Healthcare Speakers

Dr. John Kenagy knows healthcare as a physician, executive, academic researcher and advisor. In addition to his clinical experience as a vascular surgeon, he has been Chief of Surgery, Chief of Staff and Regional Vice President for Business Development in a not-for-profit healthcare system. But, his most meaningful experience was becoming a patient.

His frustration with current healthcare methods was fueled by an injury – he suffered a broken neck in a fall from a tree. Critically injured, he discovered that his recovery depended on the efforts of dedicated individuals working in an unpredictable and often unresponsive system.

Searching for new answers, he became a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School. His research included developing adaptive innovation healthcare strategy with Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen and translating the drivers of success in resilient, highly adaptive companies like Toyota, Intel and Apple to the point of care.

The result is Adaptive Design, a self-sustaining clinically intelligent system for developing, doing and improving complex, patient-centered care within and across disciplines.

His contributions have been widely recognized:

• Visiting Scholar, Harvard Business School
• Clinical Professor of Surgery, University of Washington
• Adjunct Associate Professor of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh
• Faculty – Masters of Science in Pharmacy Business Administration, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh
• The American College of Healthcare Executives named his book Designed to Adapt: Leading Healthcare in Challenging Times Healthcare Management Book of the Year
• Forbes Magazine featured Dr. Kenagy as “the man who would save healthcare”

Dr. Kenagy’s web-based Experience Adaptive Design Learning System and his customized Adaptive Design Lean Leadership Learning System develop an organization’s people and resources to create more access to better, safer care at continually lower costs. The success of his work proves that healthcare’s most important assets are the knowledge and creativity of our people and our patients. Quality is not a department and improvement is not a project; they are everyone’s work, every day. Adaptive Design makes it possible.