Isabel Mestres, CEO of City Cancer Challenge (C/Can), shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t the goal. It’s the permission.
A few weeks ago, I completed the AI Strategy and Implementation course at IMD. My biggest takeaway: AI gives us the “permit” to stop spending our limited resources on repetitive, complicated tasks and focus on the complex problems that truly matter.
At City Cancer Challenge (C/Can), our lean team of 45+ supports more than 5,000 stakeholders across 16 cities. Our real constraint is not a lack of passion, but the administrative burden of global coordination, fragmented data, manual reporting, and disconnected systems that slow our ability to turn global strategy into local reality.
I think of AI as my new teammate. It helps carry the heavy lifting of data, allowing me to focus on what machines simply cannot do diplomacy, building trust, and navigating the unique nuances of local realities. AI can support and assist, but still cannot replace human judgment, accountability, or the ability to truly understand a health system or connect with a patient.
My dream with AI…. Imagine using data to help a city leader decide exactly where a limited investment will save the most lives. We aren’t just looking for better analytics; we are moving toward smart, prescriptive action, identifying exactly what we should do next, grounded in real-world evidence.
It won’t be smooth. It will be messy. Success isn’t about “more tech.” It’s about building a repeatable “Implementation Engine“: a foundation of strong data architecture (breaking down silos), multiple cycles of learning across our network, and a commitment to real-world delivery. Without that human-centered foundation, there is no real intelligence.
A huge thank you to IMD professors: Amit Joshi , Ala Sader, José Parra Moyano, Misiek Piskorski and all the classmates who enriched this experience! Highly recommended.”
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