Innovation Acceleration Program
The Innovation Acceleration Program Team
 Naomi Fried, PhDChief Innovation Officer |
 Dr. Pedro Del NidoChief of Cardiac Surgery |
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 Gajen SuntharaPrincipal Software Architect |
 Paola Abello, MBAProgram Manager |
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 Patricia SkobyExecutive Assistant and Program Coordinator |
 Melinda Tang, MEngDeveloper FIT |
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 Alex Pelletier, MBATelehealth Program Specialist |
Sha wn Farrell, MBATelehealth Program Manager |
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 Patrick McCarthy, MBABusiness Analyst |
Naomi Fried, PhD
Naomi Fried, Ph.D. is Boston Children’s Hospital’s first Chief Innovation Officer. She is building the Innovation Acceleration Program, aimed at improving care quality and assisting the hospital in shaping the future of health care. The Innovation Acceleration program focuses on enhancing the innovation culture by supporting strategic innovation initiatives such as Telehealth, resourcing grass roots innovation, and identifying unmet innovation opportunities. Previously, she was the Vice President of Innovation and Advanced Technology at Kaiser Permanente (KP) where she led an effort to identify and assess new and emerging health care technology; chaired the board of its internal Innovation Fund for Technology; formed KP’s Telehealth Working Group; and was involved in the start-up and governance of KP’s Innovation laboratory, the Sidney R. Garfield Center for Health Care Innovation. Prior to this position, she was Managing Director of KP’s Archimedes Project. Before KP, Naomi advised two venture capital firms on life science and health care information technology investments; served as the General Manager and Vice President for Business Development of 1747, Inc., which conducts online clinical trials for new drugs; and was instrumental in the formation of the medical informatics internet start-up company (e-SKOLAR, formerly SHINE) spun out of Stanford School of Medicine, serving as interim President for its first year. Naomi has a BS in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Materials Science from MIT.
@NaomiFried on Twitter
Pedro Del Nido, MD
Dr. Pedro J. Del Nido is the clinical founder of the Innovation Acceleration Program and serves on the Innovestment Grant Governance Board and on the FastTrack Innovation in Technology (FIT) Board.
Dr. Del Nido is currently the Chairman of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Children’s Hospital Boston and the William E. Ladd Professor of Child Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Previously, he served on the Surgical Faculties of the University of Illinois in Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Del Nido is a pioneer in the development of robotic tools used during cardiac surgery. Through his research, he was awarded a United States patent for “Process for Preserving An Organ and Organ Preservation Solution" in April 1995.
Dr. Del Nido has published over 258 peer reviewed articles in numerous medical journals. He has also served on many distinguished boards including Chair of the NIH-NHLBI Surgery-Bioengineering Study Section and Chair of the American Heart Assoc. - National Affiliate Study Section C. Dr. Del Nido was named as one of the 100 most influential members of the Latino community by El Planeta newspaper for three consecutive years.
Dr. Del Nido has a BA in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a MD from the University of Wisconsin Medical School.
Paola Abello, MBA
Paola Abello is the Innovation Acceleration Program Manager at Children’s Hospital Boston.
As Program Manager, Paola facilitates the monthly Innovators' Forums designed to inspire and educate the Children’s community around innovation. She also runs the Innovestment Grant program which seed funds clinical innovation in the Hospital.
Paola’s expertise is in providing strategic guidance in developing new business models. Paola brings over 15 years of experience launching and expanding business opportunities in the area of commercial real estate, venture philanthropy, asset management and healthcare. Previous to joining Children’s Hospital Boston, Paola was a General Partner at Spartacus Capital where she was an early contributor to the design and fundraising of a socially responsible private equity fund.
Paola has a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Boston College and a Master’s of Business Administration from Babson College.
Gajen Sunthara
Gajen Sunthara is a healthcare and computer science professional with over 13 years of experience in Healthcare Information Technology (HIT). Presently, Gajen is a Principal Software Architect for Boston Children’s Hospital’s Innovation Acceleration Program.
Gajen’s technical leadership, extensive research, creativity, design and architecture experience enables him to cultivate and implement innovative technologies in the healthcare field to improve patient care. Gajen is specialized in Cerner & EPIC Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems with broad knowledge in clinical/patient workflows, enterprise Java, Web 2.0 technologies and, iOS & Android mobile development.
Gajen has a B.Sc in Computer Science from Wentworth Institute of Technology and he is currently a Master's candidate for Information Technology program at Harvard University.
