In 2017, Thomas Kelly graduated from medical school and finally became a doctor — a career he had dreamt about as a kid and spent years working towards. But once he started practicing, Kelly realized that the job was different from what he’d imagined.
“My time as a doctor [was] very constrained. I only get 10 minutes for the patient,” he told CNBC Make It. “I was finding I had, you know, 100 patients to see in a day, and [was] always in a rush and always coordinating 700 tests and a million tasks.”
“In a perfect world ... I would spend as much time with [patients] as they need ... I would understand their family, I would remember them deeply, and then I would check in on them regularly,” he said. However, the reality is that, like many other clinicians, he faced “incredible burnout” working in the field.
Inspired to tackle this problem, Kelly created an AI tool that helps transcribe medical visits, generates clinical notes and more, with the goal of lessening the load on doctors and clinicians.
Now, the 33-year-old is the co-founder and CEO of Heidi, an AI medical scribe. The company announced its $65 million Series B round in October, valuing the company at $465 million.
