A few years before arriving at Babson, I created and hosted a television show called Shining City that ran on the New England Sports Network. The show highlighted the visionary problem solving of the region’s most dynamic innovators in science and technology, health, and social entrepreneurship.
Photo: Webb Chappell
Babson President Kerry Healey
The idea for the program came during my term as lieutenant governor when I had the opportunity to learn firsthand about the transformational scientific, medical, and technological research and inspiring work being done in our higher education institutions across Massachusetts. Shining City also celebrated Boston as a unique ecosystem that supports bold, new ideas while nurturing the dynamic leaders and entrepreneurs in our own backyard who are making a positive global impact.
Understanding the critical connection among innovation, entrepreneurship, and solving the world’s most challenging problems led me directly to Babson. Babson entrepreneurs are seeking society-changing solutions in every field, and I am seeing more and more attention being devoted by our students and alumni to creating and innovating across every aspect of the health-care industry.
The promise of discovering new treatments to help people live longer, more productive, and healthier lives is certainly a priority for all of us. This issue of Babson Magazine features alumni who are taking action in the biotech industry as company founders, leaders, researchers, and consultants seeking smart solutions to vexing health-care challenges (“Imagining the Unimaginable”). These alumni also represent a growing trend across our MBA programs. Careers in health care and the life sciences are trending upward and now represent the second most popular landing spot among our graduate students, with 16 percent choosing employment in these fields.
With annual health-care and related expenses in the United States estimated to reach $4 trillion in 2015 according to a Deloitte study, opportunity exists for Entrepreneurs of All Kinds to positively influence the future. Myriad challenges not only include bringing headlinemaking new treatments to market, but also finding new efficiencies throughout the industry to slow spiraling costs. Those costs threaten access to and availability of the services that society has grown accustomed to but may not be able to afford long term.
Health care is a massive industry that is ripe for disruption, while also holding incredible promise and hope for the future. We can take pride in knowing that Babson entrepreneurs will be at the forefront in finding new and better ways to deliver a higher quality of life for people everywhere.
Kerry Healey