Social Enterprise and Global Health Seminar
Omar Ishrak, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Medtronic
Discussant: Conor Walsh, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Chair: Tarun Khanna, Director, Harvard South Asia Institute, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School
Over the last several decades, medical technology advancements have steadily improved the standard of care for patients in many areas of the world. At the same time, a huge disparity in access to high quality, cost-effective healthcare continues to exist for billions of people. The need in South Asia is particularly acute, with access to care limited to less than 10% of an estimated population of nearly 2 billion people. Innovation must address significant barriers, including a lack of patient awareness, infrastructure and training for healthcare professionals. Medtronic has started a unique program in India using a new business model to target a specific disease, define the full care continuum and build an ecosystem approach to address populations with little to no access to care. Addressing this huge challenge – and opportunity – requires a coordinated effort across multiple stakeholders to deliver innovation to improve outcomes, expand access and increase affordability of healthcare in South Asia.
Lunch will be served.
Co-sponsored with the Asia Center
