Harnessing AI to serve the medically underserved

The annual World Medical Innovation Forum (WMIF), sponsored by Mass General Brigham, attracts more than 2,000 global attendees to Boston each autumn. The multi-day conference brings together cutting-edge medical equipment developers, software innovators, pharmaceutical companies, investment bankers, and venture capitalists to collaborate on transformative health solutions. 

A highlight of the 2025 conference was the launch and award of the first annual Kraft Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Community Health. The Kraft Center for Community Health at Mass General Brigham awarded a US $100,000 first prize and two US $10,000 runner-up prizes to organisations in the United States making a transformative impact in community health through the innovative harnessing of 21st Century technology.¹ 

Empowering families through voice-activated AI

ThriveLink, an AI-operated telephonic enrolment program that empowers families to verbally complete and submit applications for safety-net programs – including prescription drugs, health insurance, food support, and residential utilities assistance – was awarded first prize. Company founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Kwamane Liddell accepted the $100,000 award. 

In addition to the prize money, ThriveLink will also receive tailored support from the Kraft Center, which includes access to Mass General Brigham’s extensive Innovation MESH Network, links to other innovators and collaborators through MESH Core, and Kraft Center resources to enhance and further the company’s work. 

Runners up included Mae, a digital health platform working to improve maternal health outcomes by addressing the specific clinical, social, and cultural needs of expectant mothers, and Sober Sidekick, a peer-led application that gamifies peer-to-peer support to help decrease the rate of relapses among individuals seeking treatment for substance use disorder. One hundred and fifty organisations applied for the 2025 awards. 

‘These companies and their leaders are setting the example for how innovation and technology can be leveraged to make transformative changes in community health,’ said Robert Kraft, chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group. ‘We hope that the prize can further help motivate them and enhance the outstanding work they are doing for individuals and families across the country.’ 

The Kraft Prize is centered on five priority areas: cardiometabolic disease, substance use disorder, cancer, maternal health, and social risk mitigation. Applicants needed to demonstrate a clear and measurable impact on community health in at least one of these priority areas and show community engagement in the development and implementation of their company, programme, or innovation.

Commitment to community care

The Kraft Center for Community Health was established with the mission to expand access to high-quality, cost-effective healthcare for medically underserved patients and communities. Founded in 2011 through a generous donation by Robert Kraft, the Center aims to catalyse innovative solutions to real world community health problems, execute solutions locally, and make them scalable and ready to spread to improve health outcomes for disadvantaged populations nationally. It also supports an academic community partnership that helps to develop the careers of physicians and nurses who are committed to improving community health. 

The Kraft Group, a diversified holding company headquartered in Foxborough MA, ranks in the top 100 of America’s largest privately-owned businesses and employs more than 9,500 people worldwide.² It is best known for ownership of the U.S. National Football League’s (NFL) New England Patriots, the major league soccer team New England Revolution, metro Boston’s major sports and events venue Gillette Stadium, and for its leading global positions in paper, packaging, and forest product industries. 

From complex forms to simple conversations

ThriveLink partners with health systems, non-profit organisations, and government-sponsored agencies to enable underserved families, and individuals who are reading-illiterate or for whom English is not a native language, to be made aware of and to complete applications for safety-net programmes by telephone using an AI system that speaks their language and communicates in easy-to-understand terminology. This is not a cell phone app. The system works with any phone. 

In addition to social services, ThriveLink focuses on the provision of chronic care management. It also voluntarily educates about food programmes, transportation on demand, and housing assistance for which a family is eligible. 

The benefit to social workers and other healthcare staff is a massive amount of time savings that would be spent helping individuals complete these often complex applications. They are freed from repetitive, time-consuming work, getting involved only when the AI app determines that real human problem solving is needed. 

‘It’s an incredible honour and blessing to receive the inaugural Kraft Prize’, said Mr. Liddell in his acceptance speech at the WMIF ceremony. ‘Every day we serve families who often feel unseen, families we may pass in the grocery store, or encounter in our life without realizing they are struggling for food and other basic needs. ThriveLink winning this award is a powerful reminder to those families that we see you.’ 

Mr. Liddell to discuss ThriveLink’s goals and ‘nuts and bolts’ workings of the AI platform in Part II of this series. 

References: 

1. ’Mass General at Brigham’s Kraft Center Announces Winner and Finalists of the 2025 Kraft Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Community Health.’ Press release dated 11 September 2025. Accessed 7 October 2025. 
2. Murphy E. ‘Forbes’ 40th Annual List of America’s Top Private Companies.’ Forbes. 17 December 2025. Accessed 28 December 2025. 

21.01.2026

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