Publications

2010
Working Paper

Evaluating the Effects of Large-Scale Health Interventions in Developing Countries: The Zambian Malaria Initiative

By: Nava Ashraf, Gunther Fink and David N. Weil

Since 2003, Zambia has been engaged in a large-scale, centrally coordinated national anti-malaria campaign which has become a model in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper aims at quantifying the individual and macro level benefits of this campaign, which involved mass... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Developing Countries and Economies; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Performance Evaluation; Programs; Health Industry; Zambia

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08 Nov 2024
Op-Ed

How Private Investors Can Help Solve Africa's Climate Crisis

report from the Global Center on Adaptation suggests that more than $100 billion per year is needed to invest in infrastructure, weather forecasting, and protecting agriculture in View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Green Technology; Energy

22 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

Can Amazon Remake Health Care?

At a time when health care providers have gone all in on telemedicine, Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, surprised Wall Street in late July when it announced it... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Health

October 2022
Case

Afrigen Biologics: Vaccines for the Global South

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia Comeau

The majority of vaccines used on the continent of Africa (99%) are produced offshore. This makes African nations reliant on the West for major health care needs, a problem which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Afrigen Biologics (in partnership with the WHO)... View Details

Keywords: Vaccination; Vaccine; mRNA; COVID; COVID-19; Inequity; Hub-and-spoke; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Production; Social Issues; Business and Government Relations; South Africa; Africa

October 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Hospital 57357: Aligning Performance Towards a Vision of a Cancer-Free Childhood

By: Susanna Gallani and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case follows the Children Cancer Hospital in Egypt, also known as Hospital 57357, as it goes through the roll-out of a new performance management system, which Dr. Sherif Abouel Naga, founder and CEO of the hospital, had championed. This was a critical juncture as... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Performance Management; Performance Incentives; Strategic Alignment; Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategy; Alignment; Performance Evaluation; Mission and Purpose; Change Management; Health Industry; Egypt; Middle East

February 2018
Article

Development and Feasibility of Bundled Payments for the Multidisciplinary Treatment of Head and Neck Cancer: A Pilot Program

By: Tracy Spinks, Alexis Guzman, Beth M. Beadle, Seohyun Lee, Ron Walters, Jim Incalcaterra, Ehab Hanna, Amy Hessel, Randal Weber, Sandra Denney, Lee Newcomer and Thomas W. Feeley

Purpose: Despite growing interest in bundled payments to reduce the costs of care, this payment method remains largely untested in cancer. This 3-year pilot tested the feasibility of a 1-year bundled payment for the multidisciplinary treatment of head and neck... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management

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10 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 10, 2008

$1.6 billion. The case explores the reasons for the success of this global venture. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=808127 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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

28 Feb 2019
Cold Call Podcast

Pursuing Precision Medicine at Intermountain Healthcare

Keywords: Re: Richard G. Hamermesh; Health; Biotechnology; Pharmaceutical

January 2001
Case

Merck Global Health Initiatives (B): Botswana

By: James E. Austin, Diana Barrett and James Weber

The case series focuses on Merck's drug donation program and then raises new issues facing management about what to do about HIV/AIDS in Africa given the company's development of a new therapy. Describes collaboration among many parties including the Gates Foundation,... View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Private Sector; Public Sector; Alliances; Problems and Challenges; Africa; Botswana

20 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 20

Hospital: Cardiac Care for the Poor (B) Tarun Khanna and Tanya BijlaniHarvard Business School Supplement 712-402 Narayana Hrudayalaya (NH) has expanded into a multi-specialty health city in Bangalore and has... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

The Trick of Balancing Business and Government

Asked which institutions must be in place in order for African countries to grow, experts on a panel at the Africa Business Conference had no shortage of suggestions. One... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

14 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 14, 2015

Katelyn Donnelly, the managing director of PALF, and her team had made seven investments in Africa and Asia and were close to fully committing the $15 million earmarked for the initiative. View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2001
Case

Merck Global Health Initiatives (A)

By: James E. Austin, Diana Barrett and James Weber

The case series focuses on Merck's drug donation program and then raises new issues facing management about what to do about HIV/AIDS in Africa given the company's development of a new therapy. Describes collaboration among many parties including the Gates Foundation,... View Details

Keywords: Programs; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Private Sector; Public Sector; Alliances; Problems and Challenges; Pharmaceutical Industry; Botswana

15 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 15

weighing options for growth. CTCA was entirely cancer focused and specialized in treating patients with complex and advanced-stage cancers, who were reached through advertising its integrative, team-based... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

National Health Costs Could Decrease if Managers Reduce Work Stress

unit. "But traditionally in the US we have not placed a lot of emphasis on the role of workplace stress in the high cost of health care." In recent years, General... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

March 2025
Case

Niramai: An AI Solution to Save Lives

By: Rembrand Koning, Maria P. Roche and Kairavi Dey

Founded in 2017, Niramai developed Thermalytix, a breast cancer screening tool. Thermalytix used a high-resolution thermal sensing device and machine learning algorithms to analyze thermal images and detect tumors. Its patented solution leveraged big data analytics,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Management; Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Strategy; Science-Based Business; Technology Industry; Health Industry; Asia; India; South Asia

2025
Working Paper

Mammography - Early Detection, Precise Diagnoses: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Katherine Stebbins

This case history describes how the development of x-ray-based techniques and equipment (“mammography”) led to widespread screening for breast cancer and enabled “minimally invasive” biopsies of breast tumors. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) new protocols and... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms