130. San Antonio Teen Bridges Global Healthcare Gaps Through Access to Specialist Knowledge — ASK

Cory Ames [00:00:03]:
Welcome to Big City, Small Town, the podcast about the people who make San Antonio go and grow. I'm Corey Ames. Today's guest is Arianna Chaudre, the founder of Ask Access to Specialist Knowledge, a non profit that connects frontline doctors around the world with volunteer medical specialists to help them solve tough cases in real time. Ariana launched Ask at age 1414 after a family trip to Uganda where she saw firsthand how a lack of access to medical expertise was costing lives. So she did something about it. Now she's 17, a student at Health Careers High School here in northwest San Antonio, and she's helping save lives every single day. And in this conversation, we're going to talk about how she built ask, what she's learned as a teenage non profit founder, and how San Antonio shaped the way she sees the world and her place in it. Let's get into it.

Cory Ames [00:00:58]:
Ariana, welcome to Big City Small Town.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:01:00]:
Thank you so much for having me.

Cory Ames [00:01:02]:
Well, to get us started, I'd love if you could tell us in your own words about your nonprofit Access to Specialist Knowledge. What does it do?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:01:09]:
Yeah, so Access to Specialist Knowledge is this organization I founded in 2022 to combat disparities to health care and access worldwide. And so kind of what our main focus is is connecting health care workers in underserved areas of the globe, such as in sub Saharan Africa, South Asia and South America, to board certified US medical specialists to ensure that even if there's no physical specialists present in the area, quality health care can still be delivered.

Cory Ames [00:01:47]:
Incredible. Well, you got to tell me you started in 2022, so that was when you were 14 if I'm not mistaken. So if you could share with us the story as to why you started the organization, then what was the experience, the idea that you had?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:02:02]:
Yeah, so I think the biggest inspiration for Ask started from exposure to the issue. In 2022, I traveled to Uganda with my family and due to an injury, we had to visit one of the clinics there in the outskirts of Bwenty. And kind of at that moment was the first time I saw the kind of stark contrasts from the healthcare I was accustomed to in the U.S. so in that clinic, there were only two nurses handling what seemed to be hundreds of patients. And they were doing practices and treating and aiding to these patients and in things that seemed outside of their scope of practice. That was a treatment meant for, you know, doctors, for specialists. Yet due to the lack of staffing in that area, they were forced to be in these roles that asked so much of them. I think anybody at that moment would have their sense of justice and their, you know, their sense of morals really stirred.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:03:16]:
But then again, I had really no clue what to do in that situation. At that moment I was with all the patients just as another person in that healthcare system. And kind of what this culminated into is at the end of our visit and getting checked up, I exchanged contact information with one of the nurses there. And I guess for at that point of time that was about it. Like, I guess the only thing I felt I could do was stay connected to try to learn more. But I really felt at a loss at that situation because, you know, I was 14, I had no clue what to do. But I, you know, I, I wanted to do something because, you know, just the exposure to those just stark contrasts. So back in the US So after the trip I was going to write a report on kind of the differences in healthcare in the United States and in Uganda.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:04:21]:
And so I reached back out to Nurse Florence, the nurse I got in contact with, kind of to learn more about the patients. She sees the difficulties that she faces on a day to day basis. And she responded to me and we kind of talked about the things that she struggled with. And throughout that talk she shared with me a few of the cases that had been particularly challenging with her. One of the first cases she sent to me was regarding a girl with partial paralysis. And I guess I felt that same sense of helplessness again. I, at this moment also didn't know what to do because she presented me with this problem and this challenge that she's been facing me. And you know, just writing about it and just noting about it didn't feel like enough.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:05:16]:
So what I did was I contacted my pediatrician, since it was a 12 year old girl, to see if there was any advice she could pass on to Nurse Florence to deal with this case or similar cases. And it was kind of like just in an effort of like naive earnestness just to see if I, I could do anything to try to make this situation better for that clinic over there. My pediatrician responded. She recommended a trial of anti seizure medication. And I passed that note back on to Nurse Florence. About two weeks later, Nurse Florence came back to me and she told me that it helped this girl and that her symptoms went away. And I guess at that moment I was really just like flooded with like this relief and disbelief that, you know, this, that something had hoped that something I did could have been of use. And from there I started looking into seeing if there was any other larger service that could have done what I, like, haphazardly tried to do.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:06:25]:
Right. Connecting Nurse Florence, one of these underserved healthcare workers, in. In this clinic, to more specialized individuals in the US And I looked and I couldn't find anything. And from there, I guess that started my steps to try to pioneer what's now access to specialist knowledge, a system that helps connect these underserved regions to medical specialists here in the U.S. well.

