The Blank School engages Babson community members and leads research to create entrepreneurial leaders.
We have found that experiential learning, and the active engagement of the student in the learning experience, is the most effective method for enabling students to develop the cognitive ambidexterity characteristic of an entrepreneurial leader.”
In alignment with Babson’s tradition of entrepreneurial education excellence and our commitment to experiential learning, the KMH Center offers several opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to learn by doing in the health sector.
Flagship Course: Global Health Innovation Lab
Healthcare entrepreneurship and innovation are central to improved health outcomes, economic development, and societal well-being. However, there is still a lack of healthcare entrepreneurs and investment. For example, USAID’s Center for Innovation and Impact reports a $371 billion annual investment gap by 2030 from achieving the health Sustainable Development Goals in low and middle income countries.
To encourage innovation and investment in global health, The Healey Center partnered with the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) to found our first Global Health Innovation Lab in 2021 sponsored by the McGovern Foundation. Leveraging an experiential learning framework, joint UGHE and Babson student teams are paired with health organizations in Rwanda to address organizational challenges using design thinking, digital health and technology, and product, process and service innovation management. We also host virtual healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship seminars that are open to the general global public.
To date, six UGHE-Babson student teams (27 students to date) are currently developing, testing, and implementing innovations to support the following organizations via our Babson Global Health Innovation Lab course (OIM 3501):
- Butaro Hospital
- Health Builders
- Insightiv Diagnostics Platform
- Rwandan National Task Force on Rabies
- Rwandan National Union for the Deaf
For example, our initial pilot team worked with Rwandan National Union for the Deaf and developed a platform to improve communications between deaf and illiterate patients and providers using images. In addition, over 60 participants from around the world have attended our healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship Seminar Series through the UGHE-Babson Global Health Innovation Lab.
For more information, please contact Faculty Directors Dr. Wiljeana Jackson Glover, or Dr. Rex Wong.
Health Science, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Courses
Undergraduate
- OIM3501 Global Health Innovation Lab
- SOC4620 Sociology of Health and Medicine
- SCN3060 Human Health and Disease
- NST1070 Climate and Human Health
- NST2060 Drug Development Systems
Undergraduate Health-Related Courses (with at least one health unit)
- EPS4515: Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship (with Olin College of Engineering)
- ECN2611 Sociological Systems and Disaster Relief
Graduate
- ECN7555 Healthcare: Markets, Analytics and Strategies