VA Health Care and MIT are collaborating in need-driven biomedical research and innovation initiatives through the Catalyst program

Innovation is a conduit for imagining a new world and, in the context of healthcare, redefining excellence. This sentiment has long permeated the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Innovation enables us to execute our mission and deliver healthcare to Veterans in exceptional ways. Innovative VHA solutions like 3D Printing, the Initiative to End Diabetic Limb Loss at VA, and Project CONVERGENCE are improving the delivery of customized solutions to Veterans and enabling the exploration of future healthcare solutions. So, how do we do it? The answer lies in creating a culture that harnesses a willingness to experiment. Innovation enables frontline staff to take calculated risks, fail early and smart, and methodically test assumptions. These principles create a culture of agility and team learning, aligned with VHA’s goal of becoming a learning organization. By embracing this mindset, we’ve delivered landmark solutions that meet unique Veteran challenges that have not only redefined Veteran-care, but health care around the globe. It is precisely this ability to continually innovate that allows VHA to remain the preferred choice of Veterans.

VHA Innovation Ecosystem’s mission is to enable the discovery and spread of healthcare innovations within VHA that exceed expectations, restore hope, and build trust within the Veteran community. Working with VA doctors, nurses, Veterans, educators, and industry from across the country, VHA Innovation Ecosystem is at the forefront of healthcare innovation and is composed of changemakers, who are relentless in creating new experiences for Veterans. MIT Catalyst’s framework sparks innovation from insight to impact, which aligns with VHA Innovation Ecosystem’s priorities and will accelerate the pace of innovation in healthcare and empower VA employees in Innovation Network sites. MIT Catalyst’s method for executing research focuses effort, compresses time, leverages resources, and develops change agents. MIT Catalyst offers VA innovators the unique opportunity to collaborate with the best and brightest to solve healthcare challenges and to advance healthcare globally. Fellows will have access to international thought leaders in innovation, multidisciplinary teams, and sustained mentorship to guide and accelerate their progress. By participating in this opportunity, innovators will be offered salary support for protected time to discover, test, and hone solutions into a practical and effective proof of concept.

You are intimately aware of high priority challenges, needs, and opportunities, which means you are well positioned to influence impactful changes.

You have the opportunity to:

Enhance your career  

You can strengthen your communication skills to work more effectively with business and industry leaders, gain confidence in engaging on cross-disciplinary teams (with engineers, researchers, and improvement advisors), and contribute to creation of intellectual property. 

Consider the commercial possibilities of improving patient outcomes and institutional effectiveness

In this program, you will work with teams of engineers, scientists, and other clinicians to identify, validate, and create a path to implementation for technologies and processes that create solutions in healthcare delivery.

Expand your personal horizon

You will exercise entrepreneurial thinking and increase comfort with ambiguity. Validated projects have the potential to significantly impact healthcare. You might even create and lead a company, as Catalyst Fellows have done in the past and are doing now.