About
Dr. Leonard D’Avolio, Ph.D. has spent the last 20 years in government, academia, philanthropy, and industry working to build value-based healthcare programs and organizations that prioritize continuous learning & improvement. He’s the CEO of Blue Circle Health, a philanthropically-funded virtual T1D healthcare system for people in under-resourced communities. Prior to that he was the co-founder of the for-profit Cyft, a company dedicated to helping serious illness care providers succeed in value-based care. Prior to founding Cyft, he led informatics at Ariadne Labs where he helped improve childbirth across 70 clinics in India. Prior to that he created the infrastructure for the world’s largest genomic medicine cohort and embedded the first clinical trial within an electronic medical record system while working for the Dept. of Veterans Affairs.
He is an Assistant Professor at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School. He is an advisor to several healthcare startups, and is on the Board of Youth Development Organization in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
His work has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, National Library of Medicine, the Helmsley Charitable Trust Foundation.
Talks, interviews, & writing are announced on LinkedIn and Twitter (@ldavolio).
Scholarly work listed on google scholar.
Selected Talks and Podcasts:
NCQA Quality Talks - Making Healthcare Count
Medicine's Next Great Breakthrough
Thinking beyond fee for service analytics for value-based care
Creating a New Healthcare - Counting What Counts
National Academy of Medicine - Digital Learning Collaborative Summary
Faster Cures 2017 - Sharing "Scruffy" Data Highlights
Moving Beyond the Hype of AI / Machine Learning
Big Data and Machine Learning in Healthcare: How, When, and Why
Selected Writing:
- Beyond Racial Bias - Rethinking Risk Stratification in Healthcare, in HealthAffairs
- Notes from the National Academies of Science "Intelligence: Real and Artificial" Event
- Where Will AI Increase & Decrease Costs in Healthcare?
- Thoughts on JAMA’s “Adapting to Artificial Intelligence” by Jha and Topol
- 7 Ways We're Screwing Up AI in Healthcare
- Rethinking How to Measure "Risk" in Healthcare
- Risk Scores in Clinical Care - You're Not From Around Here Are You?
- The Dangers of Claims Based on Claims
- What Data Scientists Need to Learn to Work in Healthcare
- Hey Machine Learning...if That's Even Your Real Name
- Dartmouth Researcher Detect Falls Without the Data Scientists
- When Life Gives You MACRA
- Why We Created Cyft
- Data Thinking in Healthcare
- Healthcare's Deadly Data Problem
- Healthcare Startups - Why Now and So What?
Latest Press:
- Nonprofit Blue Circle Health Partners with FQHCs on Type 1 Diabetes, Health Innovation Group, August 26, 2022
- Hospices Adapt to Primary Care Role Under Direct Contracting, Hospice News, March 25, 2021
- Changemakers - Leonard D'Avolio, PhD, Hospice News, May 22, 2020
- Machine learning is only as good as the value it brings, HealthIT News, June 19, 2019
- What can we do better? Big data and artificial intelligence to drive healthcare forward, QEII Times, June 14, 2019
- Using data for change, NEJM Catalyst, Feb 28, 2019
- Exploring the wild and wonderful work of over the top AI stock art, HealthcareIT News, Nov 30, 2018
- How deep learning helps match the right patient with the right healthcare, Tech Republic, Nov 17, 2018
- Use your words! Sorting through the confusing terminology of artificial intelligence, HealthcareIT News, Nov 5, 2018
- The ongoing exploration of for artificial intelligence's best use in healthcare: one expert's viewpoint, Healthcare Informatics, Sept 12, 2018
- How healthcare orgs are addressing AI challenges, CIO, Aug 1, 2018
- AI that improves healthcare efficiency also threatens profits, Tech Republic, June 30, 2018
- Reimbursement pressure, tech prowess aids use of AI in healthcare, Health Data Management, May 4, 2018
