Dr. Julie Silver has been an integral part of developing the new Spaulding Research Institute from conception to launch. Her research and clinical work have focused on improving gaps in the delivery of healthcare services, particularly cancer rehabilitation. She has published many scientific reports and is well-known for her ground-breaking work on “impairment-driven cancer rehabilitation.” She is the co-founder and co-director of the Cancer Rehabilitation Group for the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, a research-focused interdisciplinary professional society. As a healthcare leader, Dr. Silver also is committed to supporting the healthcare workforce, and she is a researcher and nationally recognized expert on inclusion, diversity and equity. She has published multiple reports on bibliometrics—educating researchers about both conventional and alternative metrics—aimed at supporting both research dissemination and faculty promotion. Her work has been featured in several major print and broadcast media throughout the United States.
In Part 1 of this presentation, Dr. Silver addresses the topic of “How to Lead High Impact Strategic Initiatives in Health Care” from the perspective of the traditional three hats worn in academic medicine: medical education, clinician, and researcher. When dealing with patients who had polio, she came to the realization that someone had to record their stories regarding what happened to them, which led to her creating an oral history project. When it comes to innovation, it is not enough to have a great idea, but to have a strategy around it, which means the necessity of developing an innovation engine that takes a great idea to enable others to understand it.Tipping points really matter and are the hardest part by being able to define what really makes a difference. Another key essential is to leverage your network. When you want to have divergent change, it helps to have a bridging network and to be able to leverage different groups to bring about big change.