“Innovation in healthcare is not just about advancing technology; it’s about ensuring that these advancements improve lives and bridge the gaps in access to care.” – Sourabh Pagaria, EVP & Managing Director, Siemens Healthineers.
As a visionary leader in the healthcare industry, Sourabh brings over two decades of expertise in transforming patient care through cutting-edge technology. As the Executive Vice President and Managing Director at Siemens Healthineers, he leads a diverse team across Southern Europe, championing the adoption of advanced medical technology and AI in Healthcare.
With a deep commitment to bridging healthcare inequalities, Sourabh’s leadership is focused on making advanced technologies accessible to all, driving innovation that is both impactful and inclusive. Under his guidance, Siemens Healthineers has been at the forefront of innovations that are revolutionizing diagnostic imaging, personalized medicine, and care delivery across the region.
Growing up in India and living in six different countries has shaped Sourabh’s unique perspective on healthcare. His personal experiences have driven his mission to ensure that quality healthcare is accessible to everyone, regardless of geographic or socio-economic barriers. As a technologist, he is particularly passionate about harnessing AI and precision medicine to solve large-scale healthcare challenges. For him, technology is not merely about advancing capabilities but about improving outcomes and making a lasting impact on patients’ lives.
Sourabh is also a strong advocate for the integration of sustainability in healthcare. Believing that transformation in the healthcare sector should go hand in hand with environmental responsibility, he has championed initiatives that combine health innovation with energy-efficient solutions. From championing adoption of helium-free MRI technology to AI-enhanced workflows that optimize care delivery, his leadership is focused on driving a healthcare revolution that benefits both communities and the planet. Through his work, he is setting the stage for a future where healthcare is not only more effective but also more accessible, equitable, and sustainable.
Let’s uncover his incredible journey!
Quest for Inclusive Healthcare
Growing up in India and living in six different countries shaped Sourabh’s understanding of the critical role healthcare plays in shaping the future of individuals, families, and communities. These experiences highlighted persistent inequalities in the healthcare system, inspiring his commitment to bridging these gaps.
As a technologist, he is driven by the transformative potential of innovation to address large-scale challenges like healthcare access. He firmly believes that technology can expand access and bring life-saving solutions to underserved populations in ways previously unimaginable. A prime example of this is Siemens Healthineers’ AI-enabled software for lung and breast cancer detection, which delivers high-quality screening even to remote regions.
Despite significant advancements, Sourabh acknowledges that billions worldwide still lack access to quality healthcare. He sees this as both a challenge and an opportunity, aiming to combine technological advancements with human-centered approaches to build a healthcare system that is inclusive, equitable, and sustainable—a system where everyone has a fair chance at a healthy life.
Role at Siemens Healthineers
Sourabh leads a talented and diverse team of 1,500 Healthineers across Southern Europe, including Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal. Under his leadership, the team is dedicated to transforming healthcare delivery and ensuring that high-quality healthcare is accessible to all, regardless of geography or resources.
He focuses on building strategic partnerships with governments, public and private healthcare providers, and industry stakeholders to drive innovations that enhance healthcare access and patient outcomes. One notable example is the collaboration with leading stroke care hospitals in Southern Europe, where technology-supported care pathways for stroke treatment have reduced treatment times by 50%, significantly improving patient outcomes.
He emphasizes the importance of balancing innovation with human impact, highlighting that advancing technology must serve its ultimate purpose: improving lives and addressing healthcare inequities. A key priority for Sourabh is making Siemens Healthineers’ advanced technologies accessible to all healthcare institutions, from urban centers to rural areas.
Sustainability is a cornerstone of his leadership. He believes healthcare transformation must align with environmental stewardship. This principle is reflected in the integration of energy-efficient technologies into Siemens Healthineers’ products, such as helium-free MRI technology, ensuring that innovations benefit both community health and the planet.
His vision is to create a long-term impact by driving advancements in healthcare that are innovative, inclusive, sustainable, and scalable for future generations.
Exciting Innovations Happening in Healthcare Today
Transformative technologies like AI and precision medicine are revolutionizing patient care. At Siemens Healthineers, these advancements are being leveraged to address some of the most critical challenges in the healthcare industry.
Sourabh points to innovations such as Photon Counting CT, a groundbreaking development in diagnostic imaging that enables more precise and non-invasive detection of conditions like coronary artery disease. Similarly, advancements in theranostics—integrating diagnostics with targeted therapy—are bringing the vision of personalized medicine closer to reality. By tailoring treatments to patients’ molecular profiles, theranostics offers renewed hope for those with complex conditions like cancer, improving outcomes while minimizing side effects.
AI is another cornerstone of these advancements, enhancing workflows and optimizing care pathways, particularly in acute stroke care. Beyond clinical applications, AI automates repetitive administrative and imaging tasks such as documentation and scheduling, reducing clinician workloads, minimizing errors, and creating more time for patient care. This not only improves efficiency but also fosters a more compassionate, patient-centered healthcare environment.
Sourabh believes that Siemens Healthineers is truly shaping a future where technology enhances care delivery, addressing both medical and operational challenges while prioritizing the well-being of patients and caregivers.
Challenges in Implementing New Technologies
He emphasizes on the dual nature of introducing new technologies into healthcare systems—an exciting opportunity coupled with significant challenges.
He identifies interoperability as a key hurdle, stressing the need for advanced solutions, such as AI-powered tools and imaging innovations, to integrate seamlessly with existing workflows and infrastructure. Without such integration, the transformative potential of these technologies remains unrealized.
Sourabh also highlights the challenge of scaling innovations to reach beyond urban hospitals to rural and underserved areas. By engaging healthcare providers, policymakers, and technology partners, solutions can be developed that are not only innovative but also practical and scalable.
Equally critical, he notes, is addressing the change management aspect of technology adoption. New tools often require healthcare professionals to adjust workflows, acquire new skills, and build trust in systems like AI. Recognizing the natural resistance to change in high-stakes environments, he advocates for robust education, training, and communication strategies to help clinicians and administrators understand the value and safety of these innovations.
He underscores the importance of ensuring data privacy and security. As healthcare increasingly relies on patient data for precision medicine and AI-driven tools, maintaining trust through strong cybersecurity measures becomes essential.
For Sourabh, these challenges underscore a broader perspective: innovation is not just about creating new technologies but about empowering people to adopt and scale them sustainably and impactfully, benefiting the communities they serve.
Fostering a Culture of Innovation
Siemens Healthineers, fostering a culture of innovation is deeply embedded in its core values: Listen First, Win Together, and Step Boldly. These principles serve as the foundation for how the organization operates and approaches challenges and opportunities in healthcare.
Sourabh emphasizes that listening first is critical—not only within teams but also to clinicians and patients. By understanding their unmet needs and pain points, Siemens Healthineers ensures its solutions make a meaningful impact. For instance, a radiologist seeking faster, more accurate diagnostic tools or a patient looking for accessible, personalized care inspires the company’s innovation process. The AI Hub solution is a prime example, developed to meet the need for an integrated AI system that seamlessly fits into radiologists’ workflows.
He also underscores the importance of winning together by fostering collaboration across customers, regulators, internal functions, geographies, and domain experts. This co-creation approach allows Siemens Healthineers to develop solutions that address real-world challenges, such as the advancements made in precision medicine pathways—a testament to teamwork and shared purpose between customers and internal teams.
He encourages his teams to step boldly by experimenting, taking calculated risks, and viewing failure as a stepping stone to success. He believes that innovation often involves venturing into uncharted territory, and by building trust and offering support, he creates an environment where people feel empowered to explore new ideas.
By aligning with these core values and celebrating contributions at both the individual and team levels, Siemens Healthineers builds a culture that drives innovation while staying true to its mission of advancing human health.
Strategies at Siemens Healthineers
Siemens Healthineers’ strategy in Southern Europe is centered on one overarching goal: making high-quality healthcare accessible and equitable for all. To achieve this, the company focuses on three key pillars:
Delivering Patient-Centric Solutions: Siemens Healthineers leverages technologies such as precision diagnostic tools, AI-based automation solutions, and digital health platforms for data management and sharing to address inefficiencies in care delivery. This approach helps expand access to underserved populations.
Building Strategic Partnerships: Collaboration plays a crucial role in navigating the complexities of healthcare ecosystems. The company works closely with hospitals, governments, and other stakeholders to co-develop solutions tailored to the unique needs of each region. Partnerships with patient associations, for example, enable the customization of technologies to improve local health outcomes.
Focusing on Sustainability and Scalability: Growth goes beyond numbers; it involves creating impactful and sustainable solutions. Siemens Healthineers integrates environmentally conscious products into its portfolio and operations, while ensuring that its innovations are scalable across regions and adaptable to future challenges.
The company’s growth strategy aims to create a long-term legacy of better health outcomes, not only for Southern Europe but also as a model for global healthcare transformation.
Healthcare Industry in the next 5–10 years
Sourabh highlights that the healthcare industry is on the brink of a profound transformation driven by digitalization, personalization, and sustainability. In this context, he emphasizes four key aspects that must be considered:
Widespread Adoption of AI and Big Data: AI will continue to play a pivotal role in automating workflows, enhancing diagnostics, and enabling predictive medicine. The use of big data will shift healthcare from a reactive to a proactive, patient-centered approach, improving outcomes and reducing costs.
Precision Medicine at Scale: The integration of genomic data with advanced diagnostic tools will make precision medicine more accessible to a larger population. This shift will make individualized treatments the norm, transforming the management of chronic and complex diseases.
Decentralized Healthcare Delivery: Digital health technologies and telemedicine will break down geographical barriers, delivering care to remote and underserved communities. This change is crucial in addressing global healthcare inequities.
Sustainability and Green Practices: With climate change increasingly affecting public health, the healthcare industry will adopt more sustainable practices. This includes energy-efficient facilities, waste reduction, and greater investment in disaster relief capacity to ensure resilience in the face of extreme climate events.
Sourabh stresses that in the next decade, collaboration between clinicians, technologists, policymakers, and patients will be essential to navigating these transformations and ensuring that innovation leads to meaningful and widespread impact.
Advice to Aspiring Healthcare Leaders
Sourabh offers straightforward advice to those aspiring to lead in healthcare: stay curious, embrace collaboration, and focus on the bigger picture. He emphasizes that the healthcare industry operates as a dynamic ecosystem where technology, policy, and clinical practice intersect, and understanding this interconnectedness is critical for making a meaningful impact.
According to him, effective leaders must balance strategic thinking with empathy. While innovation is vital, it is equally important to remember the human side of healthcare—listening to patients, empowering teams, and creating systems that prioritize equity and sustainability.
He points to initiatives like Project Umbrella, co-led by Hospital Vall d’Hebron and Siemens Healthineers, as examples of how collaborative efforts can address systemic challenges while improving lives. The project’s focus on streamlining stroke care pathways in Europe highlights the potential of partnerships in driving innovation and accessibility.
Sourabh concludes by stressing the importance of collaboration and trust. The challenges in healthcare are too complex for any single individual or organization to solve. By uniting diverse perspectives and aligning efforts toward a shared purpose, leaders can create lasting and meaningful change.
