Interview Highlights
Dr YuJia Gao, Assistant Group Chief Technology Officer at the National University Health System (NUHS) and Consultant Surgeon at the National University Hospital (NUH), joined the Smart Hospitals panel at Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG) 2025 to discuss how AI and digital health enhance—not replace—the human touch in care. As he puts it, “the key is a human-centric care model—keeping in mind the people and population we serve.”
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The Convergence of Healthcare, AI, and Human-Centred Design
This conversation centred on healthcare AI transformation guided by human-centred design. In practice, it means pairing high-quality clinical data, safe model development, and change management so tools fit real workflows. As Dr Gao notes, “AI in healthcare isn’t a single entity—it’s a spectrum of solutions, services, challenges, and problems,” spanning decision support in high-stakes domains and RPA for operational gains that return time to clinicians.
For a broader view of AI’s business impact, read Maximising Profits Using AI: Strategic Insights for Growth and Efficiency
Evolution of Healthcare Through Technology
Care delivery now extends beyond hospital walls. 5G/6G and IoT enable device-rich smart hospitals, continuous data flows, and community-based monitoring. Within NUHS, mixed reality (MR) and digital-twin initiatives—such as 3D holographic imaging and real-time computer-vision guidance—illustrate healthcare technology implementation that supports education, simulation, and peri-operative planning, forming key pillars of NUHS digital transformation. As these tools mature, healthcare technology scaling depends on robust data integration, cybersecurity, and clinician adoption.
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Challenges in Scaling Healthcare Innovation
Singapore’s tightly coordinated system can pilot quickly, but a smaller population limits data volume for model training and validation. Moving from POCs to clinical practice requires evidence of outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and workflow fit. According to Dr Gao, the solutions that stick are “co-created with clinicians, sized to the ecosystem, and measured on outcomes, safety, and workflow fit”—the practical path for digital health innovation in Singapore from trials to everyday use.
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About Dr YuJia Gao
Dr Gao Yujia is a Consultant Surgeon in Liver, Pancreas, and Liver Transplant Surgery at NUH and Assistant Group Chief Technology Officer at NUHS. He leads immersive/mixed-reality (MR) initiatives—bringing 3D holographic imaging, real-time computer-vision analysis, and multi-source data integration to the point of care—alongside integration of 5G and secure high-speed hospital data networks. He is Vice-Chairman of the international Holomedicine Association and advocates for responsible AI that scales from pilots to practice.
About Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG)
ATxSG 2025 unites industry leaders to explore emerging technologies and digital transformation across sectors. Dr Gao contributed to the Smart Hospitals conversation with perspectives on AI in patient care, smart hospitals technology, healthcare technology implementation, and healthcare AI transformation.
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Full Interview Transcript
Highlights from the Smart Hospitals panel
Q: You’ve just come off a panel discussion around smart hospitals and integrating technology for better care. What are some of the main highlights?
Dr Gao: “One of the biggest highlights was the common theme of a human-centric future… All three panellists agreed on the need for a human-centric care model—keeping in mind the people we serve, the population we serve, and the purpose of the ecosystem. A second highlight was the vastness of AI in healthcare… Thinking across the full spectrum—from implementation and adoption to development and scaling, and making sure the right people and resources are involved—was a key theme.”
Experience at ATxSG 2025
Q: How has your experience been at Asia Tech x Singapore?
Dr Gao: “It's been great. It's actually my third year coming back, and every year I think it's a new experience for me, seeing the new technologies, engaging with the vendors, listening for the speakers, the keynotes, and the panels. I think every year the theme sort of changes a little bit. It is not just a rehash of the previous conference, but it's essentially bringing new life and new light into what's out there in the technology world, not just in healthcare, but across industry. as well and I think you know each time I come I learn a lot more not just about the tech itself but also you know interacting with the other industries and how they are looking at technology transformation.”
Singapore tech landscape: from trials to scale
Q: What specific challenges or opportunities in the Singapore tech landscape do you find most interesting?
Dr Gao: “I think in Singapore one of the perhaps challenges that we face is how do we move from trials and proof of concepts into implementation and scale because I think one of the issues that we have is the small population right and the limited resources when it comes to patient data. So we are very very you know quick and it's easy for us to implement small scale studies trials POCs but when we want to implement it into actual clinical practice and actual clinical care you know specifically in a healthcare region or healthcare area sometimes we find it may be a patient base to implement this at scale, or to implement it at a cost-effective level or we just don't have the need to implement some of these things as a day-to-day practice. So I think being able to translate some of the you know projects that we do from just trials and POCs into actual clinical practice adoption, looking at a small population, looking at the ecosystem, the disease burden here within Singapore and how that affects you know the adoption. I think that's one of the key areas for for Singapore. .”
Three words for ATxEnterprise
Q: If you could describe ATxEnterprise in three words, what would they be?
Dr Gao: “Innovation, future, possibilities.”