Innovation Challenge Blog

Meet the 2013 Data Design Diabetes Mentors!

One of the most exciting aspects of Data Design Diabetes is watching teams refine their concepts from the submissions phase to Demo Day. After the Innovators’ Bootcamp at the end of April, each team will work with a team of mentors to further develop their solutions and prepare for Demo Day at Health Datapalooza IV on June 3rd. This phase of the Challenge offers a unique opportunity for the teams to work closely with experts who have relevant knowledge and experience that can help drive their concepts to the next level. The quality of mentorship distinguishes Data Design Diabetes from other challenges and past participants have mentioned that it was one of the best parts of the challenge experience.

The breadth of this year’s mentors’ expertise spans business, healthcare, technology, and open data. We’re truly fortunate to have such prolific industry leaders on board. So without further ado, meet the mentors!

Aaron Goldmuntz, Senior Director, Business Development and Strategy, West Health

Aaron is the Senior Director, Strategy & Ecosystem Engagement for the Gary and Mary West Wireless Health Institute.  Aaron led business development for CardioNet Inc., which became a public company in 2008.  At Guidant Corporation, now Boston Scientific, he focused on applications of heart failure management.  He also has worked as a healthcare management consultant, helping improve profitability for acute care institutions.  Aaron received a BA in Biochemistry from the University of Colorado, a MHSA from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Aaron’s areas of expertise are business planning, business development, and strategy. He also has healthcare-specific experience with standards, regulatory pathways, and reimbursement.

John Wilbanks, Chief Commons Officer, Sage Bionetworks

John Wilbanks is the Chief Commons Officer at Sage Bionetworks and a Senior Fellow in Entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He has worked at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, the World Wide Web Consortium, the US House of Representatives, and Creative Commons. John is a past affiliate of MIT’s Project on Mathematics and Computation and also started a bioinformatics company called Incellico, which is now part of Selventa.  He sits on the Advisory Boards for Boundless Learning, Genomic Arts, Curious, GenoSpace, Patients Like Me, and Genomera, and is Special Advisor on the Research Commons to the University of California San Francisco’s Clinical Translational Science Institute. John holds a degree in Philosophy from Tulane and studied modern letters at the Sorbonne.

John’s areas of expertise include open content, open data, open innovation systems, entrepreneurship, and bioinformatics.

Paul Penta, Director, Joslin Center for Diabetes

Paul is a leader in healthcare IT strategy and management with a strong focus in diabetes and chronic disease. Currently, Paul leads the efforts of Joslin Diabetes Center to use technology to help more people with diabetes. This initiative, Joslin Everywhere, is a broad concept that incorporates clinical assessment, proprietary analytical algorithms, and targeted clinical response. As project manager, Paul expertly develops the direction and necessary relationships to bring to market a novel healthcare IT platform with a sustainable business model.

Paul’s areas of expertise include business modeling and strategy, diabetes care, and patient experience.

Glen Moy, Senior Program Officer, Better Chronic Disease Care Program, California Healthcare Foundation

Glen is a senior program officer for the Foundation’s Better Chronic Disease Care program, which focuses on improving clinical outcomes and quality of life for Californians with chronic diseases. He manages projects that expand adoption of health information technology to improve care and promote greater efficiency in the health care system. Moy has extensive experience with health information technology, including health information exchange, interoperability, electronic health record systems, and electronic prescribing systems. He previously served as director of health informatics for the California Prison Health Care Receivership, where he was principal solution architect for the receivership’s health information technology efforts.

Glen’s areas of expertise include electronic health records, data integration, and health information exchange and interoperability.

Andrew Schechterman, User Experience Architect

Andrew Schechterman, Ph.D. is a user experience architect, designer, researcher and strategist with a secondary proficiency in healthcare (medical psychology, behavioral medicine). His expertise is uncovering, understanding and designing for core human variables (intellect, emotion, behavior) that determine how people adopt products and services in the context of their daily lives. Serving as a teammate, mentor, manager, director or principal, he’s collaborated with organizations such as Black & Decker, Campbell’s Soup Company, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Mercy St. John’s Health and TriZetto. His human centered methods and case studies have been presented at conferences, published in design management journals, and cited in articles written by his peers. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Kansas, graduate studies and internships-residencies at Ball State University and the University of Utah.

Andrew’s areas of expertise include design planning and strategy for integrated products and services (analog-digital). His secondary expertise is medical psychology and behavioral medicine.

Their mentorship, in combination with the exceptional passion and talent of the finalist teams, promises to make a fantastic set of presentations at Demo Day. To keep up to date with the latest Data Design Diabetes news, follow the Challenge on  and , or visit www.redesigningdata.com/ddd!