InciteHealth's inaugural class to disrupt healthcare

The Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care has announced its inaugural class of InciteHealth fellows who will work with patients to create and execute ideas that will transform healthcare.

The 22 fellows will spend the next year of their part-time fellowship on mentorship, participating in roundtable sessions and learning from leaders in primary care, investment, law and entrepreneurship, according to a release.

This first class includes a wide range of backgrounds, from programmers and engineers to medical students and experienced clinicians. Patients and caregivers will participate as team members or advisors. Inventions may focus on anything from designing a new technology or care delivery model to integrating diagnostic tools to complement and strengthen primary care practice.

Teams will participate in a tailored curriculum, designed to introduce key concepts in design, healthcare and entrepreneurship. They will then work collaboratively to develop and test novel solutions to the most pressing problems. If these solutions show promise, they will make a pitch for up to $25,000 of funding provided by the center.

“We are incredibly excited about these teams. We are preparing for a great adventure as they begin their work, and look forward to helping them work with patients and mentors to create our future. Whether they come up with new technologies or new ways that primary care might be organized or provided, we hope that their work will contribute to improved health, improved patient experience and reduced costs,” said Russ Phillips, MD, director of the Center for Primary Care.

The initial module will include seminars on primary care, design thinking and rapid prototyping and will be led by David Janka, MD, a design expert from the Stanford d.school.