When healthcare leaders talk about biometrics, the conversation often jumps straight to technology: algorithms, cameras, and authentication speed. But for Dr. Zafar Chaudry, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer at Seattle Children’s Hospital, the real conversation must start somewhere else, with education, partnership, co-design, consent, and trust. 

“The questions we have to answer, not only as health IT people but as technology partners, are simple,” Dr. Chaudry explains in his interview with Mike Salazar, Sales Director at NEC’s Enterprise Digital Identity Group. “Is it seamless? Is it fast enough? And most importantly — is it secure and transparent?” 

For Dr. Chaudry, modern technologies like biometrics are less about futuristic hardware and more about how people feel when they use it. He believes patient education is the essential bridge between promising innovation and real-world acceptance. 

Why Fear Persists 

Despite years of using face ID to unlock phones, many patients hesitate to use biometrics in a hospital setting. Dr. Chaudry understands why: 

“People naturally worry, will this data be sold, stored forever, shared with someone else? If we don’t explain how it works and what happens when they opt in or out, we lose trust before we even begin.” 

Transparency, he argues, must be built into every workflow. Patients deserve to know how their image or fingerprint is used, who can see it, and when it’s deleted. 

Watch the full interview with Dr. Zafar Chaudry here >

Opt-In Model as the Way to Adoption 

Dr. Chaudry insists biometric programs in healthcare must be voluntary. “It has to be an opt-in model,” he says. “And you need a mechanism for people to opt out later if they change their mind. ”That flexibility, paired with clear, accessible explanations, creates confidence across diverse patient populations. At Seattle Children’s, more than half of patients are on Medicaid and many come from rural farming communities. “Not everyone has the latest device or perfect connectivity,” he notes. “If you expect everyone to use a smartphone app to access care, you leave people behind.” 

The Power or Real Conversations 

Education isn’t a press release, it’s a conversation. Dr. Chaudry believes healthcare leaders should borrow best practices from industries like aviation and retail, where onboarding is designed for simplicity. “At airports, it’s easy to sign up and understand what’s happening,” he says. “They’ve streamlined the experience and earned trust through clarity.” When patients understand how biometric data helps them, faster check-ins, fewer errors, seamless movement between departments, it feels like empowerment, not surveillance. 

Education as a Safety Tool 

In Chaudry’s view, teaching patients about biometrics also reduces risk. “If patients don’t understand a system, they can’t spot when something feels off,” he says. “Education is the first line of defense against misuse.” For CIOs and digital leaders, that means making biometric education part of the implementation plan, not a post-launch afterthought. 

A Shared Responsibility 

Chaudry calls for collaboration between providers, vendors, and government regulators to create clear guardrails. “Healthcare needs a standard framework for identity access management in a world of biometrics,” he says. “That’s how we build the trust to move faster.” Until then, education remains the most powerful tool leaders have. When patients understand how technology works, they don’t fear it, they adopt it. 

Hear Dr. Zafar Chaudry’s full conversation with NEC’s Mike Salazar in this recorded session.

What if the best ideas for digital transformation come from the people you serve? For Dr. Zafar Chaudry, SVP – Chief AI, Chief Digital Officer at Seattle Children’s Hospital, that’s not a hypothesis, it’s a rule. “If you build technology in partnership with the customer you’re serving, you get better satisfaction and more success,” he says. 

In his conversation with NEC’s Mike Salazar, Dr. Chaudry describes how his teams start every initiative by co-designing with parents, patients, and caregivers. That includes children, Seattle Children’s primary users. “The average twelve-year-old is smarter than a CIO,” he says with a laugh. “But they know how they want to experience care.” 

From Whiteboards to Reality 

Chaudry starts with a blank sheet of paper and a whiteboard. He and his team ask families what the ‘front door’ of the hospital should look like. Is it an app, a badge, a photo, or a fingerprint? The answers shape every project’s blueprint. “Technologists like to bring back the next shiny thing from a conference,” he admits. “But if you don’t involve the people who will use it, you miss the point.” 

