The conference hall was still humming with conversations when the lights softened and the final award of the evening was announced. Cameras tilted, tables stilled, and a familiar name rose above the applause. Dr. Leesi Saturday Komi stepped forward to receive the TechQuest Telehealth Systems Innovation Award 2023. In a year that demanded more from health systems than any in recent memory, his recognition felt timely. The TechQuest International Conference is known for its insistence on practical innovation. Not hype, not theory, but tools and models that move care into the hands of people who need it. This award recognized a physician and public health leader who has devoted his career to that exact idea.
All week, the conference had gathered hospital leaders, engineers, public health researchers, product designers, investors, and community advocates to ask a hard question. What does it take to make health access both modern and fair. TechQuest’s answer has never been one thing. It is always a set of decisions, made across policy, engineering, education, and clinical delivery. For many in the audience, the highlight sessions were the ones that traded polished slides for field-tested lessons. These were the sessions where teams spoke honestly about what it takes to sustain care in low-resource settings, and what gets in the way. It was in this atmosphere that Dr. Komi’s work stood out.
His story threads together two worlds. The rigor of clinical training and the responsiveness of community-based public health. He is fluent in the language of patient charts and the lived reality of people who measure distance in hours, not minutes. Early in his career, he practiced medicine in Ukraine, an experience that sharpened his eye for systems. Later, back in Nigeria, he built and led telehealth programs designed for people who do not always have a clinic nearby, or a stable internet signal, or even a shared language with the doctor on the other end of the call. The programs he led did not assume. They adapted. They offered consultations in Hausa, Yoruba, and Pidgin English, and they built trust through local partners. Community health workers were trained in practical teleconsultation methods. Referral links were created so that remote care did not end on the screen, it continued at the nearest primary health center. Numbers tell only part of this story. The rest lives in the quieter moments. A mother who got prenatal guidance without taking two buses. An elderly patient who received a follow-up message in a language that made sense. A teenager who learned the facts about meningitis from a free community webinar that respected the intelligence of its audience.
The energy in the room during the awards captured a truth the health sector keeps rediscovering. Technology on its own is not transformation. People are. The tools matter, but so does the design of the journey. Who gets invited into it. What barriers remain. Whether the solutions notice the realities of rural life, informal work, and the cost of data. As keynote speakers across the conference emphasized, the future of care in Africa will depend on leaders who can bridge those gaps. It will belong to the pragmatists who think like engineers and serve like clinicians. It will be driven by people who can listen to a community and still write a protocol.
What made this year’s Telehealth Systems Innovation Award feel particularly resonant was the integrity of the work behind it. Dr. Komi’s projects were built to last. They were not pilot wonders that fade after the press release. They invested in frontline capacity, patient education, multilingual service design, and measurable follow-up. They sat in the real world where chargers fail and appointments clash with market day. They were measured not by vanity metrics but by improved access, reduced travel, and stronger continuity of care. During the conference, health administrators from across the region examined the methods and asked precise questions. How were consultations load balanced. How did the team mitigate network drop-offs. What protocols protected patient privacy when calls took place in noisy rooms. The answers were reassuring and clear. This was not improvised care. This was structured, ethical, and repeatable practice.
In person, Dr. Komi speaks with the patience of a clinician and the curiosity of a researcher. He is careful with credit, quick to name collaborators, and unwilling to separate technology from the human context where it operates. Standing on the stage, he accepted the award with a short message about dignity in care. He spoke about the difference it makes when a health system greets people in their own language, on their own devices, at a cost they can bear. He thanked the teams who did the heavy lifting, from volunteers to nurses to community partners who helped people see telehealth not as a compromise but as reliable care.
The applause that followed felt less like a conclusion and more like a starting point. Around the hall, young founders, hospital IT leads, and policy advisors were already talking about the next steps. How to scale culturally intelligent telehealth. How to pay for it sustainably. How to protect data while keeping systems simple. These are the kinds of questions TechQuest was built to handle. And this was the moment to bring them back to the table, grounded in a story that proves what is possible.
After the ceremony, we found a quieter corner near the media lounge where the lighting softened and the post-event bustle settled into a steady murmur. There, TechQuest Media sat down with Dr. Leesi Komi to talk about the path behind the award, the discipline it took to steer ideas into service, and the kind of health system he believes Africa can build next. What follows is a conversation about practice, research, and the people who make innovation meaningful.
The Interview Dr. Leesi Saturday Komi
Q1. Congratulations on your win, Dr. Komi. What does receiving the TechQuest Telehealth Systems Innovation Award mean to you personally and professionally?
