AI-enabled ultrasound: LUC alumna empowers women in rural Africa
In 2017 Enya Séguin graduated with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Leiden University College (LUC). Her interest in global public health led her to winning a Women in AI Netherlands award, recognizing her leadership efforts towards BabyChecker. She talks about her goal to empower women in healthcare and how LUC inspired her to do this.
Why did you choose to study at Leiden University College?
Enya: ‘As any 18-year-old, I had no clear idea what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to leverage my passion for international relations and development I was lucky enough to have a high school study advisor who told me about LUC and how the curriculum allows students to mix-and-match courses along the theme of Global Challenges. LUC is an institution that also valued my personal traits and my extracurricular activities in high school such as Model United Nations and working at the Swiss Red Cross.’
If you could highlight one memory from your time at LUC, which one would that be?
‘The first two years I found incredibly challenging, but it all came together in my third year. I applied what I had learned and co-founded a startup in telemedicine, which leverages the widespread use of mobile phones to enhance access to healthcare. At the same time, I was writing my capstone on a telemedicine program in Ghana. The combination of my 3-years of academic learning, my internships, my Capstone, and the startup really motivated me. After graduating, I travelled across Africa to further develop the startup and launch a smartphone app that connects health seekers in Africa to doctors anywhere in the world.’
Leiden University College
Leiden University College (LUC), established by Leiden University in 2010, offers a unique, small-scale Liberal Arts & Sciences education with approximately 600 students enrolled and on-campus accommodation in The Hague. Classes are intimate, with an average of just 18 students per class. The dedicated staff, engaged in various research projects and scientific collaborations, enrich their teaching with diverse perspectives. Each year, LUC graduates secure places in top Master's programmes worldwide, and the College's 1,700 alumni have gone on to successful careers in various fields.
In February you were recognised as the AI Young Professional at the Women in AI Netherlands Awards for your work as the manager of BabyChecker. How does this work?
‘BabyChecker is Artificial Intelligence that analyses ultrasound scans to detect risky pregnancies. In resource-constrained settings around the world, two thirds of pregnant women do not have access to an ultrasound. Ultrasound is a helpful tool to detect pregnancy-related risks, but the problem is that they can be very expensive and require highly specialized training. Therefore, they are mostly found at hospitals in cities. Even as ultrasound machines have become more affordable and portable, highly specialized training is still required to use it. Such clinicians are typically very scarce in resource-constrained settings, which face the highest rate of pregnancy-related complications and deaths. Our innovation has been in developing AI, to enable the use of ultrasound in rural areas and help midwives or community health workers to screen pregnancies easily.'
'BabyChecker has been co-created with health workers across Africa from the beginning of our journey. An achievement for us that goes beyond deploying a novel technology, is to see midwifes, nurses and all types of primary healthcare workers feel empowered and better equipped to screen pregnancies.’
A lot of people are hesitant to use AI, but in your work you use it for the benefits of human healthcare. How do you watch out for the dark side of AI?
‘It's understandable that people have concerns about AI, especially when it comes to issues like privacy, bias, and job displacement. In our work, AI is not just a tool; it's a means to improve healthcare access for underserved rural communities. By making health screening more accessible and affordable, partially through AI, more timely diagnostics can be provided. We ensure that our AI systems are designed with ethical considerations at the forefront. This means rigorous testing for biases, ensuring that data is secure, and working closely with medical professionals to keep the human element in decision-making. AI, in our case, supports healthcare workers, where there are too few trained specialists and clinicians to even consider the common conversation about replacing anybody.’
How did your interest in digital health begin?
‘When my mandatory credits were done in my third year, I was able to enjoy more of what I’m interested in. I realised that I was really enjoying the global public health courses and started to understand how I could start to merge all the learnings from international development and political science. To me, public health truly became a global challenge I wanted to tackle. We are still not eradicating diseases like tuberculosis and malaria, which was so deeply troubling to me. From being in a tech savvy generation, it made me want to use technology to try to understand and tackle these challenges.’
Why would you recommend LUC to prospective students?
‘It is a unique programme because it gives you so much flexibility and agility to open your mind. The first greatest things to open your mind to is: there is so much we do not understand. I believe that once this notion lands with students, you can begin to navigate the educational content and real-life challenges with more integrity and a collaborative mindset. What LUC can also offer you is the urgency and excitement to contribute to the prosperity of the world, whether it is in your own community, country or in a global setting, everybody at LUC comes out with a strong sense of not just responsibility, but also ambition to take action.’
Text: Julia van der Elsen