What are the converging forces that are transforming health care? How can business and science leaders best navigate the rapidly changing world of health care? What are the perspectives of patients, physicians and payers that determine the success of a new innovation?
These are just a few of the questions that business and science leaders working in the health care industry are tackling in executive education programs offered by Harvard Medical School this year.
Stanley Shaw, associate dean for executive education at HMS and assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said that the School’s executive education offerings are focused on “helping companies and individuals better understand the art, science and practice of medicine in order to accelerate the development of innovations that improve the health of our patients.”
The HMS executive education group designs and delivers custom programs for specific organizations, and these are complemented by programs open to individuals, providing them with access to a broader swath of the industry and allowing participants to network with other industry leaders.
If industry leaders become more “fluent” in the unique culture and perspectives of patients, doctors and health care organizations, Shaw said, industry innovations may have a broader impact.
HMS faculty also discuss the latest enabling technologies and discoveries that will underpin innovation in the near future. These themes are woven together with firsthand, inside access that enables participants to apply their insights to their companies’ strategic priorities.
“By hearing directly from people involved in patient care, scientific discovery and strategy for their health care organizations, companies can better understand these overlapping perspectives—with greater empathy for the unique nature of medicine,” said Shaw.
The first program, Innovations in Digital Health: Technologies Shaping the Future of Health Care, began on March 12, and was presented by John Halamka, the HMS International Healthcare Innovation Professor of Emergency Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The program was designed to help participants set a digital health strategy for their organizations through a focus on the digital technologies that are poised to have the biggest impact on health care in the next 12-18 months.
Inside the Health Care Ecosystem: Strategic Insights for Business Leaders, will be offered May 21-24 and is led by Shaw. This flagship program combines the most sought after elements from custom programs for companies such as Google, athenahealth, General Electric and Amgen, and provides a comprehensive view into the converging forces that are transforming health care. The program seeks to “give participants a visceral understanding of what it is like to be inside the health care system,”said Shaw. The opportunity to directly observe real-world care delivery and workflows is unique to this program.
Functional Genomics and Drug Discovery: New Approaches for Decision Making, will be directed June 4-5 by Sekar Kathiresan, HMS professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and director of Mass General’s Center for Genomic Medicine. It will explore how the use of genomics and related technologies can streamline drug development throughout the discovery, development, regulatory and post-regulatory phases of the process.
The Microbiome: Emerging Opportunities for Biopharma, will be offered this fall and is directed by Ramnik Xavier, the HMS Kurt J. Isselbacher Professor of Medicine in the Field of Gastroenterology at Massachussetts General Hospitaland co-director of the Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The program will discuss the latest advances in the microbiome field, identify emerging areas of opportunity, and help participants set strategic priorities for discovery and investment in microbiome-related diagnostics and therapies.
All of the programs are designed “to help learners thrive at a very complicated intersection, where they must innovate within the realities of health care,” said Shaw.
The programs are part of a growing portfolio of open enrollment offerings provided through HMS, and additional programs will be offered in the future.