How can we ensure our health care system works for everyone?
The U.S. health care system is plagued with complex challenges. Cost. Safety. Access. Quality. Equity. The problems are well understood. And, while U.S. health care is filled with committed actors working hard to improve health and health care in this country, deep industry silos act as barriers to systematically addressing the system’s challenges. It’s easier to assign blame than to find common ground. It’s harder to connect the dots that bring forth new ideas and advance solutions collectively.
With connected, values-driven leadership in health care, we can reach across divisions, develop new solutions, and drive them forward. The Health Innovators Fellowship forges new relationships that inspire leaders to step out of their corners of the industry and understand the larger ecosystem within which they operate. And, having gained new perspective, these leaders can use their platforms to make meaningful changes that benefit everyone.
The Health Innovators Fellowship: A Unique Model The Health Innovators Fellowship’s mission is to develop a community of energized, values-driven leaders committed to finding viable solutions to confront U.S. health care’s problems. We offer high-performing professionals a unique experience—the ability to connect with and learn from a diverse group of peers with whom they wouldn’t ordinarily interact while refining their own values and charting a course that empowers them to take action in new ways to improve health and health care in America.
Connecting an Ecosystem of Health Care Leaders for Action We know it will take different actors across health care to move the needle. That’s why we intentionally bring leaders together from different sectors of the industry, spheres of influence, and regions of the country. Fellows include clinicians, venture capitalists, startup founders, health system leaders, government officials, academicians, insurance executives, and public health officials. 100+ Fellows across the United States work in startups, multi-national corporations, state and federal government, nonprofit organizations, health care systems, and academic health centers. By bringing these leaders together, we help them broaden their perspectives and break down the silos that prevent progress on tackling health care’s challenges.
How We Catalyze Impact We require Fellows to actively engage in a two-year, seminar-based program, undertake a leadership venture, and commit to support, hold accountable, and drive change alongside their peers in the industry. The Fellowship:
GATHERS A DIVERSE GROUP OF PEERS to challenge and support each other during the program and throughout their lives.
CULTIVATES AND SHARPENS FELLOWS’ VALUES through four transformative, retreat-like seminars grounded in the time-tested Aspen method of curated readings and moderated dialogue.
GALVANIZES FELLOWS TO TURN THEIR IDEAS INTO IMPACT through values-based, enlightened leadership and taking actions that positively affect the health care industry, their communities, and society.
Their commitment to the program—and the impact the experience has on them— continues long after the two-year period and deepens over time.
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The Fellowship has given me the gift of relationships that have helped me widen the lens of my perspective, challenged my views, and provoked dissonance that will drive me to deepen my impact on U.S. health care and beyond.
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–Megan Jones Bell, Class II Chief Science Officer, Headspace
Stepping up to Lead The Fellowship experience prompts Fellows to think, act, and lead differently.*
82%
of Fellows reported that, as a result of the Fellowship, they mobilized their resources (money, time, platform, and networks) to create positive change and/or confront societal wrongs in their community.
93%
of Fellows reported that the Fellowship galvanized them to influence leaders, policies, practices, or reforms in the health care industry.
93%
of Fellows reported leading their companies or organizations differently and described being guided by their values in new, tangible ways. *AGLN Retrospective Impact Study 2019
“
I’ve discovered through this experience that my goal in life is to create impact and value in areas of health care that I’m passionate about. And what I’ve learned in this Fellowship is that you can do that in a lot of different ways beyond the approaches I’ve taken in the past. The examples and encouragement of my fellow Fellows helped me come to this realization.
”
–Kedar Mate, Class III Chief Innovation & Education Officer Institute for Healthcare Improvement
The Influence of the Fellowship Extends Far Beyond the Individual Health Car e U.S.
Th
s on
ir Communitie e s Th rganiza ti rO i e
We challenge Fellows to commit over their lifetimes to stepping up their leadership in new ways that positively affect the health care industry and the people, institutions, and communities around them. Fellows: Leaders are stretched to step up in significant ways that affect their own organizations, their communities, and U.S. health care. Fellows’ Organizations: Fellows lead their organizations with greater clarity of values and purpose. Fellows’ Communities: Fellows identify and tackle problems in their own communities and beyond. U.S. Health Care: Fellows mobilize their resources and work individually and collectively to implement values-driven reforms that improve U.S. health and health care.
How do Fellows turn values into action? We require each Fellow to develop a leadership venture that addresses a compelling health care problem. Ventures are: •
an opportunity for Fellows to take risks, stretch themselves, and work with their peers to identify out-of-the-box solutions.
•
an expression of Fellows’ values and commitment to use what they’ve learned from the Fellowship to move from thought to action.
•
a way to go beyond observing problems to implementing innovative solutions.
Fellows focus on an array of issues and collaborate with other Health Innovators Fellows, Aspen Institute Fellows, and Fellowship funders to increase their impact. Areas of focus include:
Health Technology
Social Determinants of Health
Mental Health
Health Care Equity
Delivery System Innovation
End-of-Life Care
“
Having been lucky to find a match when I needed a bone marrow transplant, I wanted to improve the odds for others— especially ethnic minority patients, who have a lower probability of finding a match. The Fellowship discussions and venture opportunity inspired me to take decisive action to increase the numbers and diversity of bone marrow registry donors.
”
–Garheng Kong, Class III Managing Partner & Founder, HealthQuest Capital
Ventures Driven by Values Bolstering Emerging Female Health Care Executives through Mentorship
Lisa Suennen, Class I Managing Director, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips Women make up two-thirds of U.S. health care’s entry-level workers, but only one-third of its C-suite executives.* Lisa Suennen created a web-based, tech-enabled mentor matching service, CSweetener, to support female leaders on the path to—and already in—the health care C-suite. The need and demand for CSweetener’s services have continued to grow since its founding, and, in October 2019, Lisa announced that the HLTH Foundation would acquire the mentor matching service to shepherd it through its next stage of growth and opportunity. Through this work, CSweetener is bringing strong female voices to the C-suite, benefitting women, their companies, and the communities they serve.
