As Wies Rafi, PhD hits his one-year mark at Yale, read as he reflects on his achievements over the past year and shares his vision for the future. He discusses the excitement of joining Yale, the challenges and triumphs experienced along the way, and his goals for the upcoming year. This Q&A also offers a glimpse into Dr. Rafi’s thoughts on technology and the aspects of Yale that have impacted him the most thus far.
What were you most excited about when joining Yale?
The people, the culture, and access to new opportunities were the most attractive selling points for me. I had a sense beforehand through my research that this was a complex and dynamic environment, and everything proved to be true once I arrived. During my first week, I described Yale as “Everything. Everywhere. All At Once.” Meeting my own team and the Senior Leadership Team confirmed what a stellar place I had walked into with immensely talented people everywhere. There was this exhilarating energy between the health system, central ITS, the health sciences, and other distributed units that were impossible to ignore. Understanding that culture and diving straight into challenging situations allowed me to understand how much could be accomplished, and that’s what continues to excite me.
A funny thing happened on my first day. Before I had even got my badge, I got a parking ticket from Yale PD and I was so excited and awestruck to see the official Yale logo on something addressed to me. I took a picture and sent it to friends and family saying “Look at this! I’m Yale official now!” It was a reality check for myself about where I had come from and where I had landed. I still think about that moment every now and then and that feeling of newness keeps me grounded.
How has your time at Yale compared to your experiences at other universities?
I came from smaller state institutions and the Federal government. Resources are extensive at Yale compared to my prior institutions, almost an embarrassment of riches. There are so many complex layers from an administrative and business perspective which perfectly illustrates why it’s an elite institution. On the other hand, there are several legacy technologies and processes that are comparatively behind the smaller institutions that are ahead of us because they are more agile and nimble.
The abundance of resources, talent, and visionary leadership at Yale means we have an incredible opportunity to evolve into a world-class operation and catch up where others have already made significant progress. The challenge will be to sort out the priorities and pace ourselves accordingly.
What are you most proud of this past year? What was most unexpected or challenging?
Overall, I’m most proud of my team and their incredible work ethic. They surpassed all my expectations and continue to exemplify creativity, professionalism, and critical thinking in some tough and complex situations. I have a much greater sense of how far the team can stretch and the endless possibilities of what we can accomplish.
The most unexpected thing has been the level of support and collaboration from peers; from interns to directors, everyone wants to work with you and pool ideas together in a thoughtful way. Usually, in higher education, people can be possessive and territorial with their respective areas and institutional knowledge, but that isn’t the case here, which was a very pleasant surprise.
What do you hope to accomplish by this time next year?
I want to see all our ongoing initiatives on the horizon continue to evolve and blossom into an advanced, steady state; research systems, enterprise analytics, the technology support and AV teams, and operationalizing software governance, just to name a few. There’s no shortage of ambition at Yale, and I’m confident we will look back at the year in amazement at how far we’ve come.
You described your philosophy as being built on execution, empowerment, and empathy. How have these traits manifested within the HSIT team?
Empowerment: This past year, I have tried to put people in the right positions so that they feel confident about their roles and capabilities. For example, I don’t want or need to be in the limelight for every high-profile initiative, presentation, or committee meeting. I don’t need the credit or accolades at this stage in my career. I prefer to embolden people who are curious about stretch opportunities or expanding their portfolio with new experiences, which hopefully inspires confidence and a sense of positive self-worth within them. With the right kind of support, people will realize their potential and break through whatever mental barriers they set for themselves.
Empathy: This is such an underrated quality in IT, and people who embody it can better acknowledge different perspectives and cut down on internal biases. I also always try to be empathetic to different challenges and circumstances that lead people to make the decisions they do and behave the way that they do. I want people to know that I have their back no matter what they are going through, personally or professionally.
Execution: When you are at work, you are with a team rather than a family. A team has players like pitchers, outfielders, catchers, etc. Each is good at what they do and is most effective in their respective position and when working together towards a shared goal. I see myself as the captain or navigator leading them through the game, defining roles, evaluating options and alternatives, strategizing together, communicating with partners, and then executing the plan.
Your educational background (Political Science, IT, Public Policy/Admin) is very diverse. How do you apply this to your current role? What strengths does it give you in your job?
It’s an indirect connection rather than a direct one. I tried to leverage as much of my IT background as possible when pursuing my doctorate. My research focus was very specific to how academic medical centers capture and leverage social determinants of health (SDOH) in their electronic health records to provide better care for underserved communities burdened by health disparities. While I’m not a public health professional, physician, or research scientist, my doctoral research keeps me grounded in the vocabulary and mission focus of Yale Health Sciences and YNHHS.
For example, I’m deeply fascinated by the methods in which YNHHS, School of Public Health, and Yale Health approach their related population health initiatives, what incentivizes them, and how they leverage EPIC and other technology solutions to realize those goals. None of this is directly connected to my official job description, and yet I remain observant of how their different approaches are reflected in the education, research, and clinical missions that HSIT supports. We all want better health outcomes, stronger public policy, laws, and public health practices based on the evidence and data derived from tech platforms and health informatics work. Whenever I can leverage my research background to support that mission or contribute to the conversation in some way, I am thrilled to do so.
What has been your favorite part about being at Yale?
The people! Even with my insane schedule, I try to make time to talk to as many people as possible. A great thing about working at Yale is all the different events that are always going on (free fancy food is always nice!).
What emerging technology are you excited about?
Holograms—I want to see Star Trek come to life. Beyond Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, I want to experience a holodeck in my lifetime and be totally immersed in realistic environments with total control of that reality. Imagine creating a scenario where you are safely flying through space and exploring galaxies, wormholes, or traveling inside a black hole based on how theoretical models predict it would feel. Or imagine recreating a scene from Seinfeld or The Matrix and you’re the main character in the story experiencing it the way you want to experience it. The sensory overload from the holodeck would trick your mind into believing it’s all real and not a lucid dream.
I’m currently reading Ray Kurzweil’s “The Singularity is Nearer,” which also has me thinking about the potential of uploading memories and artifacts of deceased family, friends, or pets into the cloud, and the AI or artificial body converses back to you in the same tone and style as your loved one. Augmented intelligence is also very interesting to me, whether it’s using chips in our brains to communicate with each other or experiencing the world differently with entire data repositories available to you with an instant query, or instantaneous language translations to foster communications between people and cultures. Many people are interested in what GenAI can do right now, but a truly mind-blowing and futuristic world is not that far away either.