Reimagining Healthcare in the Age of AI with Sheila Phicil

Reimagining Healthcare in the Age of AI with Sheila Phicil

From Building AI Boston by Building AI Boston

March 2, 2026 · 31 min

About this episode

Sheila Phicil discusses the challenges and opportunities of redesigning healthcare in the context of AI and systemic failures.

What happens when we introduce powerful new technology into a system that was already failing the people it was built to serve? That is the question at the heart of this conversation. In this episode of Building AI Boston, we sit down with Sheila Phicil, social change futurist, founder of Phicil-itate Change™, and author of the forthcoming book Remembering How to Care: Reimagining Healthcare in the Age of AI, to explore what it will truly take to redesign healthcare from the bottom up. Sheila's journey began in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where a volunteer medical mission taught her that even the best-intentioned care can miss the mark entirely. That lesson, listen first and design second, has driven nearly two decades of work inside institutions like Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Medical Center, and now sits at the core of everything she builds. We dive into: Why the U.S. spends the most on healthcare yet ranks last in life expectancy among developed nations and what structural forces are really driving that gap How the SEEDS of Innovation™ Framework helps health systems get to the root of the problem instead of repeating the same costly mistakes The Listen Phirst™…

People in this episode

Host: Building AI Boston

Guest: Sheila Phicil

Topics covered

  • healthcare
  • AI
  • social change
  • innovation
  • technology
  • system redesign

Keywords

  • healthcare
  • AI
  • innovation
  • social change
  • life expectancy
  • digital health
  • SEEDS of Innovation
  • Listen Phirst

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Phicil-itate Change™, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Medical Center

Books & works: Remembering How to Care: Reimagining Healthcare in the Age of AI

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