The Fellowship catalyzed me to act on my desire for gender equality in a way I “likely would not have done otherwise. It was the fuel that led me to take my thoughts to action, and it helped greatly that my colleagues in the Fellowship rallied to help and support its launch, serving as expert mentors to women, especially me.
”
*
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/women-in-the-healthcare-industry
loneliness “is Asoftenphysicians, staring us in the face, but we don’t ask patients about it because we don’t have anything to offer to help them. Now our clinicians can offer effective interventions that make patients less lonely and improve their health and well-being.
”
Improving Seniors’ Health by Treating Loneliness as a Disease Sachin Jain, Class II President & CEO, CareMore/Aspire Health Loneliness has negative effects beyond just feeling sad: there is a 45% increased risk of mortality in seniors who report feeling lonely.* Recognizing the effects that senior loneliness and social isolation have on physical and emotional health, Sachin leveraged his platform at CareMore, a senior-focused health plan and health care delivery system, to launch The Togetherness Program, which improves seniors’ health by treating loneliness like any other serious medical condition. With the program’s positive outcomes, Anthem, CareMore’s parent company, has adopted the intervention throughout its Medicare plans that touch more than 1 million seniors across the U.S., and the program serves as an example for other organizations.
*
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1188033
Getting Proximate to Find the Solution Lisa Fitzpatrick, Class III CEO & Founder, Grapevine Health Why do low-income patients enrolled in Medicaid so often miss their clinic visits, use hospital emergency rooms to get basic or avoidable care, and fail to get the care they need? This is what Lisa hoped to answer when she moved in the middle of the Fellowship from her downtown Washington, DC, condo to the city’s poorest neighborhood. She hoped that proximity to the problem would help her find solutions. Lisa spent more than a year getting to know her neighbors and the community so she could better understand how they experienced the health care system. She learned that, to get low-income communities like hers engaged in health care, she needed to focus on three things: their trauma, distrust, and low health literacy. “[I] realized I was approaching this with a judgmental mindset. I was asking, ‘Why won’t people engage in health care?’ And I should have been asking, ‘Why would they?’” Grapevine Health, a new organization Lisa founded using the lessons she learned from her community, works to foster trust within low-income communities. Building upon these personal relationships, the organization educates individuals and helps them engage in their own health care, empowering patients to get the care they need.
“
[I] realized I was approaching this with a judgmental mindset. I was asking, ‘Why won’t people engage in health care?’ And I should have been asking, ‘Why would they?’
”
Support from a Powerful Network Health Innovators Fellows work with and support one another, and, as part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN), they can further extend their reach. The AGLN is a worldwide community of 3,000+ high-integrity, entrepreneurial leaders from more than 60 countries who participate in one of the 14
geographic or sector-specific Aspen Institute Fellowships and are committed to proactively confronting societal challenges. Engagement with these leaders advances Health Innovators Fellows’ goals and enhances their impact.
Collaborations That Drive Innovation Patrick Hines Health Innovators Fellow Founder & CEO, Functional Fluidics
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Ted Love Henry Crown Fellow CEO, Global Blood Therapeutics
Sickle cell disease affects roughly 100,000 Americans, most of whom are African American, but its treatment has gotten less funding and focus than other rare diseases in the U.S.* Patrick and Ted connected through the AGLN. They realized that, by working together, they could more effectively advance sickle cell disease treatment beyond what their companies were doing individually. Ted’s company, which recently received FDA approval for a groundbreaking sickle cell disease therapy, is using blood tests that Patrick’s company developed to assess how effectively the therapy improves the health of red blood cells. Now, these companies have better tools and more expertise to apply to their collective mission of improving the lives of people with sickle cell disease. *https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/upshot/sickle-cell-disease-overlooked.html
Why the Health Innovators Fellowship? Through their individual and collective work, our Fellows find innovative solutions to help ensure equitable, affordable, and compassionate health care. With more than 100 Fellows and counting from across the U.S., your support of the program will have a far reach and invaluable impact. You’re not just funding a program; you’re funding the future of health care.
Where We Are and Where We’re Going Families and businesses need relief from high costs. Access and outcomes vary by factors including race and zip code. Clinicians are burnt out. Patients need better information to make the best choices. With an industry that’s so complex and segmented, it can be hard to see eye-to-eye and tackle seemingly insurmountable problems. But we must work together toward a health care system that serves everyone.
The Health Innovators Fellowship encourages innovative leaders to reach across divides to achieve that goal. It is a force multiplier for changemakers. By supporting an ever-growing community of values-driven health care leaders and fostering connections between them, we are expanding the horizons of what is possible.
The Health Innovators Fellowship The Health Innovators Fellowship is designed for highly successful U.S. health care leaders who are ready to pause and reflect on how to use their skills and experiences to move from success to a place of growing significance. The Fellowship offers them a unique opportunity to clarify their own core values and explore questions of effective and enlightened leadership with a diverse group of peers with whom they may not ordinarily interact. Fellows come from a wide variety of industries and sectors, ranging from medicine to venture capital to public health and beyond.
The Aspen Global Leadership Network The Aspen Global Leadership Network’s mission is to develop authentic, high-integrity leaders committed to proactively confronting societal challenges, individually and collectively, in order to create a more free, just, and equitable society.
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.
Contact Rima Cohen, Executive Director Health Innovators Fellowship rima.cohen@aspeninstitute.org
Learn more at agln.aspeninstitute.org/fellowships/healthinnovators