I, I lo- … So you’re framing… I, I love the idea of collective intelligence. So you’re thinking about, like, human intelligence plus AI. And how do you see this? Are… Is this, like, an amplification of human intelligence, basically, for, for us to be able to solve more complex problems for patients?
Zahra Timsah: Yes, absolutely. Or is
Naji Gehchan: it something else?
Zahra Timsah: No, no, it’s exactly that. So right now, for example, everybody is using their Claude, everybody’s using, um, uh, ChatGPT. But, but these are generalized large language models. You can use them for content generation, you can use them for conversational everyday work, and so on.
They are not specialized. To have a specialized artificial intelligence, it has to be focused, it has to be niche. It has to be trained on very, uh, credible data sources, trained by experts, vetted by experts, with the final decision left for these experts.
Naji Gehchan: A- and you talk about, um, you know, AI governance, and certainly you’re focused on healthcare, uh, med tech, biotech, like highly regulated industry.
Uh, w- what do you mean by AI governance? Like, uh, and how we should think about it as healthcare leaders
Zahra Timsah: Yeah. So, um, in, in a very simplistic, uh, manner, and of course it is more complicated, AI is three parts, right? You have the data, you have the algorithm, and you have the infrastructure. So I’m gonna leave the infrastructure to the experts here, but I’m just gonna talk about data and algorithm.
You know what they say, garbage in, garbage out. So the data sources that are going into the AI, they need to have lineage, they need to have veracity, and they need to be clean, structured, and well-curated. So you need to know where the data’s coming from, what’s happening to the data, and so on before you feed it into the AI so that the results are accurate.
But the AI itself, as an algorithm, it can’t afford to be a black box. You need to know how the decisions are made, how the AI is thinking, and this is where auditability comes into play. AI needs to be auditable. AI needs to have observability and monitoring. We can’t have it, like, run rogue, so to speak. So anything that will avoid you having a black box effect and hallucinations by the AI is basically AI governance.
Not audit, not retroactive, but proactive
Naji Gehchan: Oh, this is a, this is a great, uh, framework to, um, uh, to, to think of. A- and, you know, as you were sharing this, like, it’s really around … A- a- and I love it, like, you, you’re really at this bridge of science, regulation, business, and you’re kind of like the connector between all of those disciplines that actually do not speak the same language, right?
Like when you’re thinking about language. Yep. Like, so, so what are your thoughts about this, and how have you learned to become kind of this bridge across different disciplines? I, I feel like it’s, it’s been like a thread throughout your life basically.
Zahra Timsah: Yeah. Yeah. So, so I’m all an, an, an advocate for, um, like basically invent yourself or reinvent yourself based on the market need.
And what I did was not out of just, like, having fun. It was, it was out of necessity. I saw what the market needed. I saw that I was missing some skill set, the goal to satisfy the market need, and I went ahead and got an education, got training, and, uh, w- was able to bridge that. Another thing that I would like to, um, talk about, and of course it might get a bit, um, personal here, is, um, women don’t have it easy in AI.
We don’t, right? No matter what’s said, it’s still like a male dominated industry. So what’s gonna be very special, what’s gonna be very niche, is to actually use your expertise and utilize AI just as a tool, and like you said, to amplify this expertise. And everything needs to make money to save time at the end of the day, and this is where finance and management come into play.
Bottom line is I just equip myself with the best out there to basically push myself and also help the market move forward
Naji Gehchan: So tell me more and tell us more about your company today and what you guys are solving for.
Zahra Timsah: Yeah. I- iGentic is a company that I’m re- I’m really proud of. Uh, as you know, this is not my first, this is my third.
But I was lucky enough, right now I’m working with the best in the, uh, industry. I’m working with Dr. Ken Washington, former chief technology officer at, uh, uh, Medtronic, the brain behind the robotics department at Amazon and so on. I can’t speak highly enough about him. Um, also, I’m lucky to have, uh, Scott as well, who is the senior vice president at APM, the brain behind our partnerships and alliances.
So this company is built on very strong leadership and very strong knowledge, and what we do right now is we provide people with this knowledge through AI. This is iGentic. We help them basically utilize an operating system that we patented, and this operating system connects to their tools, to their tech stack, to the knowledge base we provide, whether regulatory libraries or their internal SOPs, templates, previous, uh, successful submissions, lessons learned, uh, warning letters and whatnot.
And without training, without coding, this operating system is capable of helping the users end to end from writing, drafting, content creation, pre-submission, to submission-ready. And we are also at the forefront, um, and lucky to have the FDA itself adopt AI, you know, with the HALO, with ELSA and so on. So if the FDA is using AI, users should have AI as well.
Any submission you have is being reviewed by humans and AI. So if we are equipping users with this supercharged AI that is built around expertise, you are equipping them for a very successful submission
Naji Gehchan: Oh, I, I love this, and obviously we both discussed, uh, uh, this, uh, also, like, all, all this hopefully with this ultimate goal of getting those drugs to patients faster, right?
Exactly. And it’s, it’s a key piece of the puzzle, uh, you’re trying to solve, which is, which is great. Uh, a- and as you think about the deployment, like I, I… You know, and obviously I’m a believer of, um, of, of this, right? Like, there’s… You know, we, we can’t, we can’t say… Like, uh, there’s no debate if AI’s gonna be a thing.
Like, it is just a thing, right? And we need to, to live it. Uh, what qualities do you think leaders will need in this AI era of the future in healthcare? And is it different than what we had, like, 10, 20 years ago?
Zahra Timsah: Um, can, can you repeat the first part? I missed it.
Naji Gehchan: Yeah. What qualities do you think leaders will need in this, uh, AI era?
Zahra Timsah: Qualities?
Naji Gehchan: Yes.
Zahra Timsah: Okay, yeah. So, um, leaders must educate themselves about AI. This is a must, and I try as much as I can to, uh, train, to raise awareness, to help leaders understand. I would say education is key. No need to know how to engineer or how to code and so on. This is being taken care of by AI itself.
But you need to be able to judge of what good looks like. So educate yourself on what good looks like, whether or not you need AI, not just a gimmick that you follow, not just a trend that you follow, and also measure the value out of AI. Pilot it, see if you like it, don’t commit to it, and have it grow with you as a company.
This is the art of change management. Start slow and expand.
Naji Gehchan: So I, I wanna, I, I wanna ask you before going to my next session, like, a more personal question. You sa- you said your parents were unhappy from you moving- Yeah … from med school, and now you’re at this cutting edge of AI. A- and you are impacting lives of patients through the work you’ve been doing in the past 18 years.
Do, uh, are they… I’m sure they’re proud, but how, how do you think about making them proud and the legacy you wanna leave behind?
Zahra Timsah: Yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s a very good question. Um, I, I think I’ve- I’m grateful to have inspired my nephews and nieces. I don’t have children of my own, but I inspired my nephews and nieces to do engineering and to do medicine, and they are basically following in my footsteps trying to change the world, helping others, you know, push devices.
One of them studied medical, uh, engineering, push devices and, and, and medicine to market faster. Just something I’m very happy about. Another thing that is close to heart is helping my country, helping home as well, Lebanon. So I try as much as I can to also help the talent there, you know, become the best, uh, the best of the best.
Uh, we’ve earned it.
Naji Gehchan: Yeah, you certainly did. I’m gonna give you now a word, and I would love your first reaction to it, whatever comes to mind. The, the first one is leadership.
Zahra Timsah: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, leadership is inspiring others, basically. Um, not necessarily visibility, but having impact of your work resonate, you know?
Naji Gehchan: W- what about, we said it so many times, but what about AI? First reaction.
Zahra Timsah: Uh, it’s a tool. It’s not a silver bullet
Naji Gehchan: Biolink
Zahra Timsah: Inspiration to us all. Community
Naji Gehchan: Can you share a little bit more about this community and how you think about it?
Zahra Timsah: Biolink is the first opportunity for me personally to connect with leaders, with Lebanese leaders. I had no idea that there’s a lot of us, and I had no idea how open to collaboration partnerships and helping one another could be, not just by talking or preaching, actions, actually moving forward.
And, uh, if you look at the diaspora, Lebanese people are very successful, but what we lacked was connection. And Biolink, the leaders in Biolink, the board members created this, so I’m, I’m grateful and proud of them.
Naji Gehchan: The last word is spread love in organizations.
Zahra Timsah: Oh, sorry. Come again.
Naji Gehchan: The last one is spread love in organizations.
Zahra Timsah: Um, I like it. Again, it, it, uh, nurtures collaboration, and it’s all about culture. So what you’re focusing on is not just organization from a concept, but about bringing people together at an organization as a culture to achieve a common goal
Naji Gehchan: Any final word of wisdom, Zahra, for healthcare leaders?
Zahra Timsah: Yeah.
Don’t, don’t follow trends. See what helps you basically achieve your mission and your vision. Let others do all the mistakes and learn from their mistakes
Naji Gehchan: I love it. Well, thanks so much for being with me today and for this great chat.
Zahra Timsah: Thank you, Naji. Appreciate it.
Naji Gehchan: Thanks for listening to the show! For more episodes, make sure to subscribe to Spreadloveio.com or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Let’s inspire change together and make a positive impact in healthcare, one story at a time.
Follow us on LinkedIn and connect with us on spreadloveio.com. We’re eager to hear your thoughts and feedback. Most importantly, spread love in your organizations and spread the word around you to inspire others and amplify this movement, our world so desperately needs