Calendar

Before the onsite project, class usually meets twice a week in February and March, and students also attend a small number of lunch sessions and mentor meetings. In April, class meets once a week to allow time for mentor and team meetings. Class sessions include interactions with guests to build the dialog—not only within the class but also within the wider community.

The following table lists the session topics, and required preparation and follow-up for each session. This list of scheduled sessions does not include deliverables and course assignments, which are listed on the Deliverables and Action Steps page. During certain class sessions, in-class surveys are conducted as check-ins for assignments and deliverables progress, and are indicated in the table below. Full citations for the readings and cases are available on the Readings page.

[S] = Regular class session

[LS] = Lunch session with guest speakers. At least one, though preferably all team members, should attend. Any students who miss these sessions MUST obtain full debriefing from teammates and follow up as needed.

[M] = Meetings scheduled in place of class sessions.

WEEK # SES # TOPICS REQUIRED PREPS / FOLLOW—UPS
1
 
 
S1 Visions for the course and vision in global health Readings
LS1

Medical briefing and library research

Speakers: Dr. Heller from MIT Medical; Alex Caracuzzo from MIT Libraries

 
S2

Technology and strategy: an alum's perspective

Speaker: Lina Sayed, MBA 2012

Readings
2
 
 
 
LS2

NDAs and confidentiality

Speakers: Ellen Baum, Director of Contract Administration and Planning at MIT Sloan; Bradley Abruzzi from MIT Office of the General Counsel

 
S3 Global health overview (focus on maternal health) Readings
LS3

Travels

Speakers: John O'Brien from A Briggs Visa Passport & Visa Expeditors; McLaren Gould, Action Learning Program Coordinator at MIT Sloan

 
S4 Process improvement Readings and Nairobi County Hospital case prep
3 S5 Data and measurement

Readings and Apollo Hospitals case prep

In-class survey: planning (PDF)

4
 
 
S6 HR, job design, and task shifting Readings and CHWs in Zambia case prep
LS4

Trip expenses

Speakers: Sloan Action Learning staff; Benn Egan from MIT Sloan Finance and Accounting Office

 
S7

Management matters

Panelists: Bobby Milstein, Director of ReThink Health; Sachin Jain, Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer at Merck; Rebecca Weintraub, Executive Director of the Global Health Delivery Project, Associate Physician at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women's Hospital; Tricia Morente, Faculty at Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage, COO of Kangu

Readings
5
 
S8 Health commodities and distribution Readings and Living Goods case prep
S9 Finance and revenue models

Readings and Star Hospital case prep

In-class survey: annotated bibliography and interim study (PDF)

6
 
S10 Expansion, growth, and unmet needs

Readings and Empowering Lives in Kenya case prep

In-class survey: professional development (PDF)

S11

Leading change and innovation

Speakers: Bill Rodriguez, Founder and CEO of Daktari Diagnostics; Kurt Friedrich, Executive Director of Grassroot Soccer

 
7   On-site team project in Africa or South Asia, including mentor visits as feasible  
8   On-site team project (cont.) 
9
 
M1 Preparation of trip debrief Meet with TA in classroom to turn in trip photos and other materials; plan debrief presentation with TA
S12 Debrief: highlights, challenges, surprises

Prepare for mentor meeting

In-class survey: return from site visits (PDF)

10 M2 Mentor meeting: finalize wrap-up host deliverable Follow-up from mentor meeting
S13

Global health innovators panel

Panelists: Jim Cohick, Senior Vice President of Specialty Programs at Cure International; Brian Mullaney, Co-founder and CEO of WonderWork; Shivani Garg Patel, Co-founder of Samahope

Readings
11 S14 Management matters, revisited Readings
12
 
M3 Mentor or team meetings  
S15 Healthcare delivery challenges and opportunities Readings
13
 
M4 Debrief with Prof. Sastry Student survey about team, project, host, and self
S16 Grand class finale with distinguished guests

Readings

Invite a first-year student as a guest to the class finale