Women of Impact Panel at Health Datapalooza Makes the Case for Engagement

The WOI panel at Health Datapalooza (from left to right): Karen DeSalvo, Rasu Shrestha, Elena Rios, Susan Turney, Dora Hughes, and moderator Robin Strongin. (Photo courtesy of AcademyHealth.)

"We have to listen to our community," said Susan Turney, MD, CEO of the Marshfield Clinic Health System, during the Women of Impact (WOI) session at the 2019 Health Datapalooza in Washington, DC, on March 28. "All the data in the world doesn't matter if you don't have engagement."

JHF provided support for the panel, "Women of Impact Share Personal Stories of Innovations in Leadership." With national healthcare leaders in the audience, the topic was: What role does leadership play in improving patient outcomes and delivering high-quality health care? Panelists encouraged the audience to begin thinking about communities in new ways and take a multicultural approach. 

The Health Datapalooza conference, hosted by AcademyHealth, builds collaborations between policymakers and innovators to create knowledge from data, and pioneer innovations that drive health policy and practice.

Robin Strongin, who created the Disruptive Women in Health Care blog and co-founded the Center for Contemporary Political Art, moderated. In addition to Dr. Turney, the panel included Dora Hughes, MD, MPH, associate research professor at George Washington University; Elena Rios, MD, MPH, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association; Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, professor of medicine & population health at University of Texas Dell Medical School; and Rasu Shrestha, MD, MBA, chief strategy officer of Atrium Health, formerly of UPMC Enterprises.

"Buckle up," Dr. Shrestha said. "The pace of change is increasing more than we have ever seen."