Dr. Komi. This award is deeply personal to me because it represents far more than professional recognition. It affirms a vision I have pursued for years, that technology can make healthcare truly accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live. When I look back at the teleconsultations we brought to rural communities, I do not see dashboards first. I see faces. I see the mother who did not have to miss a day’s wages to find prenatal advice. I see the elderly patient who no longer feared the cost and time of a trip across town for a check-in about blood pressure control. I see a teenager who joined a free webinar about a condition they were too shy to ask about in person.
Professionally, the award sharpens my responsibility. It is a reminder that innovation has a human face. It pushes me to keep building bridges between technology and compassion. I have always believed that every digital pathway we design should end in dignity for the patient, not convenience for the system alone. Winning at TechQuest tells me that our peers see the value of this balance. It validates the hours spent adapting protocols for multilingual consultations, the training sessions with community health workers, and the slow work of building trust. I am grateful. I am also very aware that recognition is not the finish line. It is a call to deepen the work and share what we have learned in a way that others can use.
Q2. You have practiced medicine in both Ukraine and Nigeria. How have these diverse experiences shaped your approach to healthcare delivery and digital transformation?
Dr. Komi: I began my medical journey in Ukraine, where clinical structure is taken very seriously. The emphasis on precision, documentation, and team coordination trained me to respect the process. Later, working in a multicultural setting in Kyiv, I learned how to translate that structure into care for people with very different backgrounds and expectations. It taught me humility in communication and the value of systems that adapt to the person in front of you.
Returning to Nigeria brought a different clarity. I could see how the same principles could be used in environments where resources are limited and distance is a clinical factor. The question became simple, and not at all easy. How do we deliver the quality and respect that a patient in a major city expects, to someone in a rural area who has not always been treated as a priority. For me, digital tools were not optional. They were the way to close that distance. But they had to be designed correctly. Language mattered. Cultural context mattered. A dropped call was not a minor inconvenience. It could be the difference between adherence and loss to follow-up. That is why we spent time creating multilingual teleconsultation options, why we trained local health workers to be the bridge, and why we designed referral pathways that turn a virtual visit into a real-world plan. Those years across two countries taught me to pair clinical discipline with design empathy, and I carry that into every new project.
Q3. Your leadership connected large numbers of patients to care through telemedicine programs. What were the biggest challenges and lessons from scaling healthcare access digitally?
Dr. Komi: The biggest challenge was trust. For many communities, healthcare has always meant a physical presence. A nurse you can see. A doctor you can greet. A waiting room that reassures you something is happening. Asking people to accept care through a screen is not a simple change. We had to reintroduce what care means. We did not begin with technology. We began with listening.
We partnered with community leaders, faith organizations, and local advocates who people already trusted. We ran digital literacy sessions that were practical, not patronizing. We showed families how to prepare for a virtual consultation, what to expect, how to describe symptoms clearly, and how to follow up. We ensured that when people used the service, the first experience was respectful, clear, and useful. On the clinical side, we trained our teams to handle the constraints of remote assessment, including the discipline of safety-netting. If a call dropped, we called back. If a language barrier emerged, we switched to a language that worked. If there was a red flag, we moved quickly to refer and confirm that the referral landed.
The lesson was simple. Innovation fails when it ignores human context. Technology must adapt to people’s realities, not the other way around. Once communities began to see results, adoption grew. Not because the app was shiny, but because the service kept its promises. Speed, access, and continuity improved. We also learned that data from these interactions could help us find gaps, not for punitive reasons, but to improve the design. That cycle of feedback and refinement is what allowed us to scale responsibly.
Q4. Beyond clinical practice, your research and editorial work have gained global attention. What drives your engagement with health research and journal review work?
Dr. Komi: Evidence is the backbone of progress. I enjoy the discipline of research because it forces us to test assumptions. In our region, it is not enough to import studies and hope they fit. We need to generate and evaluate evidence that matches our realities. That is what drew me to editorial work. Reviewing manuscripts is demanding, but it is also a privilege. It allows me to advocate for quality and for context. It gives me a platform to support emerging scholars who are studying problems that matter here, in a voice that international audiences can appreciate.
When I review or edit, I look for clarity about the problem, honesty about the limits of the data, and humility in the conclusions. I look for research that moves from publication to practice. That bridge is often missing. A solid paper is not the end. It is an invitation to try, adapt, and share again. My editorial roles have also reminded me that Africa’s contribution to global health is not limited to implementation. We have ideas, frameworks, and insights that can lead. We should not hesitate to bring them to the table with confidence.
