Bilal Mateen, MBBS, MPH, PhD
Bilal Mateen, MBBS, MPH, PhD, is PATH's inaugural Chief AI Officer. In this role, he is responsible for developing and implementing PATH’s AI strategy. This includes advancing first-in-class AI-based solutions to address key health care challenges and strengthening regulatory systems to ensure adequate safeguards for the application of AI in health care.
He most recently served as Executive Director of Digital Square, where he supported ministries of health across Africa and Asia with effective planning, procurement, and implementation of technology to address the global health equity gap. In this post, he served as principal investigator on more than $250 million in grants and contracts focused on digital health transformation in low-resource environments.
Dr. Mateen is deeply passionate about the role of research in advancing ethical and inclusive applications of artificial intelligence to improve human lives. In February 2026, he was appointed to the United Nations’ first Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence. Additionally, he holds an honorary professorial appointment at the University of Birmingham.
Prior to joining PATH, he served as the Clinical Technology Lead and Senior Manager for Digital Technology at Wellcome, one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations supporting science and health research. Under his leadership, his team provided funding for digital public goods to address three key health challenges: mental health, the impact of climate change on human health, and emerging and escalating infectious diseases. He was also a fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence.
Dr. Mateen is a physician by training with an academic background in health-related applications of data science and machine learning. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Medical Sciences and his medical training at University College London. He holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from King's College London.