Health Innovators Fellowship
The Health Innovators Fellowship’s mission is to develop a community of energized, values-driven leaders committed to finding viable solutions to address U.S. health care’s problems.
The Fellowship offers high-performing professionals a unique experience—the ability to connect with and learn from a diverse group of peers with whom they wouldn’t ordinarily interact while refining their own values and charting a course that empowers them to take action in new ways to improve health and health care in America. Fellows come from a wide variety of industries and sectors, ranging from academic medicine to venture capital to public health and beyond.
The Fellowship and Health Equity
The Health Innovators Fellowship aims to educate, inspire and challenge Fellows to meaningfully engage their spheres of influence, leading to long term positive impact on the nation’s health care. This includes a focus on health equity. Advancing health equity embraces The Aspen Institute’s commitment to harness our creativity, energy and resources to realizing a free, just, and equitable society.
From access to care, representation in research and innovation, distribution of social determinants of health, and health system accountability, the U.S. health care system has only just begun to remediate and address historical challenges. Deloitte estimates the health care system currently spends $320 billion in health care spending as a result of inequities, a cost anticipated to increase to $1 trillion by 2040. The Health Innovators Fellowship aims to contribute to the creation of an equitable society through the following actions:
- Fellows: Each year, the Health Innovators Fellowship receives approximately 150 nominations for the Fellowship. With each graduating class of Fellows, the pipeline of nominees grows and diversifies. Special consideration is given to nominees who represent the geographic, racial, ethnic and gender diversity of the United States and are working in the diversity and health equity arenas within health care. The Fellowship will continue to reflect the full range of health care leaders across the United States, including providers, administrators, researchers, investors and founders.
- Curriculum: The Fellowship will evolve the curriculum where possible to reflect a broader diversity of thought and integrate meaningful discussions of health equity.
- Ventures: Every Fellow is required to complete a venture in order to graduate from the Fellowship. Thirty percent of the ventures within the Health Innovators Fellowship to date have focused on health equity, from developing a medical fellowship in health equity to increasing diversity in clinical trials. Each Fellow is encouraged to incorporate health equity into their venture. There may be opportunities for funders to engage with Fellows on ventures that meaningfully contribute to reducing health inequities.
The Fellowship encourages Fellows to stretch themselves as leaders and align their work with their passions to have a greater impact on U.S. health care. Through their daily work and leadership ventures, Fellows are influencing health care now and setting the course for the field’s future.
The Aspen Institute launched the Health Innovators Fellowship in 2015 in partnership with Prisma Health (formerly Greenville Health System) to create a cadre of values-based leaders committed to addressing the unique challenges of health care in the U.S. The Fellowship was founded as part of the growing Aspen Global Leadership Network, a collection of sector- and geographically-based Fellowships dedicated to values-based leadership. In 2022, the Health Innovators Fellowship reached a critical mass of 121 Fellows, and the program continues to grow each year. Read more on impact and how you can engage below.
