This could be good. When you combine the brightest minds from three powerhouse organizations to improve the means to serve healthcare patients, one can only imagine the ideas, products and services they’ll come up. The healthcare and technology industry at large has been waiting with bated breath on each piece of new information on the venture.
Amazon, JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway have released the long awaited name of their venture. It is Haven, which was chosen to reflect the venture's goal of partnering with patients and clinicians alike in pursuit of systemic improvements.
As has been announced, the CEO of Haven is Atul Gawande, who is well-known for his roles as a surgeon, writer and public health researcher. He currently practices general and endocrine surgery at Bringham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA and is a professor at Harvard Medical School.
"We want to change the way people experience health care so that it is simpler, better, and lower cost," said Gawande in a press release. "We'll start small, learn from the experience of patients, and continue to expand to meet their needs."
Gawande was born in Brooklyn to Indian immigrants and later grew up in Athens, Ohio. He earned an undergraduate degree in biology and political science from Stanford University and as a Rhodes Scholar earned an MA from Oxford University. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1995.
"We are focused on leveraging the power of data and technology to drive better incentives, a better patient experience, and a better system," the website states. "Our work may take many forms, and solutions may take time to develop, but Haven is invested in making health care much better for all of us."
In addition to Gawande, there are eight members of the Haven leadership team listed on the website:
- Liam Brenner, who was a partner at TechCXO, is head of finance.
- Mary Jane Favazza, who has been chief revenue officer for Good Measures LLC, is general manager.
- Michael Higgins, a former chief information security officer for NBCUniversal Media LLC, is CISO.
- Serkan Kutan, who had been chief technology officer for Zocdoc and a prior principal engineer for Amazon, is CTO.
- Megan McLean, who had been chief of staff at Gawande's Ariadne Labs, is chief of staff.
- Dana Safran, ScD, who has been chief performance measurement and improvement officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, is head of measurement.
- Jack Stoddard, a former chief operating officer and chief strategy officer for Accolade Inc., is COO.
- Brook Thurston, a former vice president of communications for Steward Health Care, is head of communications.