Q5. You have trained hundreds of community health workers in teleconsultation and organized dozens of public webinars. How important is education in your model of health innovation?
Dr. Komi: Education is the multiplier. You can hand someone a device, but without knowledge it remains a gate. I see health education as the foundation that makes digital care sustainable. When we trained community health workers, we did not just teach them to troubleshoot an app. We taught clinical escalation. We practiced how to listen, document, and follow up. We role-played difficult conversations and examined where misunderstandings occur. Those workers became local champions who could sustain the service after the initial project shine faded.
The webinars followed the same logic. We chose topics that answered the questions people were already asking. We kept the sessions straightforward and respectful. We made sure that people left with actions they could take the same day. Education also combats fear. When people understand what a remote consultation can and cannot do, they use it wisely. They know when to seek in-person care, and they know how to make the most of a virtual visit. That balance keeps telehealth safe and useful.
Q6. You have been recognized internationally for editorial excellence. How does that recognition tie into your larger mission in healthcare?
Dr. Komi: Recognition in editorial work tells me that rigor and mentorship still matter. It is easy to get distracted by the pace of technology. We need people who slow down enough to ask if the evidence is solid, if the methodology is fair, and if the conclusions are honest. Awards are not the goal, but they help signal to younger colleagues that quality counts. They create a culture where careful review is valued, not seen as a hurdle.
For me, these recognitions also connect directly to care delivery. A health system that respects evidence is a safer system. An innovation culture that listens to reviewers is a stronger culture. When I guide a manuscript on digital health in Africa, I am not only thinking about citations. I am thinking about the nurse in a rural clinic who will try to use the idea next month. Will the paper help her. Will it respect the constraints she faces. If not, it needs work. That is how editorial excellence and clinical equity meet.
Q7. Looking ahead, what vision do you hold for the future of telehealth in Africa, and what message would you share with innovators preparing for the TechQuest 2024 Awards?
Dr. Komi: My vision is simple. Telehealth should not be seen as an alternative. It should be a standard part of the health system, integrated with in-person care and tailored to local realities. We can use digital tools to leapfrog some of the barriers that have haunted our systems for decades. But we must build with discipline. The next phase is not about more apps. It is about better integration. Electronic records that travel with the patient. Payment models that recognize the value of a well-done remote review. Protocols that protect privacy without making access complicated. Languages and formats that do not exclude.
To innovators looking toward TechQuest 2024, I would say this. Begin with empathy. End with impact. Spend time with the people you hope to serve. Look at your solution through their day, not yours. Be precise about the problem you are solving, and be honest about what your product cannot do. Build partnerships early, especially with frontline workers who will carry your idea into reality. Design for maintenance, not just for launch. If you do that, your work will travel further than a pitch deck. It will change practice. That is the kind of innovation TechQuest celebrates, and I am excited to see what the next cohort will bring.
Conclusion
Awards can sometimes feel like snapshots. A bright moment, a framed picture, a night of applause. In the weeks after TechQuest 2023, it is clear that this one is more like a map. It points to a kind of health system that is possible when clinical integrity and design empathy share the same table. It tells a story that stretches from medical wards in Eastern Europe to primary health centers in rural Nigeria, and onward to a pan-African conversation about how to build care that is modern, humane, and fair.
Dr. Leesi Komi’s journey shows that you do not have to choose between rigor and reach. You can train to a high clinical standard and still meet people where they are. You can value evidence and still speak in plain language. You can champion technology and still insist on dignity in every patient interaction. That is the kind of leadership TechQuest exists to spotlight. It is the kind of leadership that turns a conference theme into a plan, and a plan into a service someone can use on a Tuesday morning when a child wakes up with a fever.
As TechQuest opens nominations for the 2024 International Conference and Awards, we invite innovators, clinicians, researchers, health administrators, community builders, and product teams across Africa to bring their best work forward. If your project has improved access, strengthened continuity of care, reduced costs for patients, or made health information clearer and safer to use, we want to hear from you. If your solution has been tested in the real world and learned from its failures as well as its successes, you belong on this stage.
The next chapter of African health innovation will be written by people who keep their promises to patients. It will be shaped by teams that know how to listen, adapt, and persist. It will be built by leaders who believe that a remote consultation can carry the same respect as a clinic visit, if we take the time to do it well. TechQuest’s mission is to find these people, learn with them, and help their work spread. If that sounds like your path, start your nomination. The story we tell next year could be yours.