- Health startups are finding profits in serving the poor and elderly, CNBC, April 29, 2018
- Value-based care can support adoption of AI that can help bend the cost curve, MedCity News, April 29, 2018
- A realistic look at the hype of machine learning and AI,HealthcareIT News, March 7, 2018
- The mashup approach: How healthcare can save billions on AI and machine learning, HealthcareIT, Dec 13, 2017
- Convincing C-suite to invest in AI: A new mode of ROI, HealthcareIT, Oct 27, 2017
- Three Keys to Unlocking Data-Driven Health Care, Harvard Business Review, Nov 14th, 2017
- Experts on AI in healthcare: 'We need to be more realistic', Healthcare IT News, Oct 2, 2017
- Don’t let IBM’s blunders in health care blind you to the huge benefits of technology in medicine, CNBC, Sept 7, 2017
- Cyft and MedMinder Partner to Improve Care Management, PR Newswire, Sept 5, 2017
- Provider Coalition to Use Machine Learning for Type 1 Diabetes, HealthIT Analytics, June 13, 2017
- Children's Mercy, Joslin Diabetes Center to use machine learning for diabetes management, Becker's Health IT @ CIO Review, June 12, 2017
- Institutions to Apply AI Models to Type 1 Diabetes, Science and Enterprise, June 12, 2017
- Leading institutions to focus on improving Type 1 Diabetes care with machine learnning, PR Newswire, June 12, 2017
- With Machine Learning and AI in Healthcare, Can you speak the language?, Healthcare IT News, June 8th, 2017
- Healthcare Data is Only in its Terrible Twos, Healthcare IT News, May 15, 2017
- Frusturated by Big Data? Harvard professor says it's justified, Healthcare IT News, March 27, 2017
- The opporturnities and challenges of AI in Healthcare, VentureBeat, February 14, 2017
- Using Machine Learning to target behavioral health interventions, HealthIT Analytics, February 6, 2017
- Machine Learning in healthcare takes another step, HealthLeaders Media - November 29, 2016
- Tailoring healthcare analytics to a value-based future, Healthcare Informatics - November 14, 2016
- The unintended consequences of medicine’s digital age, MedPage Today - November 3, 2016
- Machine learning: Changing everything but healthcare, HealthcareIt News - October 25, 2016
- Big Data: Healthcare must move beyond the hype, HealthcareIt News - September 28, 2016
Recent and Upcoming Talks
- HIMSS AI / ML Day, Closing Keynote - "What's Next for Machine Learning in Healthcare" 2021
- Harvard Executive Education - "Designing and Implementing AI Solutions for Healthcare" 2021
- Harvard / MIT Combined Dermatology Program - "Preparing for Healthcare's Learning Era" 2019
- Harvard / MIT Innovation Bootcamp - "Putting Machine Learning to Work," 2019
- HLTH - "The Future of Healthcare", May 2018
- Mass Medical Society - "On AI and Machine Learning in Healthcare", May 2018
- Bridge to Pop Health East - "Turning Predictions into Results - Case Studies from Successful Integrations", May 2018
- HIMSS - Machine Learning & AI for Healthcare Track, Mar. 2018
- National Academies of Science President's Circle Dinner, "Intelligence: Real and Artificial" Apr 2018
- Health Datapalooza, "Which Buzzwords will still be buzzing" Mainstage panel discussion, Apr 2018
- National Academy of Medicine, Digital Learning Collaborative, Nov 2017
- Congress of Neurological Surgeons, 2017 Annual meeting, Nov 2017
- Healthare Finance Strategy, Nov 2017
- HIMSS Pop Health Forum, Keynote, Oct 2017
- NCQA - Quality Talks, Oct 2017
- New England Baptist Hospital, Research Day Keynote, July 2017
-
Faster Cures, Partnering for Cures Boston, "Sharing Scruffy Data" panel, June 2017
Healthcare: The Digital Disruption, District Hall, Boston, May 2017 - HIMSS Big Data & Healthcare Analytics Forum, Opening Keynote, May 2017
- Health Datapalooza, Mainstage panel discussion, Apr 2017
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Y2MAsc4AAAAJ
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