A third of a GP’s working week goes to admin, and 42% of UK GPs say they want to leave the profession within five years. Dr. Hannah Allen left clinical practice to fix that, and now leads clinical strategy at Heidi, an AI scribe used by clinicians in over 110 countries.
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Dr. Hannah Allen, Chief Medical Officer at Heidi, about what happens when you take the keyboard out of the exam room.
Hannah trained as a doctor focused on women’s health before moving into health tech. She’s still a practicing GP, running a women’s health clinic while leading the clinical function at Heidi. She explains why she believes technology’s real job in medicine isn’t replacing clinical judgment; it’s giving doctors their attention back.
This episode is for founders building in health tech or other regulated industries, for clinicians curious about how AI actually fits into their day, and for anyone who wants to understand where women’s health data is still missing from medicine.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
* Why a third of a GP’s week goes to admin, and how that connects to the 42% of UK GPs who say they want to leave the profession within five years
* Why over 90% of patients feel more listened to when their doctor uses an AI scribe like Heidi
* Why building healthcare AI requires regional, linguistic, and cultural adaptation from day one, not as an afterthought
* Why up to 75 to 80% of clinicians already use some form of AI, even as most say they’re skeptical of it
* Why how a woman’s body behaves during pregnancy can predict her health decades later, and why that data mostly goes uncaptured
* Why female founders get “preventer” questions from VCs while male founders get “promoter” questions, and what Hannah does to counter that
* Why Hannah tells founders to obsess over the problem, not the product
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
04:35 Introduction to Dr. Hannah Allen
07:32 Transitioning from Medicine to Tech
10:31 The Role of Technology in Healthcare
13:43 Global Healthcare Challenges
17:15 Predicting Women’s Health Issues
21:20 AI in Healthcare: Opportunities and Concerns
25:18 Heidi: Revolutionizing Clinical Workflows
27:14 The Rise of Heidi: Word of Mouth Success
28:50 Measuring Impact: Time Savings and Burnout Reduction
30:01 Expanding Horizons: Beyond Documentation
32:03 The Role of AI in Clinical Practice
35:18 Transforming Patient Interactions with AI
39:01 Patient Feedback and Trust in AI
43:50 The Human Element in Healthcare
45:04 Future Vision: A Seamless Healthcare Experience
47:18 Advice for Founders: Building for Real Problems
50:44 Closing Thoughts and Resources
More about the episode
Show Notes: https://womendisruptingtech.blog/2026/08/20/episode-166/
Substack: https://womendisruptingtech.blog/2026/08/20/episode-166/
Connect with Dr. Hannah Allen and Heidi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-hannah-a-a27ba650/
Heidi website: https://www.heidihealth.com/en-ie
Heidi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heidi/
More about the TEDx Coolhaven Women event on 9 October in Rotterdam
More about the event: https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/68333
Buy your tickets at: https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/tedx-coolhaven-women-the-new-builders-tickets-1992166654090?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true
Use code WDT25 for an exclusive 25% discount.
Connect with host Dirkjan Hupkes
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirkjan-hupkes/
FundingCoach.ai: https://fundingcoach.ai
Substack: https://womendisruptingtech.substack.com/
About Women Disrupting Tech
Every week, Women Disrupting Tech covers the decisions, patterns, and structural realities that female founders and investors rarely discuss in public but run into every time they meet. Follow to get it in your feed.
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