Driving AI With Intention in Academic Healthcare with Maria Sexton of UT Medical

Maria Sexton, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of UT Medical, joins David Wright to explore leadership, AI adoption and the evolving role of IT in healthcare. Maria shares her journey from help desk to CIO. She talks about the importance of simplifying both life and leadership and examines why technology is easy, but people leadership is hard. She also unveils why AI holds a unique promise in healthcare and how to avoid “AI for AI’s sake.” Arguing that IT must be fully embedded in the business rather than operating on the sidelines. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Introduction. 03:00 UT Medical operates with dual missions: patient care and academic training. 04:00 “It’s not IT and the business. It’s only the business.” 07:00 Early career lessons in leadership and recognizing strengths shape long-term growth. 12:00 Simplification and removing clutter create clarity in leadership. 16:00 Vulnerability and learning from leadership mistakes build trust. 18:00 Technology is easy; leading people is the hard part. 36:00 AI holds enormous promise in healthcare because minutes matter in patient outcomes. 37:00 IT must reclaim its strategic role and prevent decentralized shadow IT. 50:00 AI initiatives must have clear use cases and measurable outcomes. Resources Mentioned: Maria Sexton https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariasexton/ UT Medical | LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/ut-medical/ UT Medical | Website https://www.utmedicalcenter.org “Dare to Lead" by Brené Brown https://www.amazon.com/Dare-Lead-Brave-Conversations-Hearts/dp/1785042149 Historical Works by Alison Weir https://alisonweir.org.uk/books/ Thanks for listening to the “Disruptive Innovators” podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business. #DisruptiveInnovation #Innovation #DisruptiveTech