5 Q’s with Cynthia Orofo, CEO of Culture Care Collective – Center for Data Innovation
The Center for Data Innovation recently interviewed Dr. Cynthia Orofo, CEO of Culture Care Collective, a company that specializes in AI-powered tools to connect individuals with health and social services. Dr. Orofo discussed how integrating technology into community care helps bridge healthcare gaps, enhancing efficiency and reducing costs for underserved populations.
David Kertai: What inspired you to create Culture Care Collective?
Cynthia Orofo: Early in my career, I worked on a mobile health van, providing care to individuals with unmet social needs. Later, in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), I saw how social factors like food, housing, and childcare directly affected health outcomes. These experiences led me to pursue a PhD focused on the connection between social determinants and health outcomes, ultimately shaping the mission of Culture Care Collective: to bridge care gaps and address unmet social needs through a whole-health approach. We integrate clinical care with social wellness, supported by AI-powered tools.
Kertai: How does your AI platform connect people with health and social resources?
Orofo: Our platform uses AI to help connect people with the right health and social resources at the right time. It achieves this by analyzing both clinical data and contextual factors, including locational elements like housing and food access, as well as health-related indicators such as chronic conditions, to generate personalized recommendations that address the full scope of each client’s well-being. For example, it can identify individuals at risk of medical complications and recommend local assistance programs, or identify early warning signs of mental health concerns and suggest relevant support services. Additionally, our platform supports community health workers and caregivers by providing real-time guidance, such as appointment reminders and resource connections. By equipping frontline workers with the right tools, we help them build relationships with clients and address health issues at hand. Ultimately, we empower medical professionals to deliver more personalized, culturally responsive, and equitable care.
Kertai: How does AI help people save on medical expenses?
Orofo: AI can help lower medical costs by improving healthcare and social service efficiency. By predicting client needs before they escalate, our platform enables early intervention, reducing hospital visits and costly emergency care. For instance, it can help Medicaid patients by refining risk models to better account for social factors that affect health, ensuring that care programs are more responsive to individual needs. By incorporating these insights, healthcare providers can allocate resources more effectively, leading to better outcomes and costs.
The system continuously tracks client data, adapting to their evolving needs and helping caregivers make informed decisions. By delivering timely, appropriate care, AI can minimize unnecessary medical expenses, enhance preventive care, and ensure efficient resource allocation. Additionally, by integrating health and social data, our platform reduces service fragmentation, providing clients with seamless, comprehensive support.
Kertai: What challenges have you faced in integrating AI with healthcare?
Orofo: Initially, many clients and caregivers were skeptical about AI’s role in healthcare. People with unmet social needs were understandably cautious about new technology, so building trust was essential. We addressed this by having community health workers explain AI’s function as an enhancement, not a replacement, for human care. Their involvement reassured clients, making them more comfortable with the system.
Another challenge was ensuring AI-generated recommendations aligned with the complexities of human care. While AI provides valuable guidance, it cannot replace caregiver expertise. To address this, we designed the system to support human decision-making, offering data-driven insights while allowing caregivers to personalize care. Our AI tools continuously refine recommendations in real time, ensuring they remain relevant and actionable while keeping human oversight at the center of decision-making.
Kertai: Can you share examples of your platform’s impact?
Orofo: One impactful case involved an international student struggling to navigate the U.S. healthcare system due to language barriers. Our platform connected the student with a community health worker who guided them to essential health and social resources. The AI system identified key wellness needs, such as affordable housing and mental health support, and provided tailored recommendations. As a result, the student received the necessary support, successfully completed our mental health counseling program, and later expressed interest in helping other international students facing similar challenges.
Public institutions can use our AI solutions to analyze large datasets from healthcare providers and social service organizations, identifying patterns in health inequities and underserved populations. By providing real-time insights into the impact of social determinants on health outcomes, our platform could help allocate resources more effectively and improve healthcare delivery. These AI-driven insights would enable government programs to become more responsive and equitable, addressing the diverse needs of communities in a timely, data-informed manner.