Cory Ames [00:06:53]:
I love that you really take note of the helplessness that. That you felt in those experiences, as if that might be unique to you or perhaps someone of your age, because I think I would feel the same, if not more, And I'm quite impressed with your willingness to take action. And I'm curious, why do you think that's the case? There's a lot of people that might have that experience and certainly feel some empathy, some concern, and of course, that helplessness, but not a lot of people might take the action to then see how they could solve that problem or serve those folks in any sort of way. So what do you feel like is unique to you? Your situation, your experiences that had you not just have the experience, but actually lead it into something that has become access to specialist knowledge.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:07:42]:
I think one of the things is maybe it's just being so young, but I haven't really developed, like, a fear yet, the fear of being too awkward or too forthcoming. So. So emailing my pediatrician, looking in retrospect, that was a very bold move to do, but it allowed me to find that people are so willing to help if we are able to take initiative. And not being bound by the fear of being too much or being too forward has allowed me to find a lot of people who are so willing and so compassionate about the people around them, but who just need an avenue to do so. So I guess that was the main thing of, you know, trying to take the steps to help. Even, like, in this. Like, in this drenched and like, this helplessness.

Cory Ames [00:08:40]:
And do you recall feeling any sort of doubt or were you just moving one step after another?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:08:46]:
Oh, absolutely. Like, all the time. You know, in some moments I'm, like, so bold and so, like, forward. And at other moments, I feel this uncertainty that maybe what I'm doing is harming more than helping, because ultimately I'm dealing with a system that is so different from our own in America and cultural nuances that I can only begin to understand. And so that. But from there, I think those uncertainties and those doubts kind of force me to ask better questions, to seek better mentors and to really never assume that I have the answers because that curiosity and that persistence to gain a better understanding is ultimately what can make ASK better and what can make the system better and what can help these individuals better.

Cory Ames [00:09:49]:
Absolutely. Well, in this isn't just a handful of cases. From what I got when I first encountered your work in a piece in Texas Monthly, that was at the start of 2025, I saw it was recorded some 27,000 consultations performed. Where's that number at now? We're about midway through the year.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:10:07]:
Yeah, so now we're up to around 35,000. So I guess how we've gotten to that point is when I first started asking know ask at a very small scale with like this one clinic or one or two clinics in Uganda and just a handful of healthcare workers here in the US and it was primarily just me manually, like taking Those cases from WhatsApp or from email, determining what specialist it is, then sending that to the appropriate specialist. And I remember like, like freshman year in high school, like I lived at the library constantly doing this task and yeah, just doing it very manually. And that really capped the efficiency of Ask as there is only so much I could do in a day. And kind of as ASK began to grow, as I reached out to more medical specialists here in the US and as growth occurred more organically in regions of sub Saharan Africa, as you know, the help of Aspira, through word of mouth, I kind of realized that, okay, no matter how many student volunteers we have, manually triaging cases wouldn't be sufficient. So now what we do to facilitate the process is I developed a system that underserved clinics and healthcare workers there can input the case, the patient history and other relevant information like tests and scans done, they can select the specialist that they think is the most appropriate for the case, and then they'll send the case and it directly goes to the specialists in the US Inbox. And if the specialist is busy at that time, they have a chance to refer the case. If we have multiple of the same specialist, they'll go to the next one, or if not, I'll get a notification and see what I could do about it.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:12:07]:
So building that platform has been so integral in really propelling the growth of ASK and enabling us to handle a much larger caseload.

