The most meaningful innovations happen at the intersection of different disciplines and experiences.
Established in 2017, the Healthcare Innovation and Design program is SCU’s on-campus hub for students from all majors to address complex challenges facing the country’s healthcare system today. Our central goal is to shape knowledgeable and creative students who are ready to tackle some of the 21st century’s most urgent healthcare challenges. To this end, our work takes many forms. We work with Silicon Valley companies like Cepheid and Varian to foster close collaboration between SCU students, faculty, and professionals. We partner with foundations like Jaipur Foot Organization and Maude’s Ventures on projects that address healthcare disparities while amplifying the voices of underserved communities. We support an interdisciplinary minor in Healthcare Innovation and Design that prepares students with relevant technical and interdisciplinary skills, as well as the ability to work in diverse teams. For those interested in gaining more knowledge in the healthcare field, we offer industry seminars and workshops, as well as other professional training opportunities to pique student interest and activate critical thinking. Students can also engage directly with industry and faculty mentors through the Healthcare Innovation Fellows Program.
Mission
The mission of the program is to expose students to complex challenges in healthcare and prepare them with technical, design-thinking, and entrepreneurial skills, as well as the ability to work in diverse teams.
Vision
Empower students, faculty, and the community to address complex challenges in healthcare in partnership with the industry.
Values
From our student fellowships to workforce initiatives, we consider our work an extension of SCU’s Jesuit values. In order to create a more humane and just healthcare industry, we are guided by the following values:
- Engaged Learning: We strive to integrate creativity with experiential learning for all who interact with our program, especially to understand and improve the lives of those who bear the greatest burden with regard to accessing quality healthcare.
- Commitment to Students: We recognize the many skills and talents all SCU students bring regardless of major. We mentor them towards an understanding that everyone has a place in reimagining health systems and services that support fulfilling and meaningful lives for all.
- Community and Diversity: We cherish our diverse and inclusive community of students, faculty, staff, administrators, off-campus collaborators, and alumni who all strive to improve health and healthcare. We are a community enlivened by open communication to affirm the dignity of our members and those we serve.
- Transdisciplinarity: We expand beyond boundaries of traditional disciplines. We bring together people from all fields and of all levels to solve difficult healthcare problems that require the merging of ideas from different approaches.