World Doctor has been formed to harness technology to allow developing countries to leapfrog the knowledge
gap between doctors, health workers and patients.
Using low cost methods of distributing health decision support systems, developing countries will have
levels of support currently unavailable anywhere else in the world.
World Doctor does not seek to duplicate the efforts of agencies currently providing protocols for use in
developing countries, but aims to provide methods of delivering these guidelines through a
technology that allow assessments to be done with people who have minimal experience and training.
World Doctor works with established agencies to make full use of their experience and not to duplicate their efforts.
World Doctor is run from London by Mr Hanif Virji, Mr Ian Spector and Dr Marci Thiel.
Mr Hanif Virji (Co-founder)Hanif is a partner and co-founder of AHV Asscociates LLP, a London-based corporate finance
boutique. Having trained as a theoretical Physicist at the University of Bristol, U.K., Hanif entered investment banking in 1988,
specialising in derivatives and structured finance, working for Barclays de Zoete Wedd (now Barclays Capital), Lazard Brothers,
J.P. Morgan and Credit Agricole Indosuez. Hanif was formerly on the Advisory board of SciComp, Inc., a software company based in
Texas, U.S.A. SciComp has proprietary technology to enable the rapid generation of valuation models for sophisticated derivatives.
Hanif has worked with Expert-24 Limited since 2004. Hanif financed the building of classrooms for the al-Fatah school for girls in Kabul,
Afghanistan, a project with which he is still involved.
Ian Spector (Co-founder) Ian is an IT professional with over 20 years experience in systems delivery and management
consultancy in the banking, insurance and healthcare sectors. After six years at Price Waterhouse Ian joined BUPA as head of Business
Development and was subsequently appointed Managing Director of BUPA Health Assurance. In 1996 Ian set up a specialist health insurance
brokerage, Professional Health Solutions, and grew it to one of the leading healthcare brokerages in the UK. Ian was subsequently appointed
as Managing Director of Access Health where he was responsible for launching the UK’s first telephone triage service as a front end to primary
care. This went on to be the basis for NHS Direct with Access Health providing the service for over half of the UK. Ian also sold and
implemented a national telephone triage service in New Zealand and introduced the UK’s first NHS walk in centres. In 2001 he co-founded
Expert-24 Ltd, the company behind the World Doctor technology platform.
Dr Marci Thiel (Co-founder)Marci is a US family physician with 7 years of clinical practice, and over 15 years of executive
level management and product development experience. Marci was a founder and board member of Focus Health Services in Denver, CO, and Front
Range Medical Management. Marci joined start-up, Informed Access Systems, in 1995 as Medical Director, which merged with Access Health Inc.
in 1996. After a series of acquisitions beginning with with HBOC’s acquisition of Access Health, Marci was appointed Vice President of Medical
Affairs for the McKesson Health Solutions in 1998. She has been responsible for the development and deployment of clinical decision support
systems for nurse triage, disease management, case management and utilization management during the past 15 years. In 2001 she co-founded
Expert-24 Ltd, where she designed the unique graphical decision support authoring tools that underpin World Doctor.