Dr omar manejwala

The Abstract -

In this Dose Response conversation, Dr. Alex Condoleon sits down with Dr. Omar Manejwala to explore the mindset, technologies, and trust required to thrive in Healthcare’s Digital Dawn.

Framed through the metaphor of medicine labels, Omar describes his career as “indicated for solving complex problems” but carrying a black box warning: “May disrupt comfortable assumptions and legacy models of value.” It’s a fitting prelude to a conversation that pushes leaders beyond incrementalism toward bold, systemic change.

Omar highlights the technologies shaping the next decade — from agentic AI capable of replacing billion-dollar bottlenecks, to whole-body sensing that connects physiology and behavior, to smarter patient engagement. But he argues the true barrier isn’t technology — it’s trust. Without credibility among patients, clinicians, and payers, innovation stalls. His call to innovators: “Don’t just solve the problem — design trust into the solution from the start.”

For leaders, the message is equally direct: predictability is a risk. Business-as-usual habits are neurologically and culturally comfortable, but they trap organizations in arrogance disguised as certainty. Thriving in business-unusual requires leaders to become adaptive experimenters — placing small bets, rewarding learning, pruning failure fast, and showing up daily with a dose of boldness.

The provocation Omar leaves us with is as urgent as it is uncomfortable: “What part of my value today could be replaced by a kid in a basement with Gen AI — and what’s my sustained competitive advantage in a world where the tools of innovation are available to everyone?” 

The ManuTranscript

Alex Condoleon – Welcome to The Dose Response, part of the Dose of Innovation series — where bold thinking and AI-driven transformation are reshaping healthcare, one dose at a time.
If digital innovation were a medicine, we’d still be in Phase 1 trials — far from the maximum tolerated dose — but the therapeutic window is wide open.

Omar, we’ve known each other for some time and you’ve inspired me more than once. Let’s start with something fun: if your résumé were a medication label, what would it say under Indications and Usage?

Omar Manejwala –  I love that question. First, Alex, I’ll say if we were keeping score of who’s inspired who more, you’d win hands down.

But ok, here’s my label:
– Indicated for solving complex problems at the intersection of behavioral health, chronic disease, and technology.
– Used to scale adoption of tech-enabled care models while maintaining clinical integrity and measurable outcomes at the core.
– And a “special use”: innovating in value proposition design to drive adoption and scale. Because no matter how great the tech, if nobody buys it or uses it, it has no value.

Alex Condoleon – I love the “special use.” What about the black box warning that should accompany you?

Omar Manejwala – That one’s easy: “May disrupt comfortable assumptions and legacy models of value.”

Let me add a contraindications - incrementalism. I don’t do well in organizations that only want 1% tweaks instead of true transformation.

And one more: “High doses may trigger uncomfortable but necessary cultural change.” Because real innovation always shakes up the status quo. To that point, leaders should watch for defensive, innovation-killing bureaucracy.

Alex Condoleon – And that’s exactly why I call you a bold voice in healthcare.

Let’s set the stage. Are we witnessing the dawn of a new era in healthcare — one fundamentally reshaped by digital innovation and AI?

Omar Manejwala –  Yes. Absolutely.

Healthcare is different, sure. But in what industry, ever, has betting against tech innovation been smart?

What’s changing is leverage.

Today, a single coder in a basement with PyTorch, LangChain, and a GPU could build an agentic AI prototype to automate prior auth or documentation — tasks billion-dollar incumbents still struggle with.

That’s risk and opportunity, all wrapped together.

But here’s the caution: healthcare doesn’t reward first movers. Early entrants often fail because they come in with arrogance — “this is what you should buy” — instead of asking what stakeholders actually need.

Alex Condoleon – Such an interesting callout — that in healthcare, first-mover advantage isn’t always an “advantage”.

Omar Manejwala – Exactly.

It came before the iPod — and failed. What Apple got right was design, usability, and timing.

Healthcare works the same way. Often it’s the second or third mover that learns from early failures and finds traction.

