Pediatric Medical Consulting.

Luca Consulting PLLC is a physician-managed professional limited liability company providing contracted clinical services and health-technology advisory, founded and principal-led by Rizwan Siwani, MD, FAAP — a board-certified pediatric hospitalist with a focus on clinical medicine, health informatics, and AI-enabled diagnostics.

Dr. Rizwan Siwani
About

Rizwan Siwani, MD, FAAP

Board-certified pediatric hospitalist with a focus on clinical medicine, health informatics, and AI-enabled diagnostics.

Dr. Siwani practices at the level of a subspecialist, providing complex inpatient and neonatal care at a critical access hospital serving a medically underserved rural population in western North Dakota. His scope spans high-acuity pediatric admissions — respiratory failure, sepsis, neurologic emergencies — and procedural care including lumbar puncture, endotracheal intubation, and vascular access, often as the sole on-site pediatric physician.

Dr. Siwani is the founder and principal of Luca Consulting PLLC, and the founder of EarRx, an AI-powered pediatric telehealth venture developing a parent-facing digital otoscope with clinician review and machine-learning-assisted diagnosis of acute otitis media. EarRx has been recognized through selection into the federally funded Good Jobs Challenge (U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration) and as a finalist in the StartMN Think Tank 2025.

Dr. Siwani's academic contributions include peer-reviewed publications in informatics, otolaryngology, surgery, and infectious disease; oral and poster presentations at national specialty meetings; and ongoing peer review service for Applied Clinical Informatics. He has held leadership roles in regional and national medical committees and has been recognized in regional press for community health advocacy.

  • Diplomate, American Board of Pediatrics
  • Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP)
  • Residency, Mayo Clinic — Pediatrics
  • M.B., B.S., Aga Khan Medical College
  • Epic Physician Builder Certified
  • BLS, PALS, NRP — Current
  • Licensed: Minnesota, North Dakota
  • Interstate Medical License Compact
Services

What we do

Luca Consulting PLLC contracts directly with hospitals, health systems, group practices, and digital-health companies. Engagements are physician-led and structured to meet institutional credentialing, compliance, and continuity standards.

01

Pediatric Hospital Medicine

Locum and contracted inpatient pediatric coverage, including newborn, neonatal, and acute pediatric admissions in community and critical-access settings.

02

Acute & Urgent Care

Procedural and high-acuity pediatric care: respiratory failure, sepsis, neurologic emergencies, lumbar puncture, intubation, and vascular access.

03

General Outpatient Pediatrics

Ambulatory pediatric coverage in community practice, urgent-care, and multispecialty regional health systems.

04

Clinical Informatics

EHR governance, downtime risk analysis, ICU data navigation, decision support, and physician-builder consultation grounded in peer-reviewed research.

05

Digital Health Advisory

Pediatric clinical advisory for AI-enabled diagnostic, telehealth, and consumer-health ventures — informed by direct founder experience at EarRx.

06

Peer Review & Editorial

Invited reviewer for Applied Clinical Informatics; available for editorial, scientific advisory, and expert review engagements.

Ventures

EarRx

EarRx is an AI-powered pediatric telehealth venture developing a parent-facing digital otoscope with clinician review and machine-learning-assisted diagnosis of acute otitis media — a condition that drives one of the most common pediatric ambulatory visits and antibiotic prescriptions in the United States.

Dr. Siwani is the founder. Luca Consulting PLLC supports EarRx and other health-technology initiatives at the intersection of pediatric medicine, clinical informatics, and AI.

Federal Recognition

Selected into the Good Jobs Challenge (U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA) — 2026.

StartMN Think Tank

Finalist, 2025 — selected by public vote from a competitive field of twelve semifinalists.

Twin Cities Business

Featured presenter and co-founder coverage in Twin Cities Business Magazine.

Minnesota DEED

Listed among state-selected startups in the official MN DEED Small Business Newsletter.

Why EarRx

Acute otitis media generates an estimated 30 million U.S. pediatric office visits annually and remains a leading driver of pediatric antibiotic prescribing. Diagnostic uncertainty at the point of care contributes to overprescribing — a recognized antimicrobial-stewardship problem. EarRx aims to put a clinically validated, parent-operated digital otoscope into the home, paired with clinician oversight and ML-assisted interpretation, to reduce unnecessary office visits and improve diagnostic precision.

Awards & Honors

Recognition

2026
Good Jobs Challenge Selectee
Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber Foundation — federally funded U.S. Economic Development Administration initiative.
2025
StartMN Think Tank Finalist
EarRx — Twin Cities Business Magazine. Selected by public vote from a competitive field of twelve semifinalists.
2016
Basic Certificate in Quality & Safety
American Board of Medical Specialties.
2014
Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP)
Elected fellowship recognizing clinical excellence and contributions to pediatrics.
2013
Mayo Clinic Quality Fellow, Bronze Level
Awarded upon completion of Mayo Clinic's structured quality-improvement training program.

Leadership & Service

Media & Press

Featured coverage

Selected Publications

Peer-reviewed bibliography

Indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE. ‡ Denotes first-author publication.

  1. Harrison AM, Siwani R, Pickering BW, Herasevich V. Clinical impact of intraoperative electronic health record downtime on surgical patients. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2019;26(10):928–933. PMID: 30946466.
  2. ‡ Siwani R, Friedman O. Anatomic evaluation of the vertical face-lift in cadavers. JAMA Facial Plast Surg. 2013;15(6):422–427. PMID: 23974780.
  3. ‡ Siwani R, Tombers NM, Rieck KL, Cofer SA. Comparative analysis of fracture characteristics of the developing mandible: the Mayo Clinic experience. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2014;78(7):1066–1070. PMID: 24814233.
  4. Nolan ME, Siwani R, Helmi H, Pickering BW, Moreno-Franco P, Herasevich V. Data use and navigation patterns among medical ICU clinicians during electronic chart review. Appl Clin Inform. 2017;8(4):1117–1126. PMID: 29241249.
  5. Post FA, Campbell LJ, Hamzah L, et al., Siwani R, et al. Predictors of renal outcome in HIV-associated nephropathy. Clin Infect Dis. 2008;46(8):1282–1289. PMID: 18444868.
  6. Pallanch JF, Yu L, Delone D, et al., Siwani R, et al. Three-dimensional volumetric CT scoring as an objective outcome measure for chronic rhinosinusitis. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol. 2013;3(12):963–972. PMID: 24106202.
  7. Ather MH, Faizullah K, Achakzai I, Siwani R, Irani F. Alternate and incidental diagnoses on non-contrast spiral CT for acute flank pain. Urol J. 2009;6(1):14–18. PMID: 19241335.
  8. Shafiq M, Salahuddin FF, Siddiqi M, et al., Siwani RA, et al. Sleep deprivation and its associated factors among general ward patients at a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. J Pak Med Assoc. 2006;56(12):614–617. PMID: 17312658.
  9. Shafiq M, Shah Z, Saleem A, et al., Siwani R, et al. Perceptions of Pakistani medical students about drugs and alcohol. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2006;1:31. PMID: 17064420.
Contact

Inquire about services

For locum, consulting, advisory, peer-review, or media inquiries, please contact us. All messages are reviewed by Dr. Siwani directly.

Submitting opens your default email client. You may also email us directly at contact@lucaconsultinggroup.com.

Luca Consulting PLLC is a Minnesota-registered professional limited liability company. Engagement-specific credentials, malpractice coverage, and W-9/COI documentation are available on request.