‘Vital Signs’ Features Health Experts
Follow along on Medium or in person as thought leaders address key areas — from business models and incentives to policy, roles, technology and data — that need rapid evolution or disruption to enable a vital, inclusive health ecosystem.
“Vital Signs” is a Signature Course of The University of Texas at Austin featuring lectures open to the public, offered in partnership with Dell Medical School and the School of Nursing.
Past Lectures
If We Are Not at the Table, We Are On the Menu!
Tuesday, April 25, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Sharon Terry, president and Chief Executive Officer, Genetic Alliance
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From the lecture notes: A campus minister with no scientific training, Sharon Terry was thrown into the world of biomedical research with no preparation when her two children were diagnosed with a genetic condition. Over the next 22 years, Sharon took on driving science and policy to impact solutions to diseases more broadly, especially genetic diseases. As the president & CEO of Genetic Alliance, she oversees the largest umbrella organization for empowering the voice of people in biomedical research and health care services. She has discovered the gene associated with her kids, assisted the director of the NIH and advised the former president of the United States. Come hear what she has to say about how we can so easily miss the perspective of the patient, when they are in fact the most important point of all we do.
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Let’s Talk About Death: How Facing Our Mortality Can Give Us More Vitality, Presence and Life
Tuesday, April 18, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Michael Hebb, Founder, Let’s Have Dinner and Talk About Death,
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From the lecture notes: In the past 50 years we have become distant from the natural processes of being born and dying, and the wisdom that comes from being present to these essential anchors of the human experience. Why wouldn’t we talk about death? Whoever said that death is not proper conversation? We assume that America is afraid to talk about death, but our speaker Michael Hebb, founder of www.deathoverdinner.org disagrees.
Michael will take us on a journey that begins with the leap from ape to human, through the Athenian Symposiums, and the convivial gatherings of Benjamin Franklin, Gertrude Stein, and Einstein to illustrate how sharing ideas over the dinner table and facing cultural taboos is deeply connected to our progression as a culture.
Customizing Health Care Delivery for our Communities
Tuesday, April 11, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Mark Hernandez, Chief Medical Officer, Community Care Collaborative
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From the lecture notes: As chief medical officer of the Community Care Collaborative, a unique public-private partnership between Central Health and Seton Healthcare Family, Mark Hernandez creatively architects solutions to address the most pressing health needs of communities that face some of the greatest challenges in health and health care. Mark brings his background both as a nurse and a doctor to bear on these challenges. Mark will share threads from his past and how these play out in his clinical leadership role in the community, sharing challenges and opportunities we face here in Austin.
Health & Tech: Finding Ways to Improve Care
Tuesday, April 4, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Ed Park, Board of Directors, AthenaHealth
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From the lecture notes: Ed Park never dreamt he would end up in health care IT. As an undergrad, he started on the premed track but found himself drawn to computer science. Years later, birthed from an interest in improving health care for women, he found he could achieve both of his goals by creating one of the most innovative Electronic Health Record (EHR) companies, AthenaHealth. Yet, the full promise of technology in health care remains largely unfulfilled. Come hear about Ed’s journey, what he learned at the helm of AthenaHealth, and his thoughts on how technology need not suck, instead transform our approach to health care.
Redesigning Academic Medicine: The Role of Clinical Research
Tuesday, March 28, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Clay Johnston, Dean, Dell Medical School
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From the lecture notes: Academic medicine exists to define and drive the best in medicine. How do we use academic medicine to enable continual innovation in health — what’s working and what needs redesign. Clay Johnston is not only the inaugural Dean of the medical school, but a stroke neurologist who is well-known for his research and clinical trials. Clay will describe his vision for a new medical school, and the power of clinical research to measurably impact health.
Recap of “Vital Signs” Weeks 1–8
Tuesday, March 21, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenters: Mini Kahlon, Vice Dean of Dell Medical School; Stacey Chang, Executive Director of the Design Institute for Health
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From the lecture notes: Stacey & Mini will review the arc of the course prior to spring break, touching on the range of topics covered from history, systems, ethics and new models of clinical delivery.
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From Caring for Patients to Redesigning Systems of Care: One Physician’s Story
Tuesday, March 7, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Martin Harris, MD, Associate Vice President of the Health Enterprise and Chief Business Office, Dell Medical School
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From the lecture notes: Why does an internist find himself at Wharton getting an MBA, designing health information systems, launching medical centers in far-flung lands, and landing up in Austin? No, it’s not just the live music and excellent weather. Martin Harris trained as a specialist in Internal Medicine and was driven to work with patients. But as he perceived the barriers in care, he found many coming from the system not from disease. So he prepared himself to tackle these with additional tools: an MBA and a focus on information systems. With leading health care institutions, University of Pennsylvania and Cleveland Clinic, Martin led rethinking health care delivery and the business of medicine.
Through a lens informed by the changes he both witnessed and led, Martin will share his view of the challenging work today’s emerging health care leaders will undertake as, together, we rethink and refine a system of care that aligns the business realities and operational demands of medical practice to help us all achieve a healthier, more optimistic future.
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Transformation and Justice in Women’s Health: A Physician’s Story
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Amy Young, Chair of Women’s Health, Dell Medical School
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From the lecture notes: Amy Young is on her third system transformation. From Houston, to New Orleans, she’s now here in Austin using the opportunity of a new medical school to transform what’s traditionally called “Obstetrics & Gynecology” to the holistic care of women’ health. In all three settings, she’s been recognized as a leading practitioner and ob/gyn surgeon. But her focus has been to leverage every position to expand care for women, especially those unable to access resources. In this first of two lectures on how physician leaders can impact our world, Amy will share the path from surgeon to leader of health transformation, and why she’s using the Austin platform to redefine how we label the health of women.
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The Individual vs. Society
Tuesday, Feb. 21, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Rich Freeman, Vice Dean of Clinical Affairs at Dell Medical School
From the lecture notes: The priorities of the individual and the priorities of society have to come together, often in ethically or operationally complex scenarios. Transplant case study will be utilized to show specific examples of new models of care existing in the old system.
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Food and Parks are Health: Unexpected Solutions for Systemic Challenges
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenters: Raj Patel, Research Professor at the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs, and Lourdes Rodriguez
From the lecture notes: We become unhealthy and sick because of a range of reasons, many of which aren’t clinical diseases when they start. In fact, non-clinical or social determinants contribute to anywhere between 30–80% of our burden of disease depending on the study. Learn about the range of determinants of health and the implications of real stories on solutions for health.
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Stories from the Field: How Health Interventions in Kenya and US Reveal the Workings of our Health Systems.
Tuesday, Feb. 7, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Bill Tierney, Chair of Population Health, Dell Medical School
From the lecture notes: The health of populations is affected by policies, clinics, business models, community expectations and cultures and technologies. Bill will share interventions he’s facilitated in Kenya and in Indiana and through his stories reveal the various elements that interact to influence health.
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Health Care Overview: Function and Value
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Elizabeth Teisberg, Executive Director, Dell Medical School
From the lecture notes: To know our current health care system requires an understanding of the motivations of different stakeholders, and the mutual accord between them.
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Where We’ve Come From: How Did the US and UK Diverge in Approach
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 3:30–5 p.m.
Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 21 at The University of Texas at Austin
Presenter: Steve Steffensen, Chief of the Learning Health System, Dell Medical School
From the lecture notes: Two vastly different models for health care have emerged from a common goal, and the history of their evolution reveals different priorities.
Check back soon for more lectures — the course runs through May 2.
