Program Review: Master of Health Care Innovation

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 Committee Chair: Michael Ackerman, PhD, RN, FCCM, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN

Michael Ackerman is the Director of the Master in Healthcare Innovation Program and Professor of Clinical Nursing at The Ohio State University. With a career spanning from Candy Striper to Senior Director, Mike has held nearly every role in nursing, primarily in the critical care arena. He is a passionate clinician, researcher, and speaker with over 50 publications and several funded studies. Mike is known for his work in culture change through the “Crucial Conversations” program and is recognized as a disruptive innovator in healthcare.

Robert Shumsky, PhD, MS

Robert Shumsky is a Professor of Operations Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and is faculty co-director of Health Care Management Education at Dartmouth.  His research focuses on the improvement of service operations, and he has written about capacity estimation and control, how to allocate work to improve quality, and how to coordinate service supply chains.  He has conducted research on the U.S. air traffic management system and studied transportation operations for state agencies and the Federal Aviation Administration. He has also served as a consultant for both manufacturing and service operations, including call centers and health care providers.  Professor Shumsky has published articles in Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Operations Research, Management Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. He currently serves in various editorial positions for several academic journals.  He received his PhD degree in Operations Research from MIT.

Vivian Riefberg, MBA

Vivian Riefberg is a Professor of Practice at the UVA Darden School of Business, where she holds the David C. Walentas Jefferson Scholars Chair and is also a Faculty Senior Fellow at the Miller Center. She held senior leadership roles at McKinsey & Company including co-leader of the U.S. Health Care Practice and served on the global board of directors. Riefberg teaches courses on health care innovation, consulting, and crisis leadership, and is active in research on institutional crisis management and women’s leadership. She serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards, including PBS, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. On the corporate side Vivian serves on the board of Onward Medical (ONWD), Waystar (WAY), KHealth, Accompany Health and the impact investing fund Lightrock. A frequent speaker and published contributor, she holds a BA from Harvard-Radcliffe and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Shivan Mehta, MD, MBA, MSHP

Shivan Mehta, is a gastroenterologist and the Associate Chief Innovation Officer at Penn Medicine; his focus is on developing, evaluating, and scaling new approaches to health care delivery that incorporate behavioral economics, design thinking, and information technology. At the Center for Health Care Transformation & Innovation, Dr. Mehta leads a multidisciplinary team of designers, managers, and engineers to develop, test, and implement new health care delivery interventions across Penn’s health system. As Director of the Population Health Lab, Dr. Mehta has led also over 25 pragmatic trials looking at how health care systems can leverage behavioral economics, design thinking, and information technology to improve population health outcomes in areas such as cancer screening, vaccination, and remote monitoring.

Dr. Mehta is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine. He received his undergraduate degree in economics at Yale University, and his medical, business, and health policy degrees at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kathy Valverde, PhD, MS, LCGC

Kathleen Valverde, Assistant Professor of Medicine, has been the program director of the University of Pennsylvania (formerly Arcadia University) Genetic Counseling Programs since 2004. Over her 30-year career, she has trained nearly 400 genetic counselors who now serve in leadership, clinical, academic, and advocacy roles across the field. Dr. Valverde is widely recognized for her lasting impact on the profession and her commitment to mentoring the next generation of genetic counselors. Her dedication and leadership have helped shape the evolution of genetic counseling. She continues to inspire students and colleagues alike with her passion and vision.