Cory Ames [00:12:19]:
Well, I love the picture that you've painted there of what things look like today. But I'm curious, going from just reaching out to your own pediatrician to perhaps reaching out to other specialists and doctors across the United States, that must have been a big Step and getting yeses there for people to believe what you're doing is maybe one, legitimate and two, a very worthwhile. What was that process like and what avenues did you explore to get other specialists across the United States involved?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:12:51]:
Yeah, so I think I owe a lot to the growth of ASK in the United States and the acquisition of specialists to this organization, to the many like communities and programs here in San Antonio. I go to Health Careers High School, which is a magnet school for students interested in medicine, research, pharmacology and other aspects of STEM or particularly sciences. And one unique thing about that school is many of our teachers are past workers in the healthcare field. So throughout school I would often talk to my teachers about this and see if I could leverage the connections they had to see if I could reach out to any of the specialists that they knew since they're already so well versed and well connected in the field. So Health Careers has been such a major platform to recruit and find new specialists. Also at the Audie Murphy VA Hospital, I was a volunteer there, or I continue to be a volunteer there. And kind of being able to volunteer directly amongst doctors allowed me to build more connections with them and be able to really talk in person and tell them more about ask, like right there, as well as understand how to make ASK better. Right.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:14:20]:
By seeing how their day looks and what would be the most optimal way to allow us to be easily integrated in their lives. And then I guess the last place that allowed me to recruit more specialists was at UT Health. So I do research there through the Volker Biomedical Research Program. And that's this really amazing program to allow students to get acclimatized to the research environment and gain a lot of professional and pre professional skills to through there I was able to find specialists associated with the university hospital and leverage connections off of research mentors and those who do clinical trials.

Cory Ames [00:15:04]:
Well, clearly the demand for what ASK does is there, as you mentioned, some 35,000 consultations to date, and that's in just about three years. And so for those of us who might not be aware to how extensive this lack of access is throughout the world, could you paint a picture for us what might someone like myself, who's not as keen or into this problem as you are, might be surprised to know about it or should know about it.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:15:34]:
So the disparities in healthcare access falls under public health, global public health. And I think that question really delves into why is global public health so important and what are the current disparities? So you know, ASK's focus is sub Saharan Africa. And in these regions, we see that there are as few as 1.3 healthcare workers per thousand people, which is four times less than the global standard. We see that there's 0.2 doctors per thousand patients per thousand people, and we see that there's close to no spouse specialists in these areas. Despite this, sub Saharan Africa holds 23% of the global burden of disease. We see the highest rates of maternal mortality rates, which is completely preventable, and neonatal mortality, children under five, infants, and these are all preventable deaths. Yet still these hotspots of disease are only served by 3% of the global health force. So what global.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:16:49]:
What public health teaches us to ask is, is it okay that we're letting these deaths happen when they're completely preventable? Is it okay that we're letting geography dictate whether somebody has a right to live, whether somebody has a right to good health? What I think Ask does is it seeks to say, no, this isn't okay, because we have the technology, we have the resources, we have the knowledge. The only thing that's missing is the connection to these places. And I hope that ASLIK continues to be this connection to serve these hotspots of disease, yet the most unequipped people.

Cory Ames [00:17:38]:
Is there any sort of overlap or parallel to this to how this may exist or be replicated in some way in the United States? Because I would imagine, and I'm just making assumptions, that a Lakey, Texas or whatever, a small town, two and a half hours or whatever west of San Antonio, might not have the same access to specialists that we do here in this city. Do you feel like, are those connections already being made in the US or is that an issue here within our own state, for example, in region?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:18:08]:
Yes, it absolutely is an issue. And kind of after working on Ask Globally, I was able to also turn locally as well and see these problems are persistent across, like, no matter what the nation is, no matter what the city, no matter, I guess, irrespective of geography. And I guess one thing that kind of goes along with that is in my school, I founded this club called Neighborhood Health Screening Club, where me and a group of students, we go out into the communities and we provide free health screening to immigrant populations and populations of low socioeconomic status in hopes to incentivize further visits to clinics. I guess seeing these disparities across the globe, like the first exposure being in Uganda, it made it easier to recognize patterns, especially here in San Antonio, and kind of really prompted the developing of that clinic and prompted this desire to go out and try to combat healthcare access in San Antonio in our own communities.

Cory Ames [00:19:17]:
Incredible. Well, and maybe this is a little bit more speculative, but I'm curious, anecdotally, have you noticed anything in the exchanges between yourself either? Specialists throughout the U.S. likewise the communities in sub Saharan Africa, in the extent of this most recent administration change to where we're seeing in the US where doctors and researchers considering leaving the country to practice in maybe more science friendly type cultures, maybe a time when we're, we're looking a little bit more inward as a country than we are outward. Are you seeing any changes in the culture of the exchanges between the doctors, yourself and these various communities across the globe? Not to say that the demand still isn't there. It certainly is in fact, maybe even.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:20:03]:
More so expansion wise. It has been more difficult to recruit new doctors, especially as I feel like these times are very unstable, especially for people in the field of medicine and in the field of science. And given that instability, they feel less likely to take the risk and contribute to access to specialist knowledge. I guess given these new administration changes, particularly the defunding of the usaid, we've been seeing this major increase in HIV cases. So kind of just directly seeing the impact that now this public health crisis is occurring and kind of I've seen that with ask and I believe it'll continue to kind of digress in that way. Our cases will continue to grow in these preventable diseases because of changes to the United States. You know, we've dropped out of so much of our funding and set a precedent for many other countries to drop out of funding that now these other organizations like gavi, which provides free vaccinations, have been also facing similar crises. We've been seeing those repercussions mainly in the caseload and the types of cases we're getting that we didn't see before.

