40 Under 40 - 2024

At Microsoft, Mandy Mason works with some of the world's largest healthcare companies to help them with technology transformation.

“Every project is different because people have different needs but they're also similar [because] healthcare is 20 years behind any other industry as far as technology is concerned,” Mason said.

Not surprisingly, a lot of her conversations last year centered around generative artificial intelligence, Mason said. Microsoft has made a reported $10 billion investment in generative AI developer OpenAI and embedded that technology into its products, including those aimed at the healthcare industry.

Mason has used AI to develop a staffing tool to help hospitals understand how potential regulatory and demographic changes will affect operations and finances, she said.

Mason, who previously served as executive director of workforce innovation at Renton, Washington-based health system Providence, said her background helps form a bridge between technologists at Microsoft and its healthcare customers. She joined Microsoft in June 2022 because she wanted to help Big Tech companies understand how healthcare works.

Mason is also a board member of Springboard Enterprises, a global network of entrepreneurs, investors and advisers working to accelerate the success of women founders in technology and life sciences. She is driven to help increase the number of women and diverse leaders in healthcare.

“If you don't have representatives of the patients that you're caring for within your leadership, you're not going to be able to provide the highest level of care,” Mason said.

—Gabriel Perna