About the Health Equity Event Series
As the Covid-19 pandemic has surged throughout our nation and across the globe, deep-rooted health inequities have been pushed to the forefront of public health.
Consequently, health equity has emerged as an overarching challenge area for the past 3 years across our MassChallenge HealthTech community and other health-related organizations. Although recent events have brought much needed attention to these health inequities, we understand that underserved populations have dealt with these inequities for generations.
To help better inform our work and the work of others moving forward, MassChallenge HealthTech is once again hosting a three-event series focused on topics related to health equity with 5 goals in mind:
- Identify and reduce inequities in health and care delivery
- Improve access to care
- Create more equitable solutions based on patient input (vs. “one-size-fits-all” solutions)
- Tackle the social determinants of health
- Increase funding and access to resources for entrepreneurs of color
Past Events
2022 Health Equity Series
Health Equity Internationally: What are the challenges to achieving health equity around the world?
June 2, 2022 | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET
Join MassChallenge HealthTech (MCHT) for the third and final event in our 2022 Health Equity Series—Health Equity Internationally. Our concluding event will feature speakers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Digital Health London, Babson College, and MassChallenge's Startup Alumni.
In both terrible and inspiring ways, COVID-19 has shown just how interconnected our world is. As we emerge from the depths of this pandemic, questions of how the global health community can harness learnings from the last two years and work to reduce new, and systemic, inequities demand answers. Innovation is a clear mandate—but how can national public health systems communicate to share and collaborate, planting flags around shared needs while surfacing the most promising novel solutions? This panel, with perspectives from the public and private sectors, will explore the challenges, successes, and future possibilities of efforts to pursue health equity around the globe.
Health Equity and Government: What is the role of local and federal government in creating a more equitable healthcare system?
April 20, 2022 | 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ET
Join MassChallenge HealthTech (MCHT) for our second event in the 2022 Health Equity Series. We are once again bringing together industry leaders from MITRE, Amazon Web Services, and New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for a fireside chat discussion on April 20th, 2022, at 2:00 PM ET.
Governments at the federal and local level play a crucial role in how we interact with healthcare. The goal of this discussion is to identify the specific role the government is and should be playing in implementing equitable solutions within healthcare systems, and how citizens and organizations should be interacting with governing bodies to make sure everyone has access to full health.
Health Equity and Data: How can data be used to make meaningful changes in care delivery or organizational processes that address health inequities?
March 3, 11am – 12pm ET
Our first event kicks off with health industry-leaders from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the United States Department of Human and Health Services, and American Medical Association, for a fireside chat on ‘Health Equity and Data,’ March 3, 2022, at 11:00 AM EST.
MCHT is convening these health innovators for a compelling discussion on how data can be used to make meaningful changes in care delivery or organizational processes that address health inequities. Data plays a key role in informing health systems how to operate, engage and communicate. As Dr. Anurag Gupta stated during last year’s Health Equity series, ‘Achieving Equity in Telehealth Access’, “If you don’t measure things, you can’t improve things.” Join us to learn how these health organizations are working to improve health equity using the power of data.
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Micky Tripathi | PhD MPP, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service
Dr. Claire-Cecile Pierre | VP, Community Health and Associate Chief Medical Officer, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She leads the Center for Community Health and Health Equity (CCHHE) and serves as the clinical and programmatic leader of Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center and Brookside Community Health Center.
Dr. Madhury (Didi) Ray | M.D., M.P.H., Director of Data and Analytics, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
2021 Health Equity Series
Lessons from the Field: What Innovators Can Learn from Community Health Centers
January 28, 2021
Community Health Centers have long operated in communities at the intersection of medical, behavioral and social care. As health tech innovators seek to make an impact on health equity, CHCs can offer critical lessons from the field. The goal of this fireside chat is to help health tech entrepreneurs understand the unique needs and perspectives both of community-based providers and the communities they serve.
Featured Speakers:
Claire Cecile Pierre, MD (moderator) | Executive Director, Kerry Murphy Healey Center for Global Health Entrepreneurship at Babson College/ Chief Medical Officer, Harbor Health Services
Michael Tang, MD, MBA | Chief Behavioral Health Officer, Child Psychiatrist, Adult Psychiatrist, Pediatrician, The Dimock Center
Michael A. Curry, Esq. | President and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers
Emily Johnson, LSW | Director of Community Outreach, Lynn Community Health Center
Achieving Equity in Telehealth Access
February 24, 2021
Without proactive efforts to ensure equity, the current wide-scale implementation of telemedicine may increase disparities in health care access for vulnerable populations with limited digital literacy or access, such as rural residents, racial/ethnic minorities, older adults, low income, limited health literacy, and or people with disabilities. The goal of this panel discussion is to help provide different perspectives (payor, large provider, and startup) around the gaps that have been created by the rise in telemedicine and what these organizations are doing to address it.
Featured Speakers:
Kelly Hall, Senior Director, Health Care Transformation & Innovation at Health Policy Commission (moderator)
Dr. Lee Park, Senior Medical Director, QPE Digital Health, Mass General Brigham
Dr. Madeline Aviles-Hernandez, Outpatient Services Director, Gandara Center
David D’Arcangelo, Commissioner, Mass Commission for the Blind
Dr. Anurag Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, Tembo Health
April 15, 2021 | 3:00-4:00 PM ET | Register here
Healthtech innovators develop products designed to optimize the user experience and value. But which users are considered in the design process? Taking a one-size-fits-all approach to product design risks leaving whole populations of users behind. All too often the unique perspectives, needs, and aspirations of people of color, people with disabilities, and other populations the have been marginalized are not fully visible in consumer-facing tech solutions, but they must be. This event will feature entrepreneurs who are challenging the status quo and building products specifically designed to create equitable and inclusive solutions that meet the needs of diverse groups of users.
Butterflly Health | The first-of-its kind mental health digital platform designed and developed for underserved populations.
4Blind | 4Blind conducts research, creates, and produces innovative devices for improvement of the quality of life of blind and deaf-blind people.
Wolomi | Wolomi is the only digital community and app that offers support to women of color to improve maternal health outcomes.
Marigold Health | Marigold Health is developing a platform that features text-based support groups and natural language processing to help patients with substance use conditions.
About MassChallenge
MassChallenge is the global network for innovators. Headquartered in the United States with seven locations worldwide, MassChallenge equips bold entrepreneurs to disrupt the status quo and to create meaningful change. Since launching in 2009, more than 2,400 MassChallenge alumni have raised more than $6.2B in funding, generated more than $3B in revenue, and created more than 157,000 total jobs. Learn more about MassChallenge at masschallenge.org.
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Questions?
Reach out directly by emailing: healthtech@masschallenge.org