Cory Ames [00:21:32]:
Well, it's a critically important organization that you've started and so I'm interested to know what you feel like the longevity is to it from your point of view. You are approaching your senior year in high school and so what do you feel like the future of ASK looks like? Do you find a way to hand it off to someone else or continue it along perhaps with your post high school plans, whatever those may be.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:21:58]:
So I hope to continue ASK to keep it growing, to keep it evolving. As I go to college, there will be so many more opportunities to find new people, new specialists to help work in ask. I've been brainstorming ideas to maybe get medical students involved so that it could be a learning opportunity as well as a way to serve these underserved communities and empower these local healthcare workers. I absolutely foresee us continuing and growing with me, and hopefully with others as well, gaining more students involved, more specialists, more healthcare workers, and I guess continually expanding.

Cory Ames [00:22:41]:
So what do the post high school plans look like for you? I know you mentioned before we were recording it's vastly too early to make a decision, let alone exactly apply to schools. But what type of field of study are you considering and maybe what part of the US or international might you consider going to?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:22:59]:
Through Ask, I've become so interested and so passionate about public health. So in college I hope to major in public health and from there I hope to go to medical school to be able to be one of the people who are able to contribute to solving cases, you know, not just forwarding them, but actually having the power to make an impact and help many of these, help and empower many of these local healthcare workers. As for college plans, I've been looking in state as well as out of state, you know, seeing where kind of wherever I could get the best education to get the most diverse opinions, the most diverse thinking to really help broaden my worldview and get I guess a more nuanced understanding and more, more complex ideas and to help further Ask as well as myself.

Cory Ames [00:23:51]:
Well, and Ariana, what do you feel like you've, you've learned about yourself in these last few years, both starting and continuing to sustain Ask. Looking back at yourself at 14 versus now, what do you feel like has most changed and kind of shaped your perspective in a different way?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:24:07]:
I think really before starting Ask, I had this perception that, you know, meaningful impact can only occur to people who are like the people who are credentialed, who are, you know, the most properly equipped to help, you know, who have like this perfectly laid out plan and you know, in no means was I equipped to help in this situation, but irrespective of that I learned that I did and I could, you know, I could seek out the resources, I could seek out the knowledge to make an impact even though it didn't seem the most likely. Right? So I think, I guess change doesn't wait for somebody who has these credentials. It can occur even with, you know, just this 14 year old girl feeling helpless in a foreign country. And I think that's been the biggest thing, being brave enough to care and being bold enough to seek out the resources to really help.

Cory Ames [00:25:14]:
And I'm interested, what do some of your peers or your fellow students think about ask. From what I read, some are involved helping you out with it, but what's their reception like of the work that you've done?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:25:25]:
So our main model is connecting healthcare workers in underserved regions to medical specialists here in the US but really there's so many other initiatives that ASK leads. We have an educational branch, we have Neighborhood Health Screening Club and many other initiatives. And so because of how broad ASK is, many students are involved in helping lead these initiatives and helping building coursework and screening. And I hope to think that they believe, or I hope to believe that they think that ASK has proven provided them a lot of opportunities and many avenues to help where they think they otherwise couldn't. Whether that be forwarding cases to now like building coursework or teaching classes to screening individuals across Texas. I hope that they believe that ASK has helped them find ways to help uplift public health and health equity.

