Dr. Emily Chen

As a third-year family medicine resident, Dr. Emily Chen is already thinking about her future and how she can support primary care physicians in their daily practice.  

At the beginning of her residency, Dr. Chen’s mentors modelled the unique value family physicians provide their patients, including treating the whole person, providing lifelong care and building relationships. It was during this time that she realized that this was the type of doctor she aspired to be.  

“Being able to grow that physician-patient relationship is so special. It’s so rewarding to see how that relationship presents itself and grows over time.”

Throughout her clinical rotations she also was witness to the amount of administrative duties family doctors are responsible for, and the significant time tasks such as sending referrals, writing sick notes and reviewing lab results takes away from time intended for developing her practical skills and learning from her mentors.  

“I was surprised by how the administrative tasks impede our ability to learn at a stage where we should be sponges and learning about approaches to care and keeping up with clinical guidelines.” 

To help alleviate some of the burden placed on primary care providers, Dr. Chen, and a group of three medical learners co-founded Hippo AI. Powered by generative artificial intelligence and large language models, Hippo AI is a decision-support tool, which within seconds provides doctors with concise clinical guidance from up-to-date Canadian care standards and reputable international organizations. 

Dr. Chen is hoping that this tool will help improve physician’s productivity, so that that they can spend more time providing care and continue to build relationships with their patients.