Overview

Beginning in 2005, the MIT Collaborative Initiatives has hosted four New Models meetings. Each was attended by leaders in the various health industries as well as experts in other fields. Participants have included leaders from U.S. Military Health, industry, academia, public health, and government.

The goal of these meetings is idea generation—a first step toward innovative approaches to addressing the state of healthcare in the U.S. as well as building new collaborations to put the most promising ideas into action. Integral to the Collaborative’s mission is a push towards action—not just identifying potential solutions, but actually putting them into practice.

Each of the Collaborative’s major projects has stemmed from ideas generated in these meetings.  The first initiative, Stroke Pathways, applied a systems-based  approach to an acute, time sensitive disease.  This methodology was then used to tackle a broader, chronic issue in Childhood Obesity. Currently, the Collaborative is taking this approach to assist the US Military in developing innovative strategies for managing PTSD and related issues.

New Model 5 – Breaking Log Jams November 29, 2011

Many of the societal issues, which were seen to have reached an impasse when MIT Collaborative Initiatives started seven years ago, are still challenging our leadership and economy today. Change seems to be impeded by log jams of ideology and conflicting incentives.

MIT-CI has applied a systems approach, inherent to architecture and engineering, to a number of test cases in healthcare to see if this approach can
translate from industrial applications to societal challenges. We have looked at Stroke, Obesity and Post-Traumatic Stress through this lens with surprising results.

New Models 5: Breaking Log Jams provided a forum for discussion and debate on the value of systems thinking and collaboration in breaking through log jams to effective action. It highlighted MIT-CI's experience as well as models of successful application and difficulties of this approach in business, government, the U.S. Military and healthcare.

The day was focused on interactive discussion with presentations aimed at highlighting different fields as well as the work done by MIT-CI. Several themes emerged from the day, which identified and challenged a number of specific log jams. Primary among them was a discussion of the need for and challenges to innovation in addressing some of the most pressing log jams facing our society.

The following is a list of some of the main take-aways from the day:

1. Prevention was the elephant in the room, not just for health issues but using foresight to plan for inevitable change
2. Need for young entrepreneurs to hear what was being said in the room
3. Innovation stems from leaders who are willing to adopt change, accept risk, recognize and learn from failure, reward success – need strong leaders to drive innovation
4. Cross boundary (gov't, business, non-profit – across departments – across specialties and areas of expertise – across viewpoints) collaboration is critical
5. Needs to be a "space" for innovation, often too busy reacting to innovate and adopt change
6. Innovation stems from people
7. Role of data? Need supporting data, must challenge data, don't want to get too hung up on data
8. Need to provide ways to innovate through action – learn through doing
9. Listen to the people you are trying to serve
10. Innovation, Good outcomes – should be expected not exception