Why Co-Design Matters 

In pediatric care, trust and safety are everything. Co-design ensures new tools feel intuitive and non-intrusive. When families help shape solutions like real-time surgery tracking or biometric check-ins, they become partners in the process rather than subjects of it. 

Chaudry calls this approach “holistic success.” It’s not just about technology that works, it’s about technology people want to use. 

Watch the full conversation here>

Engaging the Naysayers 

Co-design also means inviting critics. “The person who hates new technology the most can become your biggest advocate if you include them early,” Chaudry explains. That mindset transforms resistance into ownership and helps new initiatives scale faster with real buy-in. 

The Human Connection 

At its core, Chaudry’s approach to digital identity is about respect. “Technology should make care faster and safer, not more complicated,” he reminds leaders. “If you don’t design with empathy, people won’t use it.” In a world where AI and automation dominate headlines, his message is simple: innovation without humanity is just software. 

Lessons for Leaders 

Healthcare CIOs can adopt co-design practices immediately: 

• Host workshops with patients and clinicians before a pilot. 

• Use visual mapping to capture real journeys, not assumed ones. 

• Reward teams for collaboration over speed. 

• Make naysayers part of the governance group. 

“Good leadership,” Chaudry adds, “is putting yourself in the middle and surrounding yourself with the smartest people you can find, and then letting them do what they do best.” 

Watch the full recording: Leader Catch-Ups with Dr. Zafar Chaudry, hosted by NEC’s Enterprise Digital Identity Group.

For many healthcare leaders, biometrics still feels like a pilot that never scales. Dr. Zafar Chaudry, SVP – Chief AI, Chief Digital Officer at Seattle Children’s Hospital, knows why: the technology is ready, but the integration isn’t. “Seattle Children’s has 1,168 systems, and that’s after we’ve done rationalization,” he tells NEC’s Mike Salazar. “If I go full biometrics on the front end and the back end, whoever brings me the solution needs to understand how to plug into each of those systems. Otherwise you’re just adding cost without benefit.” 

1. Start with Clinical Benefit 

Chaudry urges leaders to prioritize projects by clinical value, not hype. “With a $2 billion budget, I’d still start by asking: what helps patients and the people who care for them?” he says. That means identifying where biometrics can reduce risk or delay, such as eliminating wrong-patient errors or simplifying EHR access for clinicians. 

2. Plan for Integration Early 

Many vendors promise speed but ignore the plumbing. Healthcare IT still runs on a mix of legacy code and modern cloud tools. CIOs must ask how biometric systems will connect to existing EHRs, Active Directory, and other critical apps. “Don’t add another silo in the name of security,” he warns. 

Watch the Industry Check-in with Dr. Zafar Chaudry – SVP – Chief AI, Chief Digital Officer at Seattle Children’s Hospital

3. Adopt the 80/20 Rule 

“Healthcare IT can’t be 100% successful,” Chaudry says frankly. “If you can make it 80% good, go with it.” Perfection kills momentum. Start with a minimum viable deployment, test it with real users, and iterate fast. 

4. Look for Partners, Not Vendors 

Chaudry believes in working with trusted technology partners who understand the “art of the possible.” “You need engineers in the room who can validate what’s realistic,” he says. “Healthcare technologists don’t know everything, and we shouldn’t pretend to.” That mindset makes collaboration with companies like NEC essential. 

5. Think in Systems, Not Devices 

Biometric tools are only as useful as the ecosystem they connect to. Hospitals should demand interoperability standards that enable future integration across vendors and states. Otherwise, CIOs risk locking patients into isolated data pockets, the opposite of digital identity’s promise. 

6. Keep the Human Factor 

Even with biometrics, Dr. Chaudry says healthcare can never remove the human element. “Technology lets clinicians spend more time with patients instead of screens,” he notes. “But no app can hold your hand when you’re getting bad news.” That’s why ethical use and empathy must remain the north star. 

Closing Advice 

“Technology should make life simpler, not scarier,” Dr. Chaudry reminds leaders. For those considering biometric investments, success comes from clarity, partnership, and realism, not speed. 

Hear Dr. Zafar Chaudry and NEC’s Mike Salazar discussing how healthcare CIOs can balance security, trust, and humanity in the age of biometrics. Watch now →