There’s no question that Harvard Business School (HBS) alumni are making their mark in the health care sector. The question is, what is the best way to tap into the insights of these 8,000+ alumni? How can we facilitate meaningful connections between alumni and students? And how can we use those connections to advance innovation in health care? As it turns out, gathering people around the dinner table is a great place to start. In cities across the globe, HBS alumni and students are periodically meeting for small-group dinners organized by the HBS Health Care Initiative (HCI) and HBS Healthcare Alumni Association (HBSHAA). [...]

When I was accepted into Harvard Business School’s executive education course, Managing Health Care Delivery (MHCD), I didn’t anticipate the significance of the connections I was about to make with my classmates. The MHCD program is held on the HBS campus for three one-week intervals over the course of a year: fall, spring, and summer. I believe spending that time immersed in the Case Method educational model and engaged in meaningful team work helped create profound professional and personal bonds for all of us. Before the end of the second module many of us knew we wanted to continue our learning experience; we decided to begin organizing our own MHCD reunion. Our first reunion was organized in South East Asia so that we could catch up with fellow participants and tour some innovative care delivery models. [...]