Kendal Broadie, Ph.D., evaluates mutant fruit flies under the microscope in his MRBIII laboratory. Dana Johnson
Vanderbilt and Accenture create new faculty chair
VUMC and global management consulting company Accenture are working together to create an endowed faculty chair at the Vanderbilt Center for Better Health.
The Vanderbilt Center for Better Health was launched in June 2002 with a goal of helping doctors and hospitals improve quality and lower the cost of health care. It has a particular focus on technology and biomedical informatics.
The center uses health care organizations around the country as test beds for improvement initiatives. The center also conducts research and conferences and provides advisory and consulting services.
“We are very excited to team with Accenture and look forward to the additional support this new chair will bring to our mission of using information technology and biomedical informatics to support health care innovation and improvement,” said David P. Osborn, executive director of the center.
Accenture, which specializes in consulting and outsourcing for technology services, has 83,000 employees in 47 countries. The company helps clients become high-performance businesses and governments.
Dr. Patricia O’Brien, a partner with Accenture Health & Life Sciences, said, “Among the challenges facing the industry today, two stand out — the necessity of having the right information in the hands of the right individuals at the right time to make critical health care decisions and, simultaneously, making the most of the enormous possibilities offered by significant advances in bioinformatics. Innovative partnerships such as these will help align all industry participants so they can address these issues to deliver better health care to the market more quickly.”
“The support from Accenture is a testimony to the power and uniqueness of the center,” said Dr. Harry R. Jacobson, vice chancellor for Health Affairs. “It also signals recognition of the visionary and truly talented folks we have pulled together for this vital work.”
“Accenture understands that we desperately need to transform health care into a system of care,” said Dr. William W. Stead, associate vice chancellor for Health Affairs and chairman of the Vanderbilt Center for Better Health. “ They also understand the barriers to a change of this magnitude. Their generous support will let us focus research on overcoming those barriers.”