SheSolves Awards 2023-2024

The Challenge

Women represent the vast majority of healthcare providers and health decision makers, but, paradoxically, they are underrepresented when it comes to healthcare innovation.

The Solution

The first SheSolves Awards request for proposal launched in January 2023 open to any Mass General Brigham employee who identifies as a woman. The SheSolves Awards aims to support the innovator (and/or team) and move her idea forward through funding up to $25,000 and product development support.

Service

Design Research, Prototyping, Practical Implementation Support, Measurement & Impact

Year

2023–2024

Special Thanks to—

We are always thrilled to collaborate with like-minded organizations. BOLD Capital Partners is dedicated to empowering women’s participation in healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship and has made a gift to support the inaugural SheSolves Awards.

Program Launch

Our team has designed SheSolves to address the needs identified in our 2022 study of the barriers to women’s participation in healthcare innovation. There are tremendous insights in that data and we heard loud and clear “offer programming that centers women” – in funding, in mentor networks, in visibility of leaders, and in community building. From these insights, we started by launching the SheSolves Awards with two primary goals: invest in each innovator and invest in her idea.

The response to the request for proposal launched in January 2023 surpassed our expectations: 180 applications from teams representing more than 500 aspiring innovators across 16 MGB institutions. The high volume of applications indicates the unmet need. Every proposal defined a pressing issue worth solving.

Mass General Brigham institutions represented

Applications Received

Community members represented

Years of cumulative healthcare experience

Judging Panel

A judging panel of mostly female innovators and experts selected seven teams representing six MGB institutions to receive the inaugural SheSolves Awards, with up to $25,000 in funding and one year of comprehensive product development support from the Springboard Studio. The aim of the program is to both advance the ideas and invest in the individual team members to be effective innovators for the long-term. We focus on practical needs identification, divergent and convergent ideation and solution development that is based on design thinking criteria of feasibility, desirability and viability.

“[SheSolves] has let us network with other healthcare professionals throughout the system like all these other empowering and inspiring women in this cohort. It also gave me the platform and confidence that this is a good idea and that this is a need that needs to be filled”

Brittany Sorbello, PharmD, BCOP

Wentworth-Douglass, Lead for Women’s Sexual Health and Supportive Care Program

The Inaugural SheSolves Awards Cohort

In the summer of 2023, we named the first SheSolves Awards cohort, providing funding and 12-months of product development support to seven teams. These teams were comprised of a variety of care providers who represent six institutions across MGB: Spaulding Rehabilitation, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, Mass Eye and Ear, Salem Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Mass General Hospital (MGH).

Accessibility in Audiology

Institution: Mass Eye and Ear

Solution Type: Care Redesign

Meaghan Reed, AUD, CCC-A

Clinical Director, Audiology, Mass Eye and Ear

Rachel Petrie, AUD, CCC-A

Audiologist, Mass Eye and Ear

Challenge: Lack of mechanisms for hearing-impaired patients to communicate at medical appointments

Solution: To improve exchanges at front desks, this team would like to set up a system where patients indicate their “communication preferences” (examples: written communication, need for an interpreter, use of clear masks by a provider, etc). Once indicated, this method will be used by front desk staff and clinicians for the remainder of their visit. For patients that require written communication, the team would like to provide portable computers with screens that can swivel for a patient to view; this can be used at check-in and by clinicians during appointments to communicate with patients more easily and compassionately. To improve the patient experience in their waiting rooms, they would like to implement a pager system that provides a vibration alert for when a clinician is prepared to see the patient; this will benefit patients that are hard of hearing, patients with vision restrictions and patients whose primary language is not English.

Collaborative Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) Training

Institution: Mass General Hospital

Solution Type: Care Redesign

Audrey Cohen, MCSO, MS, CCC-SLP

Clinical Practice Specialist, MGH

Colleen Griffin, MPH

Sr. Admin Manager, MGH Neurology

Challenge: Treatment of dysphagia — difficulty with swallowing — is impeded by the lack of speech language pathologist (SLP) training in videofluoroscopic (VFSS) and fiberoptic endoscopic (FEES) swallowing diagnostic procedures, resulting in significant patient backlog and an unmet need for diagnosis and treatment.

Solution: This team is creating an innovative, remote training program to increase the number of clinicians trained to conduct VFSS and FEES and provide best-practice care to patients with swallowing disorders. This program provides standardized skills development and a competency model delivered by Mass General dysphagia specialists within the academic medical centers. Additionally, this solution will improve patient access to VFSS and/or FEES, reduce time in the hospital waiting for the procedure, increase the number of procedures performed in the outpatient setting, and improve speed to, and access to, treatment options, thus improving the overall care of these patients.

Eating Disorder Care Collaborative

Institution: Salem Hospital

Solution Type: Care Redesign

Jennifer Goetz, MD

Child, Adolescent, and General Psychiatrist, Salem Hospital

Challenge: Eating disorder care in Massachusetts is presently limited to a single inpatient unit at a small for-profit program in Dedham, MA, which lacks a behavioral health component. This results in hundreds of young people, predominantly women, each year receiving eating disorder care via the emergency room or medical inpatient units that are not equipped to meet their needs.

