Ankita Sharma

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Ankita Sharma is a DPhil student at the University of Oxford, a Research Associate with the George Institute for Global Health, and a Consultant Sonographer with a specialist interest in Artificial Intelligence and Women’s Health. 

Ankita began her clinical career in 2010 as a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer in Edmonton, Canada. In 2016, she relocated to the UK, where she contributed to London’s diagnostic health sector while collaborating with international device manufacturers in developing Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) devices. She also worked as a Research Sonographer with Intelligent Ultrasound, supporting the clinical validation of AI-based sonography software to standardise antenatal screening. In 2018, Ankita was recognised for her contributions to the digital health sector and endorsed by Tech Nation under the “Exceptional Talent” category, which led to her being awarded the UK Home Office’s prestigious Exceptional Talent Visa.

Alongside her clinical role as lead Consultant Sonographer, overseeing 11 Sonography clinics, Ankita continued to pursue her academic interests. She earned an MSc with Distinction in Sexual and Reproductive Medicine from the University of South Wales, followed by a second MSc in Translational Health Sciences from the University of Oxford. Her MSc research, which focused on menstrual health and hygiene policy in India, deepened her interest in the role of ASHA workers within the Indian healthcare system.

Ankita’s DPhil research forms part of the SMARThealth Pregnancy programme led by Professor Jane Hirst in India. Her work addresses the practical challenges faced by frontline health workers (ASHAs) through the responsible development and application of LLMs. Specifically, she investigates how an LLM-powered chatbot, SMARThealth GPT, can deliver timely, clinically validated, and context-sensitive maternal health information to ASHA workers. As part of this research, she led nearly nine months of fieldwork in India, including contextual inquiry, user needs analysis, and clinical validation through innovative video-based user testing, contributing practical human factors insights to guide the chatbot’s design and evaluation.

Ankita has been invited to speak and serve as a judge at major international medical conferences, including FOGSI, RCOG and ARMSCON. Her broader research interests span creative dissemination methods such as message-driven filmmaking, creative qualitative research methods, the application of AI and LLMs in healthcare and education, equitable access to women’s healthcare, sexual and reproductive health education, and strategic digital innovation.

Ankita serves as an AI Ambassador for the Oxford AI and ML Competency Centre and continues to explore how emerging technologies can be designed to serve real human needs, supporting care, learning, and access across diverse settings.  She welcomes opportunities for speaking, teaching, and collaboration focused on AI in healthcare and education, point-of-care sonography, and the human-centred design of large language models. Her long-term vision is to build intelligent, compassionate tools that promote equitable access to healthcare and education, empower marginalised communities, and amplify the voices too often excluded from digital futures.