The connective tissue between research, education and care
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SUSAN AHERN
Vice President
for Innovation
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A Note from...
Susan Ahern, Vice President for Innovation, MaineHealth
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Over the last month, I have been reminded of the power of collaboration and connection. I’ve had the privilege of representing MaineHealth Innovation throughout the growing northern New England innovation network. Joined by colleagues from the MaineHealth workforce development team, I was a guest lecturer for a Roux Institute class on “Welcome to the Biotech Enterprise.” I graciously served on a Fireside Chat with Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory and University of Maine Orono innovation colleagues on “Taking Innovations to the Real World” at the BioME and Maine Center for Entrepreneurs’ 2021 Life Sciences Summit, and attendees were eager to lend expertise as we advance MaineHealth innovations. The University of Southern Maine Maker Innovation Studio (MIST), which serves as the engineering arm of MaineHealth Innovation, is hiring an industrial designer to broaden the studio’s prototype offerings and I have been asked to help interview an impressive cohort of candidates. Most recently, I was inspired by my collisions with experts from around the world at the 2021 HLTH-Create Health’s Future conference.
All of these experiences contribute to the larger innovation fabric that we are building across Maine and New Hampshire. Having the opportunities to share the amazing work of our innovators is an honor. With MaineHealth serving as an anchoring force of 22,000 compassionate healthcare professionals, I believe that together, with our partners, we are building an innovation ecosystem that will ultimately achieve our vision of creating the healthiest communities in America.
With kind regards,
Susan
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The Roux Institute of Northeastern University |
Established in 2020, the Roux Institute of Northeastern University aims to reinvent the way universities support entrepreneurs. As a MaineHealth strategic partner, The Roux Institute and MaineHealth Innovation work together to provide clinical and entrepreneurial expertise to local start-up companies and MaineHealth innovators. Both organizations co-host the monthly Innovation Blender event series, a program designed to bring together practitioners, researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators from a variety of backgrounds to ideate on healthcare opportunities.
This fall, The Roux Institute Entrepreneur team launched its first Techstars Accelerator, a one-year immersive learning experience to speed up the innovation cycle for start-up companies with novel solutions and products.
MaineHealth Innovation's community space is located at The Roux Institute's campus at 100 Fore Street in Portland, ME. The modern, collaborative work and meeting space is available to all MaineHealth care team members. Email innovation_center@mainehealth.org to learn more.
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PROGRAM UPDATES
Innovation Cohort | Innovation Elective | Innovation Fund | Innovation Blender | Brewing Ideas Coffee Corner
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Welcome to the Fall 2021 Innovation Cohort Participants!
Congratulations! The following MaineHealth care team members are participating in the Fall 2021 Innovation Cohort:
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Malvina Gregory, Director of Interpreter & Cross Cultural Services at Maine Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine Maine Track students, Nathaniel Meyer and Alexander Schin, are designing Access Avatars, which are imaginary, diverse, and intersectional personas that should be considered in healthcare facilities and process planning discussions.
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Jeremy Lott, MD, Interventional Radiology Resident at Maine Medical Center, is developing a hydraulic manifold system for improved efficiency of the distribution of contrast, saline, and other media.
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Karleen Smat, RN, and Janet Moore, RN, of MidCoast Hospital are designing a Comfort Neck Pillow that addresses the need to provide better comfort for critically ill patients.
The MaineHealth Innovation Cohort is designed to help MaineHealth care team members advance "back of the envelope" ideas that address unmet care needs. Throughout the 8-week program, participants from across MaineHealth work on better defining their innovative projects through innovation science, user discovery, prototyping and intellectual property principles.
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Over the next several months, our MaineHealth Innovation newsletter will feature tips for developing skills to “think differently” and to adopt a more innovative mindset. In each issue, we will present a new Discovery Skill based on the work of Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and
Clayton Christensen, leaders in disruptive innovation. Last month we covered questioning. You can check out that Innovation tip here from our September newsletter. Using the skills may inspire and challenge you to create new innovative insights.
Discovery Skill: Observing
“Often the surprises that lead to new ideas come from watching other people work and live their normal lives.”- Scott Cook, Founder of Intuit
When observing someone in a particular situation or circumstance, you have an opportunity to glean insights into what is working well, where there are anomalies, and where there is opportunity for innovation. Intentionally and consistently observing activities and behaviors (even our own) can help us gain valuable insights into new ways of doing things.
Observation Opportunities:
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Pick a company or start-up to observe or follow. This could be a company within your field or in an area that interests you. Find out everything you can about what the company does, how they do it, and what they are looking to do next. A great resource for finding a list of start-ups and innovative companies is the How I Built This podcast. The narrative offers an in-depth observation of how innovators and entrepreneurs go from idea to reality.
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Another option is to set aside 10 minutes once or twice a week for observation. You might observe something that interests you in your daily work or ask a colleague if you can shadow them on a brief activity to observe a new experience.
Jot down what you learn from either of these observation experiences. What surprised you? What encouraged you? Were any ideas sparked from your observations? Where did you see opportunities for new ways of doing things?
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Skills in Action: MaineHealth Innovator, Samir Haydar, DO, MPH, an emergency medicine physician and creator of NavigatER, spent years observing patients’ frustrations in accessing information about their care while waiting in the emergency room. He also observed how easily other industries were sharing information directly with consumers about their experiences. Samir’s series of observations soon led him to the idea of a phone app to improve patient experience by providing a “backstage pass” for patients accessing emergency health care services.
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Taking the Next Step: Join the MaineHealth Innovation team and fellow innovators for a bi-weekly Brewing Ideas Coffee Corner to start sharing your key learnings and ideas generated through observations. We look forward to hearing about your experiences! Join this interactive hour every 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 7:30am via Zoom.
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Help us celebrate innovation! |
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We are always looking to learn about innovation happening across MaineHealth, and we would love to hear from you!
Let us know how we can help support innovation:
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