Solution: This team aims to create an eating disorder “pathway” or “track” within an already-existing inpatient unit at Salem Hospital. They will train the staff in eating disorder care and treatment and create group programming specific to this population. Once the inpatient pilot is running, they will conduct internal reviews and analyses to determine what is working, what changes need to be made, and officially launch as an independent unit. The goal is to increase the number of patients receiving customized care for eating disorders and reduce or eliminate care being provided in the emergency room.

Lithe Surgery

Institution: Brigham & Women’s Hospital

Solution Type: Hardware

Brittany Powell, MD, MPP, MBA

PGY4 General Surgeon, Oncology, MGH

Sarabeth Spitzer, MD

PGY4 General Surgeon, Trauma, MGH

Megan Sulciner, MD

PGY4 General Surgeon, Oncology, MGH

Challenge: Operative built environment and surgical tools are not designed for women

Solution: This team is founding a surgical ergonomics company, believing that no surgeon should have to “make do” with the equipment they are given. They will work on their first product prototype as part of the SheSolves program. They believe that radical redesign of procedural and peri-procedural tools, using new and emerging technology, will enhance performance, reduce workplace injury and improve satisfaction of users of all genders. Ultimately, their team intends to design a portfolio of functional surgical instruments that are best-in-class, not only preferred by female surgeons, but preferred by all surgeons.

Trauma Survivorship

Institution: Spaulding Rehabilitation Network

Solution Type: Care Redesign

Shonali Gaudino, OT, BCG

Administrative Director, Spaulding Rehabilitation

Geoffrey Anderson, MD, MPH

Trauma and Emergency Surgeon, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Juan Herrera-Escobar, MD, MPH

FORTE Co-Investigator, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Challenge: Lack of care coordination for trauma survivors

Solution: The Trauma Survivorship team will formulate a Survivorship Clinic that provides trauma survivors with a range of longitudinal, connected services that will range from medical and mental healthcare to nutrition, education, preventative care, social care and peer support. The plans will be developed by a leadership team that includes survivors and addresses strategies for financial sustainability, program evaluation and quality improvement.

Women’s Sexual Health and Supportive Care Program

Institution: Wentworth-Douglass

Solution Type: Care Redesign

Brittany Sorbello, PharmD, BCOP

Clinical Onocology Pharmacist, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital

Kailey Mandigo, PharmD

Clinical Oncology Pharmacist, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital

Kristina Anwyll, PT, DPT, PRPC

Clinical Specialist, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital

Challenge: Supporting women with cancer medication-related side effects causing sexual dysfunction

Solution: This will be a pharmacist-led program to recognize potential adverse effects, interactions and pharmacology of oncology drugs in order to discuss and manage sexual health concerns with patients, and tackle what is currently a significant gap in care. This novel approach aims to include discussing the impacts treatment may have on patients’ physical and emotional health and providing strategies and therapy to improve quality of life while undergoing cancer treatment.

Women’s Substance Use Disorder Group

Institution: MGH Charlestown HealthCare Center

Solution Type: Care Redesign

Wei Sum Li, MD

Primary Care and Addiction Medicine Physician, Mass General Hospital

Lori Hooley, RN, OBAT, CARN

Nadya Zaltsman

Peer Support Recovery Coach

Challenge: Substance use disorder (SUD) groups that are mixed-gender and led by a male recovery coach do not fully meet the needs of women to aid in their recovery.

Solution: This team is working to start a Women’s Group at Charlestown HealthCare Center to engage women with SUD. The current SUD groups are mixed-gender and led by a male recovery coach. The female group participants have shared there are certain topics they are uncomfortable addressing in that environment, and some challenges are more specific to women, such as reuniting with a child. The care team aims to use a combination of psychoeducational skills development, cognitive behavioral and support group elements to promote recovery. They hope to include elements of art therapy and movement therapy, such as yoga. This clinic will expand access to SUD treatment and reach women who, to date, have not participated or fully realized the benefit of SUD groups.

Videography Track

The Springboard Studio will provide limited funding and support in collaboration with Mass General Brigham videography services.

Chemotherapy/Neuro-Oncology Education Videos
- Team lead: Christina Orr, NP
- Institution: Mass General Hospital
Educating Clinicians on Conservative Kidney Management as an Alternative to Dialysis
- Team lead: Samantha Gelfand, MD
- Institution: Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Primary Care Office inSite (PCOI)
- Team lead: L. Celeste Robb-Nicholson, MD
- Institution: Mass General Hospital

Graphic Design Track

The Springboard Studio will provide graphic design support.

Immigration-Friendly Toolkit
- Team lead: Fiona Danaher, MD, MPH
- Institution: Mass General Hospital
Personalized Peripartum Anesthesia Care Education Initiative
- Team lead: Jimin Kim, MD
- Institution: Brigham & Women’s Hospital

“SheSolves has afforded me the opportunity to initiate this pathway which for so many years was nothing more than an idea and a dream”

Jennifer Goetz, MD

Salem Hospital, Lead for Eating Disorder Care Collaborative

Demo Day

Their year of support from our Springboard Studio team culminated with Demo Day held on September 30, 2024. Demo Day was equal parts innovation showcase and community building. First, the seven teams presented their incredible solutions that address real and important healthcare challenges. Every team made significant and inspiring progress. Nearly 100 people were in attendance at Demo Day, including investors, healthcare companies, health plans, design firms, foundations, and family members. The Springboard Studio aimed to have a diverse audience in attendance and charged them all to consider how they might be able to support the seven graduating teams to continue to advance their ideas.