Agendas and Synopses

Past Participants

Jonathan Gruber, PhD	Associate Head and Professor, Department of Economics, MIT; Director of Program on Children at the National Bureau of Economic Research; Co-editor, Journal of Public Economics; Associate Editor, Journal of Health Economics
Bob Hale	Under Secretary of Defense, Comptroller
Olaf Haugen, CAPT	Navy Bureau of Medicine
Kerry Healey	Visiting Professor at the JFK School of Government and Former Lt. Gov. Massachusetts
Oliver C. Henker, R.	Chief Government Relations Officer, Office of Government Relations, Cleveland Clinic
Susan Hockfield, PhD	President MIT
Patricia D. Horoho, Major General	US Army Commander, Western Regional Medical Command; Commander, Madigan Army Medical Center, FT Lewis, WA; Chief, Army Nurse Corp; Manager, TRICARE Puget Sound, WA
Charles Hume	US Department of Veterans Affairs
Christine S. Hunter, Rear Adm	Incoming Deputy Director for TRICARE Management Activity
Alice Jacobs	Chairman & CEO, Intelligent Medical Devices
Paula A. Johnson MD, MPH	Chief of Division of Women's Health, Executive Director Connor's Center Women's Health & Gender Biology Brigham & Women's Hospital
Daniel W. Jones, MD	President American Heart Association; Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, Dean School of Medicine, Herbert G. Langford Professor of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center
Stephen L. Jones, MD	Principal Deputy, Assistant Secretary of Defense Health Affairs), Office of the Secretary of Defense
Janice Joyner	Special Assistant to Secretary Togo West
Steve Kadish	Director of the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities, Brigham & Women's Hospital
David Kildee	Prof. Staff Member, Commission on Armerd Svcs., US House of Representatives
Michael Kilpatrick MD	Director, MHS Strategic Communications
William A. Knaus	Evelyn Troup Hobson Professor and Chairman Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia School of Medicine
Akhila Kosaraju, MD	Health Affairs
Ted Krueger	Associate Dean Architecture, Rensselaer
Christian J. Kryder, M.D.	Harvard School of Design, Center for Environment & Technology
John Kugler, MD COL	Chief Medical Officer, DOD,  TMA
Thom Kurmel, COL	Chief of Staff, Health Affairs, Personnel and Readiness, United States Department of Defense
Michael J. Kussman, MD, The Honorable	Under Secretary for Health for the Veterans Health Administration, Brigadier General U.S. Army ret.
Robert Langer, PhD	Institute Professor, MIT
Larry Laughlin, MD	Dean, USU School of Medicine
Thomas H. Lee, MD, MSc	Network President and CEO, Partners HealthCare System/Partners HealthCare Community, Inc.
LaSalle Leffall, MD	Presidents Cancer Advisory Council, Howard University
Gail Lese, M.D.	Chief Investment Officer, Mugar Enterprises
Frank Levy	Rose Professor of Urban Economics, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, M.I.T.
Michelle Leyden Li	Director of Business Development, Intel
Donald A.B. Lindberg, MD	Director, National Library of Medicine, NIH
Harvery Lodish, PhD	Founding Member Whitehead Institute, Professor of Biology, MIT
Michael Love	President  & CEO, Steelcase Design Partnership
John M. Mateczun, RADM	Commander, Joint Task Force, National Capital Region Medical; Member Task Force on the Future of the Military Health System
Dave McGinnis	Principal Deputy ASD for Reserve Affairs
Thomas McGinnis, RADM	Chief, Pharmaceutical Operations Directorate
Christopher J. McKown	President, Health Dialog Services Corporation
Joseph C. McNay	Chairman, Chief Investment Officer & Managing Principal, Essex Investment Management Group, LLC
William F. McSweeney	Former President Occidental International Group
Dana Mead	Chairman, MIT
Al Middleton
Michael Mittelman, MD, RADM	U.S. Navy
James J. Mongan, MD	President and CEO, Partners HealthCare System; Chair, Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System
Donald E. Morel PhD	CEO, West Pharmaceutical Services
Tommy Morris	Office of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Health Protection & Readiness Programs
Aaron Moskowitz	Executive Editor, Biomedical Research & Education Foundation
Joel Moses	Institute Professor, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Engineering Systems; Acting Director, Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development MIT
Mohsen Mostafavi	Dean, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Patricia A. Murphy	US Department of State
Campbell Murray, MD	Managing Director, Novartis Bioventure Fund
Matt Nathan, RADM	Cammander, Navy Medicine National Captial Area
Deb Nightingale	MIT Dept of Aeronautics & Astonautics and Engineering Systems
Don Noa, COL	MHS Acting DASD FHP&R
Dave O'Leary	EVP, HR State Street Corporation
Bob Opsut, MD	Health Affiars HB&FP
John Parker, MD, GEN ret	SAIC