Alex Condoleon – Let’s look forward. Over the next five to ten years, what emerging technologies do you think will be most transformative?

Omar Manejwala –  At the top of the list: agentic AI — AI that doesn’t just analyze but acts.

Already, we see components of workflows being swapped out: revenue cycles, care pathways, clinical summarization. Every company I know is piloting agentic AI somewhere in their value chain.

Next, continuous whole-body sensing — integrating biometrics and behavior. Not just glucose, not just sleep, not just HRV — but connecting the dots. Poor sleep + skipped workout + glucose spike? The nudge might be: “Take a 10-minute walk to improve your energy.”

We’ll also see smarter engagement — moving from “hammer harder” nudges to context-aware, personalized exchange that trigger behavior change.

And here’s a contrarian view: in the next one to two years, GLPs will have a bigger impact on healthcare than AI. Not because AI isn’t transformative, but because people haven’t figured out how to deploy it yet.

Long-term, AI will dominate but we have to learning curve ahead of us.

Alex Condoleon – Fascinating. And it goes to adoption. An MIT study recently reported that 95% of AI projects are failing at deployment.

Meanwhile, it took over a decade for e-prescribing to hit 90% adoption in the US, while ChatGPT hit 100 million users in just two months.

What do those digital vital signs say about healthcare?

Omar Manejwala – Healthcare is digitally bradycardic — slow, cautious, deliberate. For good reason: first, do no harm.

But society is moving at a tachycardic pace. That’s the tension.

The weakest link isn’t tech; it’s friction: workflows, misaligned incentives, antiquated processes.

Adoption in healthcare often works best when innovation behaves like a virus — infiltrating one bottleneck, proving value, then spreading. Whole-system rewires almost always fail.

Alex Condoleon – Which raises the question: how should strategy and leadership posture change in this environment?

Omar Manejwala – Leaders must become adaptive experimenters — placing small bets, rewarding learning, pruning failures fast. Failure shouldn’t be punished; it should be expected and leveraged.

Big organizations often punish failure — which locks them into predictability. And right now? We need to embrace the unexpected and lift our ambition of what is possible.

Organizations that cling to predictability are at risk of being left behind.

Alex Condoleon – And for innovators? What’s the biggest challenge they’re facing right now?

Omar Manejwala – Trust.

We can build the most extraordinary solutions in the world, but if patients, clinicians, or payers don’t trust them — they fail. Early over-promises in digital health poisoned the well.

The new mandate for innovators is this: don’t just solve the problem — design trust into the solution from the start. That means data transparency, third-party validation, partnerships with trusted players.

Alex Condoleon – Part of what you are describing is the shift from business-as-usual to business unusual. So why is business as usual so tempting to cling to?

Omar Manejwala – Because habits are powerful — neurologically, culturally, emotionally. Our brains crave homeostasis.

The opposite of learning isn’t ignorance; it’s arrogance. And arrogance masquerades as certainty.

Breaking business-as-usual mindsets is emotionally exhausting. Few leaders can do it. That’s why you need to find and hire those rare individuals who thrive in reinvention — who can question assumptions, dream past roadblocks, and have the stamina for business unusual.

Alex Condoleon –  Which sounds like showing up every day with a daily dose of boldness.

Omar Manejwala – Exactly. Without it, we wouldn’t have antibiotics, vaccines, or digital health itself.

Boldness is the only way progress ever happens.

Alex Condoleon – One final question. What should healthcare leaders be asking themselves right now?

Omar Manejwala – Simple: “What part of the value I deliver today could be replaced by that kid in the basement with Gen AI?”

And more importantly: “What’s my sustained competitive advantage in a world where the tools of innovation are available to everyone?”

Alex Condoleon – That’s both exciting and unsettling — and exactly why I launched this series.

Omar, thank you. Your insights, your leadership, and your therapeutic adherence to innovation are what this moment is all about.

Omar Manejwala – Always a pleasure, Alex. Let’s do it again soon.