Health Sciences Chair Finalist for Innovation Award

Summer McGee, a nationally recognized expert in heath policy, believes it is critical for the healthcare industry to embrace innovation and creativity. She used that mindset to develop the University's new interdisciplinary program in health sciences, a program she now chairs.

"There wasn't an easy way for faculty and students in health programs to collaborate across colleges, so we created a department that would allow us to do just that," said McGee. "The University needed a program and courses that are cutting-edge and interdisciplinary focused on human health. So we built one." 

Achievements like this are why McGee is one of five finalists in the Academic Innovation and Leadership category as part of the Connecticut Technology Council's 2017 Women of Innovation program.

"I feel very honored and humbled to have been chosen to be among the finalists," she said.

It also gives me great pride to represent the University of New Haven among other nationally ranked universities like Yale and Wesleyan.

Women of Innovation finalists are selected based on their professional experience, history of innovation, ability to think creatively and solve problems, and demonstration of leadership. 

McGee said everything about the new health sciences department is focused on innovation.

"The rules and regulations governing healthcare are being changed as we speak, so students need to be flexible and able to react to changing times," she said. "All of these changes happening in healthcare means you have to be focused on finding new and better ways to do things and thinking critically about them all the time."

In healthcare, innovation and creativity are among the most sought after skills, said McGee.

"Health professionals of all kinds have to work together to achieve the always moving targets of providing better care," she said.  "Our students will be a major part of that healthcare team and will help the future of healthcare be brighter."