James B. Peake, MD, The Honorable	Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Lieutenant General U.S. Army ret.
Dan Peterson	Vice President Industry & Government Affairs, Cook Group Incorporated
Sally Phillips, MD	AHRQ
Michael Porter, Prof	University Professor, Director Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness,Harvard Business School
George Rabstejnek	Chair, Center for Technology Commercialization; Chairman Emeritus, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmery
Franklin D. Raines	Vice Chairman of the Board, Revolution Health Group, LLc
Uwe E. Reinhardt	James Madison Professor of Political Economy Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs, Princeton University
Darrel Rhea	CEO Cheskin
Jeannine M. Rivet	President & CEO, Optum; EVP and Fmr CEO, United Health Group
Leslie Robinson	Representative of United Health Foundation
Mary Ann Rockey	Program Executive Officer/Deputy Chief Information Officer
James Roosevelt, Jr.	President and Chief Executive Officer, Tufts Health Plan
William L. Roper, MD, MPH	CEO University of North Carolina Health Care System, Dean UNC School of Medicine and Vice Chancellor Medical Affairs
Stuart A. Rosenberg, M.D.	President & CEO harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
James Roudebush, Lt. Gen	USAF Surgeon General
Tod Russell, COL	Air Force Deputy Assistant Surgeon General, Modernization
Jaquelne Rychnovsky, CAPT	Senator Daniel K. Inouye
William A. Sahlman	Dimitri V. D'Arbeloff - Class of 1955 Professsor of Business Administration, Senior Associate Dean for External Relations, Harvard Business School
Patricia Q. Schoeni	Executive Director, National Coalition on Health Care
David Schmittlein	John C. Head III Dean, MIT Sloan School of Management
Daniel L. Schodek, Prof	Dept. of Architecture, Harvard Design School
Stephen C. Schoenbaum, MD	Executive Vice President, Commonwealth Fund; Executive Director, The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System
Eric B. Schoomaker, Lt. General	USArmy Surgeon General
Stephen R. Seiler, JD	Managing Partner, Windgate Partners
David Seligman	CEO, Best Doctors
Gary Setnik, MD, FACEP	Chairman, Dept. of Emergency Medicine, Mount Auburn Hospital
James D. Shields	President and CEO Draper Labs
David Smith, RADM	DOD Joint Staff Surgeon
Jack Smith, MD	MHS Acting DASD C&PP
Steven Spear	Professor, Harvard Business School
Marco Steinberg, March	Associate Professor of Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Vikas P. Suhatme, MD, PhD	Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Chief, Renal Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Louis W. Sullivan, MD	Founder, President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine; Former Secretary of Helath & Human Services
Loree Sutton, BG	Center of Excellence
James Tallon	President, United Hospital Fund; Chairman, Commonwealth Fund
Elizabeth Teisberg, Prof.	Darden Business School, University of Virginia
Jeff Teitz	Senator Edward Kennedy's Office
Samuel O. Thier, MD	Professor of Medicine and  Health Care Policy Emeritus, Harvard Medical School
Doug Thompson	VP, Sentara Healthcare
Nancy Tomich	Institute of Federal Healthcare
John Ullo	Senior Management Advisor, Schlumberger-Doll Research
Lawrence J. Vale	Professor and Head, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT
Charles M. Vest	President, National Academy of Engineering; President Emeritus, MIT
Maureen Viall	MHS Chief Human Captial Officer
Natalya Vinokurova	RA Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness
Daniel Wattendorf, LT COL	Air Force Deputy Assistant Surgeon General, Modernization
Albert Waxman, PhD	Senior Managing Member, Psilos Group Managers, LLC
Rob Webb	President, United Resource Networks
Anthony Welters	CEO, United Health Group
John E. Wennberg, MD	Director, Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Dartmouth Medical School
Togo West, The Honorable	Chairman, TLI Leadership Group
Deborah Wheeling, MG	Deputy Surgeon General for the Army National Guard
Andy Wiesenthal, MD	Assoc. Executive Director Kaiser Permanente, The Permante Federation
Gail Wilensy, MD	Economist, President Defense Health Board, Senior Fellow Project Hope
Patrick Wilson, COL	Health Care Operations, Office of the Surgeon General and the G-3 for the US Army Medical Command
Steve Witz	Director Regenstreif Center for H/C Engineering, Purdue University
Irving Wladawsky-Berger	IBM Academy of Technology, Visiting Professor of Engineering Systems, MIT
Tim Wolfkill, CDR	Joint Staff, Chief Medical Plans and strategy
Mary Woolley	President, Research!America
Ed Wyatt	Ewyatt Consulting
Christine Zanella, PhD	Kathmandu University Medical School
Howard Zucker, MD	Deputy Assistant Secretary Health & Human Services

---

Back to top