Realizing Digital Transformation in Healthcare, Pharma & MedTech with Responsible AI

Strategy, implementation and scaling - to help shape tomorrow's patient care together.

20+ years in healthcare  ·  Pharma, MedTech & Digital Health  ·  EU AI Act & GDPR

Orchestrating Digital and AI Initiatives So They Reach Patient Care

Introducing a technology is one thing; getting people to use it so that it has an effect is another. That is why I bring business, medical, technology, market access and regulation to the same table.

The healthcare industry, public health and applied AI are three fields I have worked in and three languages I understand, built on an engineering foundation. My three areas of expertise, AI & Digital Transformation, Strategic Growth & Future Trends and Leadership & Change, rest on exactly that ability to translate.

Few areas depend as heavily on interdisciplinary collaboration as AI and digital transformation. Solutions that hold up are not built inside one function; they are built between them. That holds all the more in highly regulated fields such as the pharmaceutical industry, medical technology and among other actors in the health system. I translate between these worlds: identifying business problems that data and AI can actually solve, separating real developments from hype, prioritizing use cases, and steering implementation through to adoption in everyday work, accompanied by change management and targeted upskilling.

The foundation is the European value system. Solutions follow four design principles for a target vision of humane AI use: human-centred design, explicability, relief from burden and distributed control. The EU AI Act, data protection and compliance are part of delivery, not a review step bolted on afterwards. Public health does not ask whether a solution can work, but whether it arrives across the board. Shaping the patient care of tomorrow therefore means less time between diagnosis and effective therapy, in the individual case and in everyday care.

20+
Years of experience at market leaders
in medical technology and the pharmaceutical industry
Companies
10+
Therapy Areas
Details
  • Immunology
  • Dermatology
  • Gastroenterology
  • Cardiology / Cardiovascular
  • Diabetology / Diabetes
  • Neurosurgery / Neuronavigation
  • Orthopedics
  • Sports Medicine & Arthroscopy
  • Respiratory Diseases / Asthma
  • Heart Failure (Telemedicine)
  • Trauma Surgery
  • Interventional Cardiology
4
Sector Levels in the German Healthcare Market
Details
  • Industry (pharma · MedTech · Digital Health)
  • Inpatient care (clinics · hospitals)
  • Outpatient care (practices · medical care centers)
  • Payers & public stakeholders (statutory health insurance)

Areas of Expertise

Three areas that belong together in digital transformation and AI initiatives: finding the right use case, reading the market correctly, and anchoring the change in everyday work.

01

AI & Digital Transformation

From the AI idea to real-world application in the healthcare context.

Identifying relevant use cases, prioritizing by value and feasibility, and supporting integration into existing processes – with regulation and organizational reality designed in from the start.

Market signal: 74% of EU countries already use AI in diagnostics and 63% use chatbots for patient engagement — the bottleneck is rarely access to the technology, but selection, integration and operation. Source: WHO Europe, April 2026

02

Strategic Growth & Future Trends

Strategically classify and evaluate technological developments in the healthcare market.

I distinguish between relevant developments and short-lived hype and derive sound decision-making foundations for growth and innovation.

Market signal: A WHO survey (2024/25) finds that only 8% of the 50 Member States of the European Region that took part in the survey have a health-specific national AI strategy — ambition must be matched by strategy, governance and implementation. Source: WHO Europe, 2025 · EU follow-up report, WHO Europe 2026

  • Market, competitive and trend analyses in the healthcare sector
  • Sales strategy, customer engagement and sales leadership
  • Classification of AI and digital trends (substance vs. hype)
  • Identification of relevant growth areas and business models
  • Strategic project leadership
  • Working frameworks: EU HLEG (7 criteria), EU AI Act, bias types & explainable AI
03

Leadership & Change

Anchoring transformation sustainably in organizations.

I support leadership teams in not only introducing AI, but making it effective in everyday work - through clear target pictures, enablement and structured implementation.

Market signal: Nearly half of EU Member States have created dedicated roles for AI and data science in health — while clinicians remain legally and ethically accountable for decisions supported by technologies they may not fully understand. Source: WHO Europe, April 2026

  • Change management for AI and digitalization initiatives
  • AI adoption and organizational anchoring
  • Addressing the trust gap and skills gap
  • Development of measurable transformation goals and KPIs
  • Cultural change and leadership
  • Scaling best practices

Experience & Background

Experience from industry, healthcare delivery and strategic roles - with a focus on implementing complex transformations in regulated environments.

Responsibilities & Tasks

Leadership & Teams

  • Building and developing diverse, highly qualified teams with up to 14 employees
  • Servant leadership, coaching & onboarding
  • Anchoring AI and digital literacy

Sales, Strategy & Market

  • Regional and national strategy development
  • Market, competitive and trend analyses
  • KPI frameworks and performance management
  • Sales management and territory development

AI & Digital Transformation

  • AI use cases designed, prioritized, implemented
  • Digital products in care routines (mySugr, PDMone)
  • Digital care models brought to decision readiness (heart failure telemonitoring, teledermatology)
  • Feasibility and market analyses for investment decisions (respiratory care, allergic asthma)

Stakeholders & Networks

  • Facilitation of nationwide expert formats
  • KOL networks and C-level communication
  • Building cross-sector partnerships

Projects & Change

  • Management of national programs
  • Pre-launch and launch management
  • Sustainable anchoring of change processes

MedTech, OR & Sales

  • Visualization, OR integration and neuronavigation in the clinical setting
  • Arthroscopy, implant and spinal systems: introduction, training, negotiation
  • Clinical training of surgeons and OR teams; building reference hospitals

I welcome conversations about shared topics, cooperation ideas and practical experience.

Academic Background & AI Competence

Applied AI in Healthcare

Karolinska Institutet, Sweden · 15 ECTS

Fundamentals and use of AI in healthcare · key applications (image analysis, data analysis, NLP, decision support) · framework conditions: ethics, data protection, regulation & entrepreneurship

Master of Public Health (MPH)

University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg

Analysis and improvement of health systems at population level · methods: epidemiology, biostatistics, health economics · focus on prevention, policy, management and public health practice

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Medical Technology

HAW Hamburg

Development and understanding of medical devices · application of technical solutions in the healthcare context

AI Continuing Education

OpenHPI - Hasso Plattner Institute: courses on AI, digitalization & data · Python (basics)

AI Practice & Tools

Claude Cowork · OpenAI · OpenWebUI / RAG · Microsoft Copilot · agentic AI systems

Contact

I welcome professional exchange and new connections in the healthcare and AI environment.

Katja Kawaschinski

Direct Contact

Inquiries are welcome by email or LinkedIn. I usually respond within 24 hours on business days.

Short Profile

Location: Hamburg area

I am based in the Hamburg area and work flexibly: remote, hybrid or on site - across Germany and internationally, with appropriate willingness to travel.

Focus Areas: Healthcare, AI transformation, Digital Health

Academic: Dipl.-Ing. Medical Technology · Master of Public Health (MPH) · Applied AI in Healthcare (Karolinska)

Languages: German (native), English (fluent)