Global Health Delivery Project

A joint project of the Harvard Medical School’s Department of Social Medicine and the Harvard Business School’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness

Jim Yong Kim, MD, PhD, Co-Chair
Professor and Chair, Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Michael E. Porter, PhD, Co-Chair
Bishop Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School

Rebecca Weintraub, MD
Executive Director

The world is focused as never before on averting millions of preventable deaths from diseases in developing countries. Unprecedented new funding is being invested to provide care to and discover new treatments. While potentially a lifeline for millions, this new focus has also put a glaring spotlight on our ability—or inability—to effectively utilize new and existing treatments and deliver care to those who need it.

The Global Health Delivery Project is focused on research and educational programs in the design and management of health care delivery systems in resource poor settings. By taking an overall strategic perspective that emphasizes value, the project aims to bridge the gap between known science and the delivery of care in the field. The project seeks to develop rigorous frameworks for understanding and improving health care delivery systems, drawing on a body of field-based case studies supplemented by empirical research.

These frameworks and case studies will form the basis for intensive coursework in global health delivery will emphasize leadership, management practices and thoughtful decision-making in real world situations. Courses and programs will target undergraduates, graduate students, and practitioners. The aim is to create enduring "communities of practice" with a planned web-based network that allows practitioners to collaborate on real-time problem solving. The project’s first educational programs are scheduled to be offered in 2008.