Practo Appoints Cijo George as Vice President of AI to Lead Global Healthcare Intelligence Strategy

Bengaluru, March 3, 2026 — Digital healthcare platform Practo has appointed Cijo George as Vice President of Artificial Intelligence, marking a strategic move as the company accelerates the integration of advanced AI capabilities across its global healthcare ecosystem.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company said George will spearhead Practo’s AI charter, guiding how artificial intelligence is deployed across its platform to improve patient care navigation, provider tools, and system-wide healthcare intelligence. His appointment comes at a time when Practo is expanding its footprint beyond India into international markets such as the United Arab Emirates and the United States, while simultaneously scaling its technology infrastructure to support millions of healthcare interactions.

George will report directly to Shashank ND, Co-founder and CEO of Practo, and will collaborate closely with the company’s product, engineering, and clinical teams to embed AI more deeply into both patient and provider experiences.

Strengthening AI in Digital Healthcare

Practo’s leadership views artificial intelligence as a critical pillar in the next phase of digital healthcare evolution. Over the past 17 years, the company has built a large repository of structured healthcare data spanning patients, doctors, clinics, and treatment outcomes.

According to CEO Shashank ND, AI now offers the potential to unlock deeper insights from this data and improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery.

“Over the last 17 years, we have been building deep healthcare intelligence across patients, doctors, clinics, and outcomes,” ND said. “AI enables us to unlock the full potential of this data, helping patients achieve better health outcomes while equipping doctors with actionable insights that can meaningfully enhance care delivery.”

ND added that George’s extensive experience in building real-world AI platforms will help accelerate Practo’s long-term vision of data-driven, outcome-focused healthcare systems.

Role and Strategic Mandate

As Vice President of AI, George will focus on several core initiatives:

• Integrating AI into patient care navigation, helping users discover the right doctors and treatments faster.
• Enhancing clinical decision-support tools for healthcare providers.
• Building scalable AI-driven healthcare intelligence systems across Practo’s global platform.
• Improving operational efficiency and reliability of digital healthcare services.

The goal is to create a platform where AI supports both patients and providers through improved diagnostics, personalized care pathways, and data-driven healthcare management.

Two Decades of AI and Machine Learning Expertise

George brings nearly 20 years of experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and platform engineering. Before joining Practo, he served in senior leadership roles at Observe.AI, where he worked at the intersection of AI platforms, product engineering, and enterprise-scale deployment.

His work at Observe.AI involved building production-grade AI systems used by large global enterprises, helping organizations automate workflows and derive insights from large datasets.

Earlier in his career, George led platform and AI initiatives at Belong.co, focusing on search algorithms and personalization within HR technology platforms. He also spent time at NetApp as part of its Advanced Technology Group under the CTO office, where he worked on machine learning models designed for large-scale distributed systems.

George holds a Master’s degree in High Performance Computing from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, a qualification that has shaped his expertise in building scalable computational platforms.

AI for Patient Outcomes

Speaking about his new role, George highlighted the transformative potential of AI in healthcare, particularly in improving patient experiences and clinical outcomes.

“What drew me to Practo is the opportunity to apply AI in ways that directly improve how patients experience care and how doctors deliver it,” George said.

He noted that Practo operates at an unmatched scale in digital healthcare, supported by a deep and longitudinal dataset spanning patients, healthcare providers, and treatment outcomes.

“This combination, along with Practo’s position as a neutral platform across the healthcare ecosystem, creates a powerful foundation for building AI systems capable of improving health outcomes at scale,” he added.

Practo’s Global Expansion Strategy

Founded in Bengaluru, Practo has evolved from a doctor discovery platform into a comprehensive digital healthcare infrastructure provider. Its platform enables patients to search for doctors, book appointments, access teleconsultations, and complete healthcare journeys across multiple specialties.

Today, Practo’s consumer ecosystem connects millions of patients with more than 700,000 doctors and healthcare providers across 2,400+ cities worldwide.

In addition to its consumer platform, the company operates Insta, a full-stack hospital information management system used by over 500 clients across more than 1,200 healthcare facilities globally. The system helps hospitals and clinics streamline clinical workflows, improve operational efficiency, and support better patient care.

The company has been steadily expanding beyond India, establishing a presence in the Middle East and the United States, where digital healthcare adoption is accelerating rapidly.

Building the Future Healthcare Platform

The appointment of George reflects Practo’s broader strategy of strengthening leadership capabilities across technology, AI innovation, and global platform development.

Industry analysts say that AI will play a crucial role in healthcare over the coming decade, helping address challenges such as physician shortages, rising healthcare costs, and fragmented patient data systems.

For Practo, leveraging AI could mean improving several key aspects of healthcare delivery, including:

• Personalized treatment recommendations
• Predictive healthcare insights
• Improved diagnostic support
• Efficient hospital and clinic operations

With a strong data foundation built over nearly two decades, Practo is positioning itself as a global healthcare infrastructure platform designed around trust, accessibility, and measurable outcomes.

By bringing in experienced AI leadership, the company aims to transform the vast datasets within its ecosystem into actionable intelligence that benefits patients, doctors, hospitals, and healthcare systems worldwide.

As the global healthcare industry continues to digitize, Practo’s investment in artificial intelligence signals its ambition to move beyond healthcare discovery into a full-stack, AI-driven healthcare platform shaping the future of medical services worldwide.