Jackie Selby, EMBA ’21, hosts a conversation with Sheila Dodge, EMBA '12, on how training in Dynamic Work Design enabled her to optimize lab processing at the Broad Institute in order to improve turnaround times by 80% and quadruple capacity. These changes enabled Broad to meet growing demand and positioned the company to be one of the largest and most effective testing labs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sheila Dodge is the Chief Operating Officer of Broad Clinical Labs (BCL) and an institute scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She is responsible for general management across BCL in addition to overseeing Lab Operations, and Quality and Compliance groups. She also oversees Finance for all Broad Technology Platforms with a focus on strategic business objectives. She helps define the organizational and scientific vision of the BCL group which provides research, translational, and clinical services (including diagnostics) in areas that traditional players would not engage to address unmet need, expand access, and encourage data sharing and to prevent data silos. With expertise in work design, visual management, operations, and an ability to balance creativity and efficiency, Sheila manages across disciplines to drive transparency and execution. She communicates with a range of collaborators, scientists, engineers, and technology partners to rapidly integrate new technologies and develop pioneering innovative services.
As COO, Dodge manages at the intersection between the lab and software organizations, with a focus on finance, quality, and business processes. Her effort includes clarifying intent of the activities and prioritization of the group’s goals, as well as management of the funding landscape and business strategy and development. The BCL team (more than 250 members) has generated more than 37.5M covid diagnostic tests, currently generates more than 200,000 genomes per year, as well as a range of scientific data production services, all while exploring new technologies and improved methods for data analysis and sequencing.
Dodge has expertise in process design, technology and assay development, and maintenance of high quality production lines. She has Black Belt certification in Six Sigma methodology and employs lean manufacturing design techniques across a wide variety of processes. Prior to her current role at the Broad, Dodge served as a technician in the molecular biology production group at the Whitehead Institute and participated in the Human Genome Project. She also lectures at MIT Sloan School of Management on operations, dynamic work design, and visual management techniques.
Dodge received her B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Boston University and her master’s degree in biology from Harvard University. She earned her M.B.A. from MIT Sloan School of Management.
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