Publications

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November 2018
Case

David Hysong and SHEPHERD Therapeutics

By: Ananth Raman, John Masko and Aldo Sesia

In 2016, David Hysong, at age 27, found out he had a rare, incurable cancer. Rather than wait around to die, Hysong, a recent graduate of Harvard Divinity School, decided to launch a biotechnology company called Shepherd Therapeutics to development treatments for his... View Details

Keywords: Cancer; Therapeutics; Drugs; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Product Development; Financing and Loans; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges

May 1993
Case

Patient Transfusion Services Lab of Central Blood Bank

By: James L. Heskett

The vice president of the Lab and Clinical Services at Central Blood Bank is faced with the challenge of convincing a hospital to use economical shared patient transfusion testing services. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Quality; Service Operations; Mathematical Methods; Customer Satisfaction; Health Industry

06 Sep 2019
Blog Post

The Business of Medicine: MD/MBA Students Having an Impact

change both small and large: improving how operating rooms function, and “instituting changes from an administrative perspective” that would address socioeconomic inequalities. All with the goal of changing how health care is delivered. A... View Details

September 2001 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Deaconess-Glover Hospital (C)

For nearly three months, John Carter, a vascular surgeon by training, had been studying a variety of clinical processes at Deaconess-Glover Hospital in Needham, Mass. Carter was looking for an opportunity to test the applicability of Toyota Production System... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Health Care and Treatment; Business Processes; Health Industry

October 2023
Case

Hey Jane: Delivering Abortion Pills to the Doorstep

By: Rembrand Koning, Geraldine Pena-Galea and Sarah Mehta

This case tells the story of Hey Jane, a telehealth clinic founded in 2020 that provides virtual medication abortion services to eligible patients in nine U.S. states. By January 2023, the company had served more than 20,000 patients and raised nearly $10 million in... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Business Startups; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry; United States

16 Jul 2008
Op-Ed

What Should Employers Do about Health Care?

ignored health care altogether, leaving it to government or dutifully paying their mandated health contributions. Many U.S. employers are dropping health benefits or hoping for reforms that will transfer responsibility for health... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter, Elizabeth O. Teisberg & Scott Wallace; Health

01 May 2013
News

Health Care’s Service Fanatics

10 Jan 2014
News

Can Silicon Valley VC Apply Lessons From Uber To Disrupt Fortified Healthcare Incumbents?

May 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Choosing the Course of Passion: Brooke Boyarsky Pratt at knownwell

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz and Alexis Lefort

Brooke Boyarsky Pratt (HBS ’13) enjoyed considerable success in her early career, quickly climbing the ranks to associate partner at McKinsey, and later becoming an executive vice president at Berkadia, a Berkshire Hathaway portfolio company. Throughout these years,... View Details

Keywords: Passion; Career; Career Planning; Purpose; Personal Development and Career; Mission and Purpose; Identity; Business Startups; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Health Industry; United States

19 Jul 2019
Blog Post

Making a Broader Impact with Multiple Disciplines

management and business development roles within healthcare startups, and/or work in strategy and investing for early-stage health care VC funds. Autonomous surgical robots, health care artificial... View Details

13 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 13, 2007

projects conducted by clinical managers at the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. My findings suggest that social position is an important enabling condition for divergent organizational change, and is a determinant as well of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

Patterns of Failure after Involved Field Radiation Therapy for Pediatric and Young Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma

By: Minh-Phuong Huynh-Le, Amanda J. Walker, Scott Duke Kominers, Ido Paz-Priel, Moody D. Wharam and Stephanie A. Terezakis

Involved field radiation therapy (IFRT) is integral in curative therapy for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), although primarily used in patients with intermediate/high‐risk HL. We present failure patterns and clinical outcomes in a cohort of pediatric and young adult patients... View Details

Keywords: Hematology/oncology; Hodgkin Lymphoma; Involved Field Radiation Therapy; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment

Find at Harvard

June 2021
Case

HelloSelf: Launch

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In April 2021, Charles Wells, founder and CEO of HelloSelf was reflecting on the company’s progress since it launched two years earlier. HelloSelf’s goal was to help the mentally ill recover and those who were mentally fit to stay well and feel even better. To do this,... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Health Care and Treatment; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Great Britain

January 2018
Article

The Central and Unacknowledged Role of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the Design and Execution of Medical Device Pivotal Trials

By: Aaron V. Kaplan and Ariel D. Stern

The introduction of new medical devices has transformed cardiovascular care in recent decades. Devices, such as heart valves, pacemakers, stents, ventricular assist devices, and implantable defibrillators, have prolonged and improved the quality of life for millions of... View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Business and Government Relations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Information Publishing; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

20 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 20

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/710054-PDF-ENG Jiamei Dental: Private Health Care in China William C. Kirby and G.A. DonovanHarvard Business School Case 910-404 With the recent announcement from the Chinese government that the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Frances X. Frei

Frances Frei is a Professor of Technology and Operations Management at Harvard Business School. Her research investigates how leaders accelerate performance and design for excellence in leadership, strategy, and operations. She regularly advises senior executives... View Details

Keywords: health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care; health care

20 Aug 2020
Blog Post

Being patients compelled us. Sequoia inspired us. HBS sustained us.

marketing dollars (and influence) from clinics or drug companies. While in treatment, I was a very junior partner (pretty much sweeping the floors) at Sequoia Capital and I’d learned that small teams change the world. Take Instagram or... View Details

November 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

NovoCure Ltd.

By: William A. Sahlman and Sarah Flaherty

Venture capitalist William Doyle must raise $35 million for a portfolio company with a promising, novel cancer therapy, just as global capital markets are imploding in the fall of 2008. NovoCure, Ltd., has developed an electrical-field-based therapy, called Tumor... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Technological Innovation; Financial Services Industry