Full Name
Sema Sgaier
Job Title
Co-founder & CEO
Company
Surgo Health
Speaker Bio
Dr. Sema Sgaier is the CEO and Co-Founder of Surgo Health, a Public Benefit Corporation using AI to decode the “why” behind health behaviors. Surgo’s platform reveals the hidden drivers of health decisions, powering smarter, more human-centered care.
Too many decisions in healthcare are made without a full understanding of individuals and the barriers they face in engaging with their health. These barriers—whether related to participating in clinical trials, accessing preventive services, or adhering to treatment—are often non-clinical, yet remain largely overlooked. The result: missed opportunities and inefficiencies across the system. At Surgo Health, we decode these factors by generating novel real-world data that doesn’t exist today—capturing the beliefs, motivations, and behavioral drivers behind health decisions. Our AI-powered data tools equip healthcare stakeholders—from life sciences companies to public sector leaders, payers, and providers—with the intelligence they need to design smarter strategies, policies, and interventions that improve outcomes for every person, in every place.
With over 20 years in healthcare, Dr. Sgaier is a serial entrepreneur. She co-founded and led Surgo Foundation and Surgo Ventures, building analytic tools to address complex health challenges. Previously, she served as Initiative Lead at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she helped scale global health programs around the world, by integrating data, behavioral insights, and product innovation.
She has held academic appointments at Harvard University and the University of Washington, authored over 60 publications, and contributed op-eds to The New York Times and other leading outlets.
Dr. Sgaier earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from NYU, an M.A. from Brown, a B.S. from Boğaziçi University, and completed a genomics fellowship at Harvard.
Too many decisions in healthcare are made without a full understanding of individuals and the barriers they face in engaging with their health. These barriers—whether related to participating in clinical trials, accessing preventive services, or adhering to treatment—are often non-clinical, yet remain largely overlooked. The result: missed opportunities and inefficiencies across the system. At Surgo Health, we decode these factors by generating novel real-world data that doesn’t exist today—capturing the beliefs, motivations, and behavioral drivers behind health decisions. Our AI-powered data tools equip healthcare stakeholders—from life sciences companies to public sector leaders, payers, and providers—with the intelligence they need to design smarter strategies, policies, and interventions that improve outcomes for every person, in every place.
With over 20 years in healthcare, Dr. Sgaier is a serial entrepreneur. She co-founded and led Surgo Foundation and Surgo Ventures, building analytic tools to address complex health challenges. Previously, she served as Initiative Lead at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she helped scale global health programs around the world, by integrating data, behavioral insights, and product innovation.
She has held academic appointments at Harvard University and the University of Washington, authored over 60 publications, and contributed op-eds to The New York Times and other leading outlets.
Dr. Sgaier earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from NYU, an M.A. from Brown, a B.S. from Boğaziçi University, and completed a genomics fellowship at Harvard.
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