Healthcare Lab Teams' Presentations Address Real-World Challenges
On January 30, 2026, 7 Healthcare Lab teams presented their recommendations to the challenges posed by their host organizations. This year’s hosts ranged from healthcare providers (Boston Children’s Hospital, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, and Cardiovascular Associates of America) to large and small companies (RhythmX AI, CVS Health Ventures, and Surgicure) to a public-private partnership, CHAI (the Coalition for Health AI).
Hosts and projects:
BCH: Maximizing Surgical Block Utilization
CHAI: Governing AI in Healthcare: Bridging the Gap Between Principle and Practice
CVAUSA: Heartbeat Health-Enabled Cardiology Intake Expansion
CVS Health Ventures: Investing in AI for Payer-Provider Transformation
Lahey: Evaluating Technology to Scale Hospital at Home
RhythmX AI: Specialty ROI Model Development
Surgicure Technologies: Towards Accelerated Paths for Commercializing Medical Innovation
Healthcare Lab is a required course for the Healthcare Certificate, and the team project culminates in a semester-long engagement with an external company or organization. Team members gain insights into real-world challenges through working with senior healthcare leaders. They aim to offer actionable recommendations to help organizations make progress on a critical issue.
As in previous years’ project presentations, each team had 60 seconds to present their work and pitch to encourage audience members to attend their breakout session. Audience members also voted on which pitch was the funniest, the most likely to entice visitors, and the most surprising. This year, the winners, in order, were CHAI, BCH, and Lahey.
Several of the organizations' hosts attended the presentation session and complimented the teams’ efforts. BCH, Lahey, and Surgicure are repeat Healthcare Lab hosts. Project teams for those organizations can build on previous work to advance the company’s mission. Irena King, CEO and founder of Surgicure, commented, “This year’s project builds naturally on last year’s work by moving from problem identification to practical application. The strength of the team has been its diversity, bringing together industry veterans, PhD researchers, and students with global perspectives. They’ve operated as a true extension of our team, constructively challenging assumptions and grounding big ideas in real-world constraints.”
Learn more about all of the teams’ projects from their presentation posters.