Graciela Carrillo

Many healthcare professionals, from dentists to nutritionists, from physiotherapists to psychologists, are self-employed in Latin America. This is the case for the family of Mexican Graciela Carrillo, an industrial engineer from the University of Yucatan and a data scientist from the University of Glasgow. Her mother is a doctor and her father was a veterinarian. The young woman grew up watching these healthcare workers running their businesses without any specific training in entrepreneurship, nor specific tools to help them.

In order to help healthcare entrepreneurs, Carrillo launched Clinicbox in 2022 together with her medical sister, an app and web platform available on the App Store and Google Play that offers a virtual assistant supported by artificial intelligence to free the professional from the task of scheduling appointments. It also includes a module that allows the integration of patients' digitized medical records.

Carrillo has been chosen among the winners of MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 Latin America 2023 in Spanish for facilitating customer service and the handling of sensitive healthcare data.

"As a start-up entrepreneur, I have numerous tools to manage the different aspects of my company, but small healthcare entrepreneurs have nothing applied to their business model. There is only software for clinics, but not for freelancers. Clinicbox is an 'all-in-one' platform that allows them to manage their healthcare business," explains this young entrepreneur. Her software allows the healthcare professional to unify their agenda with an automated instant messaging service while the patient continues to use WhatsApp. Clinicbox is, in Carrillo's words, a sort of Shopify for healthcare freelancers.

Virtual assistance that facilitates communication with the patient is not the only service offered by the start-up. It also integrates patient appointments with their medical records, which saves time for healthcare professionals. It is a "comprehensive platform" under subscription, according to its creator. "I see how it is helping family and friends to manage their day-to-day business," she concludes.

Clinicbox's virtual assistant is already available throughout Latin America, although Carrillo's plans are to conquer the Mexican market first. In fact, the management of medical records is momentarily limited to Mexico, due to the need to adapt to each local legislation. In the future, Carrillo's intention is to expand this service to other countries. She also wants to include marketing tools, payments, collections, and other functions.