@Gajen_Sunthara on Twitter
Patricia Skoby
Patricia Skoby is the Executive Assistant and Program Coordinator for the Innovation Acceleration Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Prior to joining Boston Children’s Hospital, Patricia was employed at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center as a Management Assistant, where she played an intricate role in supporting senior leadership, team management and operational development.
Before joining Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Patricia was the Program Coordinator for the Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire where she developed policies, streamlined processes and procedures while increasing physician productivity in outpatient volume and revenue.
Throughout Patricia’s career she has focused on business development, increasing productivity, staff development, training and administration.
Patricia studied Business Management at New Hampshire College.
Melinda Tang, MEng
Melinda Tang is a software developer for the Innovation Acceleration Program at Children’s Hospital Boston.
Melinda has direct experience in data visualization, user-centered design, mobile technology and pervasive computing. She also plays violin with the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra.
Melinda has a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master’s of Engineering from MIT.
Shawn Farrell, MBA
Shawn Farrell is Children's first Telemedicine and Telehealth Program Manager.
Prior to joining Boston Children's Hospital, Shawn spearheaded the development of an enterprise-wide telemedicine strategy at Massachusetts General Hospital, including the development of core technology and business service platforms which will enable multiple clinical services to integrate telemedicine into their clinical practice.
Shawn also served as Executive Director of the Acute TeleNeurology and TeleStroke Program at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) from 2009 through 2011, where he created a financially sustainable program that provided telemedicine-based clinical support to thirty (30) rural, suburban and urban hospitals throughout New England. In addition, he developed a turnkey telemedicine solution that could be rapidly implemented by other academic or tertiary medical center "hubs" wishing to deliver teleneurology services. Programs in Washington, Oklahoma, Connecticut, and Virginia have implemented the solution.
From 2000 through 2009, Shawn served as the Executive Director for the Department of Neurology MGH. In this role, he was responsible for the day-to-day operations, financial management, and strategic direction of the Department's teaching, clinical and research functions. Before joining MGH, Shawn was a member of the strategic and business planning team at Tufts Health Plan in Waltham, MA, and a consultant and finance manager for the international health group at John Snow, Inc. in Boston, MA.
Shawn has a BS in Marketing from Lehigh University and an MBA in Health Care Management from Boston University.
Alex Pelletier, MBA
Alexandra Pelletier is Children's first Telemedicine and Telehealth Program Specialist.
Prior to joining Boston Children's Hospital, Alex worked at Partners’ Center for Connected Health, where she managed an interdisciplinary team to develop innovative and sustainable health solutions for patients and providers. In her role, she established and supervised budgets, managed the technology and clinical partner relationships, and guided the team to provide excellent customer service and achieve high quality results.
Alex oversaw the following initiatives while at Partners: building a remote monitoring program for blood pressure and diabetes management; expanding Partners’ online consultation service internationally; developing a multi-lingual text messaging service to engage women in their prenatal and post-partum care in urban community health centers; and launching an elementary school-based physical activity competition for children in Dorchester.
Prior to joining Partners Healthcare System, Alex was a consultant in the knowledge and content management practice at IBM Global Services and a Knowledge Management Analyst at Deloitte & Touche, Canada where she created the first customer transaction management system for the Corporate Finance group. Throughout her professional career, Alex has been a champion for innovations that harness technology to deliver value to organizations.
Alex has a BA in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, Canada and a MBA from Simmons College.
@acpelletier on Twitter.
Patrick McCarthy, MBA
Patrick McCarthy is the Innovation Acceleration Program Business Analyst at Boston Children's Hospital.
Prior to joining Boston Children's Hospital, Patrick worked at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in their Materials Management Department, where he helped to streamline processes and reduce costs through the use of new technologies and devices, including a Just-In-Time Inventory Program and an in-house handheld package tracking system.
Before joining Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Patrick worked in Healthcare Architecture at Anshen + Allen, designing hospitals throughout the United States, including work in San Jose, CA, St. George, UT, and Boston, MA. While at Anshen + Allen, he created company-wide standards for production and played a large role in the transition of design to Building Information Modeling.
Throughout his career, Patrick has had a focus in healthcare innovations through physical design and process improvement.
Patrick has an AB in Engineering Sciences and Studio Art from Dartmouth College and a MBA from Boston University with a focus in Strategy and Business Analysis.