Cory Ames [00:26:23]:
And so maybe it's existed mostly off of your donated time and the specialists as well. Have has there been any need for fundraising or funds to support the organization's operations just yet? Maybe building the platform that you're describing, perhaps that costs something, but has there been any need to raise money or anything just yet?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:26:42]:
So the main model of ASK really operates without any overhead costs. However, we have applied for grants to help continue different initiatives and help lead new initiatives. So recently we got a $10,000 grant from the, from NSH and that was primarily to help us start launching health camps across the previously warring front of the drc. The Democratic Republic of Congo. The Democratic Republic of Congo in Rwanda has really been entrenched in this history of ethnic divides and regional instability. Very difficult, devastating and very severe armed conflict. However, recently a peace treaty was signed. And so now what ASK is doing is we're starting with ASK partnered healthcare workers.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:27:39]:
We're starting to launch health camps which are these two day pop up camps where individuals from any side of the war, any background, any ethnicity, can come in and receive treatment and, and receive screenings and receive medications free of cost. And so we've led pilot ones and pilot health camps in Guinea Bissau before. And we saw that not only did these patients receive care, but it also exponentially increased visits back to the primary clinic. So now we're starting to go through that process in the drc and that's primarily where our funds are going to right now to start this new initiative to get, get the medication, to get the screening equipment and set up the tents so that these individuals can receive the care free of cost.

Cory Ames [00:28:27]:
And what's the reception been like to your age, perhaps in formal grant applications like that one, and otherwise in these interpersonal exchanges, if you have new folks in clinics throughout the drc, for example, reaching out to you or other specialists receiving your inquiry about partnering up, what has the feedback been like?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:28:47]:
So the very honest answer is that when working online and through emails, I don't mention my age. I try not to mention my age as much as possible because, you know, that raises a lot of speculation and a lot of questions. However, it's been a lot of trying to build legitimacy beyond that. So one of the things I did was created ask as a 501C3, registered as a 501C3, hopefully to allow us to expand to new countries and also gain the trust of new clinics. Because even though these healthcare workers are sending us deidentified cases, there's still cases and there's still patients that are close to their heart and trust is so integral in that relationship. So to kind of overcome the skepticism that comes with age, it's been legitimizing ASK through various other means, growing a team of very well certified doctors. As ASK continues to grow, I think hopefully the legitimacy will also continue to come out as well so that we can be able to foster more trust and be able to help those who I really need it.

Cory Ames [00:30:07]:
Absolutely. Well, Arianna, this one's purely speculative and I'm just curious to hear your perspective. What's your reflection of the San Antonio community as a young person so invested in public health? What do you see as perhaps the potential for yourself returning back here professionally to work here? I know there's a lot of time between then and now and much exploration for you in the next few years. But with the expanding UT health system, for example, and our growing med center, what's your perspective on our healthcare system currently and the professional prospects down the line?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:30:42]:
So I think I really hope to come back to San Antonio in my future after wherever I get educated. I would really love to come back to San Antonio primarily because there's so much left to be done. I feel like very like conversely, I've done a lot in sub Saharan Africa, but there's still so much more I could do locally. I've led these initiatives globally, but there's so much more. I feel as though I can contribute and learn from San Antonio Neighborhood Health Screening Club has been the first instance of me really trying to uplift healthcare inequities locally and I hope to expand on that. So yes, I, I would absolutely love to come back to San Antonio, and that will likely be a big part of my future as well.

Cory Ames [00:31:35]:
Well, I don't know if you're just telling me what I want to hear, but I appreciate it nonetheless. Last question for you, Arianna. Again, along this point of, you know, just going from, you know, idea and a very emotionally impactful experience that you had when you're 14 to taking action. I appreciate that in a young person like yourself. And I'm sure there's other folks who might be inspired to take similar action themselves on unrelated issues here in the San Antonio area. So what other piece of advice might you leave them with that could perhaps spur them into action themselves?

Ariana Chaudhray [00:32:08]:
Yeah, I think start small and start now because, you know, taking action won't wait for anybody else. I think that our generation has so much potential and so many new and creative ideas to make a difference. And I think that being brave enough and being bold enough to reach out and care and learn more is so integral in making a change. And I think, yes, anybody can do it if they just start.

Cory Ames [00:32:43]:
So love it. Well, thank you so much. And with that, Ariana, thanks for taking the time to come on to Big City Small Town.

Ariana Chaudhray [00:32:50]:
Yes, thank you so much for having me.

Cory Ames [00:32:56]:
Thanks for listening to or watching this episode of Big City Small Town. If you enjoyed it, please send it to a friend, share it with a colleague, helping us to keep telling San Antonio's most meaningful stories. And if you haven't yet, sign up for the San Antonio Something, my weekly newsletter where I share things to do, places to explore and and people to get to know in this city. Just head to coriames.com to subscribe. Also, be sure to check out Monday Musings, Bob Rivard's weekly newsletter at bigcitysmalltown.com Big City Small Town is brought to you by Weston Urban Building the city our children want to call home, and by Geekdom, where startups are born and smart ideas become businesses. Thanks again. We'll see you next time.