Ryan Billings
senior director, digital innovation at Amag Pharmaceuticals
Billings has spent the bulk of his career in the health-tech realm, even before that realm was deemed of primary importance by A-list pharma and healthcare organizations. Prior to arriving at Amag, Billings handled social strategy for Merck and AstraZeneca – two companies, not coincidentally, that earned early reputations for their digital savvy.
He first made a name for himself as the mind behind branded Facebook communities for Nexium and Crestor. These, unlike the ones that came before, included open comments.
As a result, Billings has become an in-demand speaker at industry klatches. During a presentation at Digital Pharma East in Philadelphia, Billings described the ways AI voice assistants can aid the healthcare industry. “AI must learn to understand sentiment,” he noted. “Existing social media data collectors sort specific words by whether they are deemed positive, negative, or neutral, which does not always get at a user’s true feelings. With voice, we can actually get that emotion factor, so we can have the machines understand that and get as smart and emotional as we are.”
