Dr Simon Kos

What was your first job?

Both my parents possessed backgrounds as medicos, so medicine was a no-brainer for me. My first job as a JMO was rotating around critical care disciplines at the Hornsby hospital. This is where I saw heaps of mistakes and near misses happen and decided to give into digital health to revolutionise the systems causing these errors. My very first job though was a pizza delivery driver when I was a poor uni student!

What are your current roles? What made you decide to pursue these?

I am the Chief Medical Officer for Microsoft ANZ. I am involved in mentorship for the Clinician Incubator Clinician Accelerator program and advisory work for several companies globally. I am also a board director at Innowell and casual lecturer for the Healthcare Leadership programme at UNSW. 

My JMO years enticed me to become involved in digital health. I spent 8 years at electronic medical record companies initially because I thought putting in place clinical systems would improve patient safety. Following this, I realised I wanted to revolutionise healthcare through clinical communication and collaborative use of data for measurement, research and analytics. Microsoft Technology was the at the forefront of this, so I joined them. 

How would you describe what you do now?

My role as Chief Medical Officer for Microsoft ANZ overlaps into three key areas. I act as both as a resource internally to the Microsoft health team for those who do not have health backgrounds and external resource to partners that build on top of the Microsoft platform. In addition, I am a subject matter expert for Microsoft and attend events to share my expertise with executives in the field. 

How would someone interested in your field get started or find more information?

Any doctor who wants to get into health tech doesn’t need to learn to cut code. 

One of the easiest ways, early-stage clinicians can get involved in health tech is by introducing themselves to the team driving the digital change or the IT group at their hospital or health service and expressing interest in taking on digital health opportunities. For later stage clinicians, becoming involved in advisory or board work is a great way to dip your toes into the world of health tech and share your wealth of experience with various startups and organisations. 

Conferences are a great place to learn and network. The Australian Healthcare is a great free event clinicians can attend to learn more about this space. There are also fantastic podcasts out there, such as the CCIM and Talking HealthTech podcast. For those who prefer a more formal education pathway, I would recommend the Australian Institute of Digital Health 101 course. 

What was one really good piece of advice someone has told you?

To succeed in a career in digital health learning about business and technology fundamentals is critical. 

You might be creating net good for the world and learning about yourself, however, don’t forget your family or neglect those younger family years, they are precious! 

Was there a turning point in your career where you decided to pursue your chosen field over traditional medicine? What was it?

The decision was actually made for me when I landed my first job as a product specialist at electronic medical record company TrakCare (now Intersystems). I requested time to maintain clinical shifts and there was an awkward moment when I was questioned about my commitment to the job being offered. Turns out hiring someone who also wanted to keep another job wasn’t an option. I did feel that I could always return to clinical medicine if I didn’t like the work after the first year, but within 6 months I knew it was a good fit and I wouldn’t be going back.

What hobbies/interests do you have outside of work?

I stay sane by computer gaming. I used to be a closet gamer because I didn’t think it was appropriate for an adult to be playing computer games, but I have been a gamer ever since my teens, and these days I’m still passionate about all of the gaming that I do, and that’s from independent platform gamers like Stardew Valley and Dave the Diver all way up to first person shooters and role-playing games. I love all the genres.

How do you manage work/life balance? 

I am fortunate that I work at a company that treats employees very humanely, I do most of my work virtually which allows me to be home with my family, whilst still working. I really value family time and make time for this when not working. When I can, I try to get down to the beach for an outdoor stroll for 10 minutes to connect with nature.