Duke University School of Nursing will present the annual Harriet Cook Carter Lecture on Thursday, February 20, 2020, at 3 p.m. in Room 1014 of the Christine Siegler Pearson Building. The speaker will be Dan Weberg, PhD, MHI, BSN, RN, Head of Clinical Innovation at Trusted Health and Assistant Professor at Ohio State University College of Nursing. He will speak on “Leading Innovation and Creating Cultures of Change.”

Weberg believes that nurses should be at the forefront of healthcare innovation. “Nurses are the coordinators of the healthcare system already,” he says. “They sit at the center point between the patient, the physician, the pharmacist, the family, the community, the resources and the hospital, so they know what’s broken and can lend insight into how to better coordinate all the pieces.” He’ll discuss how important it is that nurses demand a seat at the table and a voice when powerful companies are designing disruptive changes to the healthcare system.

He’ll also advocate for “evidence-based innovation,” another area in which nurses are uniquely qualified. Rather than the usual brainstorming process common at startups, this system involves “looking at the research and the literature, and turning those insights into brand-new ideas that can be tested within day-to-day clinical work,” notes Weberg. By ensuring that nurses are positioned to lead the charge, companies can more efficiently identify solutions to the most pressing healthcare challenges and bring those solutions to market.

Dan Weberg is a nationally-known expert on nursing leadership and healthcare innovation. After beginning his career as an Emergency Department nurse, he became the first graduate of both the Masters and PhD programs in Healthcare Innovation at Arizona State University. Since 2011, he has been affiliated with The Ohio State University College of Nursing, first as Director of Nursing Education for the health system and then as founding professor of the Masters in Healthcare Innovation program.   

At the same time, Weberg has maintained a foothold in the private sector. For more than 6 years, he led nursing research and innovation at Kaiser Permanente, where he worked to assess the latest Silicon Valley innovations and decide which held the most promise for clinical development and implementation. This past fall, he joined nursing staffing startup Trusted Health as Head of Clinical Innovation, using technology to help shape the more flexible nursing workforce of the future.

He is also the author of several books, including the widely-used textbook Leadership for Evidence-Based Innovation in Nursing and Health Professions.

Following the lecture, experts from the Duke University Health System will participate in a panel discussion on the subject of "building a culture of innovation and transformational leaders within today’s health systems.” The discussion will be moderated by Ryan Shaw, PhD, RN, associate professor at Duke University School of Nursing and director of the school’s Health Innovation Lab.

Panelists include: Deborah H. Allen, PhD, RN, CNS, FNP-BC, AOCNP, Director of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice at the Duke University Health System; Suresh Balu, MS, MBA, Associate Dean for Innovation and Partnership at the Duke University School of Medicine and Program Director of the Duke Institute for Health Innovation; and Xiao Hu, PhD, professor at Duke University School of Nursing.

The day after the lecture, February 21, Weberg will moderate a panel on product development at DUSON’s inaugural Healthcare Innovation Conference.

The Harriet Cook Carter Lecture series gives recognition to nursing as an academic discipline within Duke University and as a profession within society, stimulates ideas for improving nursing education, nursing service and nursing research, and stimulates interest, support and ideas for improving health care and health education in society.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Please register by Friday, February 7.

To RSVP, click this link. For more information, contact Jacqueline Meade at jacqueline.meade@duke.edu