Health Entrepreneurship: A Practical Guide

The potential for health professionals to learn and practice the process of entrepreneurship to improve the quality of health care and services is enormous and untapped. Health professionals witness first-hand where changes to the health system should be made and where opportunities for improvement arise, yet they are seldom associated with entrepreneurship.

Incorporating the authors’ experiences leading health systems, working on the front line and supporting corporations, NGOs and accelerators that target health entrepreneurship, this book explores:

• The why, what and how of entrepreneurship - and intrapreneurship - for health professionals.
• Resources to encourage innovation by guiding the reader through an idea development process specific to the experience and working environment of health professionals.
• The areas of need, developing ideas and prototype solutions, as well as implementing, scaling and pitching entrepreneurial ideas.

An accessible and applied guide, Health Entrepreneurship introduces ideas about the practical delivery and implementation of entrepreneurial ideas, allowing readers to affect necessary and positive change.

Carrie R. Rich is the co-founder and CEO of The Global Good Fund, for which she was recognized as the 2016 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Ms. Rich previously worked in health administration. She serves on multiple boards and is an adjunct faculty member at George Washington University where she teaches Entrepreneurship for Nurse Leaders.

Mark Vernooij is a Partner at THNK School of Creative Leadership, a social enterprise that delivers executive education to build the leaders that can create the future we need and want. He serves as an expert on innovation on the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network and is a regular speaker on the topics of creative leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Seema S. Wadhwa is the Assistant Vice President of Sustainability and Wellness for Inova Health System. She co-founded the Lullaby Project, which has provided over 1,000 blankets to babies in the United States and around the world, and serves on the board of the US Green Building Council National Capital Region.