Practo has appointed Cijo George as Vice President of Artificial Intelligence, reinforcing its commitment to scaling an outcome-driven healthcare platform across global markets. The move comes as the company accelerates its growth in India while expanding its footprint in international markets such as the UAE and the United States.
In his new role, Cijo will lead Practo’s AI charter across the platform, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams to deepen the application of artificial intelligence in care navigation, provider-facing tools, and overall platform intelligence. He will work alongside product, engineering, and clinical teams to embed AI more seamlessly into how patients discover and access care, and how healthcare providers deliver services with improved accuracy, reliability, and consistency at scale. He will report directly to Shashank ND, Co-founder and CEO at Practo.
“For the last 17 years, we have been building deep healthcare intelligence across patients, doctors, clinics, and outcomes. AI unlocks the full potential of this data, helping patients get better outcomes and enabling doctors with insights that can genuinely improve care delivery. Cijo brings exceptional depth in building real-world AI platforms, and his belief in using AI to drive meaningful impact strongly resonates with our purpose.” said Shashank ND, co-founder and CEO, Practo.
Cijo brings nearly two decades of experience spanning machine learning, AI platforms, and product-led engineering. Prior to joining Practo, he held senior leadership positions at Observe.AI, where he operated at the intersection of AI, platform engineering, and product development. During his tenure, he helped build large-scale, production-grade AI systems deployed by global enterprises, most recently serving as Director of Engineering, AI Platform, after leading ML and engineering teams.
Earlier, he headed Platform and AI initiatives at Belong.co, focusing on search and personalization technologies within the HR tech space. He also spent over five years at NetApp in its Advanced Technology Group (CTO Office), where he worked on machine learning and data science solutions for distributed systems at scale. In the early phase of his career, he was associated with the Indian Institute of Science and Nokia, building a strong foundation in research, software engineering, and AI systems.
He holds a Master’s degree in High Performance Computing from the Indian Institute of Science.
“What drew me to Practo is the opportunity to apply AI in ways that can directly improve how patients experience care and how doctors deliver it,” said Cijo George, vice president of AI, Practo.
As VP and Head of AI, Cijo will spearhead Practo’s artificial intelligence vision, drive AI-first product innovation, and strengthen platform capabilities to enhance digital healthcare delivery. His appointment highlights the company’s continued focus on leveraging advanced AI and machine learning to improve patient experiences, streamline clinical workflows, and enable more data-driven decision-making across its ecosystem.
