Davidson Fellowship Graduation: Innovative Ideas to Address Real Healthcare Challenges

This June, at the annual commencement of the Davidson Fellowship for Innovation in Healthcare, six teams presented their respective innovative solutions designed to address healthcare challenges affecting Henry Ford Health patients and caregivers.

Over the course of nine months, fellows worked in cross-functional teams to develop innovative solutions to challenges facing healthcare today. Their final presentations reflected months of research, collaboration, and problem-solving, with each team refining a concept designed to improve care, strengthen processes, or better support patients and staff.

What stood out throughout the event was the quality of thought and the passion of the innovators. Each team presented a thoughtful, well-developed project shaped by real experience inside the health system and backed by a clear understanding of the problem they were trying to solve.

2026 Davidson Fellowship Winner

This year’s winning team, Improving Maternal Mortality, was recognized for developing a solution that stood out for both its innovation and its potential impact.
Their project focused on improving maternal outcomes by addressing gaps in postpartum care, with an approach centered on developing a dedicated clinic where mothers and infants can receive coordinated care together. Designed to improve follow-up, expand access, and identify complications earlier, the model provides more consistent support during a critical period that is often overlooked.

Team members:

Karen Alvarez
Sarah Biluk, BA, RVT
Amity Lovette, BCC
Amy Neloms, MPH, IBCLC
Iama Stonier, MD

Additional Projects

The strength of this year’s fellowship could be seen across the full group of presentations. Teams introduced a wide range of innovative ideas, each shaped around a specific challenge and built with real-world application in mind.

Projects included:

• DisciplineIQ – An embedded solution in the EHR designed to strength clinical decision-making and consistency by providing each clinician with a role-specific, longitudinal chart summary, making it easier to understand the patient story.
• SafeReturn – A care platform that helps seniors transition safely from hospital to home by using wearable and home-based monitoring to identify fall risk and support targeted interventions that preserve independence.
• Adhera – Adhera is an EHR-integrated medication adherence platform that helps care teams understand why patients stop taking medications and enables timely, personalized interventions within the clinical workflow.
• Haven – Haven is a substance use disorder engagement and navigation platform that helps people find and access the right support at the moment they are ready, while giving organizations better visibility into unmet need and recovery engagement.
• HeartSight AI – A data-driven approach designed to identify cardiovascular risk earlier and support more proactive interventions through the use of artificial intelligence.

Together, these presentations highlighted the depth of thought, creativity, and commitment that fellows brought to the program. Each project offered a different perspective on how innovation can take shape within a health system and reflected the value of giving teams the space to explore bold ideas and turn them into something concrete.

Thank You to Our Judges

The ability to not only assess and design innovation opportunities from a multidisciplinary perspective, but to also convey such opportunities in an effective and concise manner is a primary skill developed by the Fellows. To test this capability, a distinguished panel of judges serves to review and address each presentation at the annual event. Thank you to this year’s panel of judges for their time, engagement, and thoughtful evaluation throughout the event:

• Dr. Sarah Gretter Atkinson, Michigan State University, Office of the Provost
• Brian Day, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, HFH
• Dr. Chad Klochko, Vice Chair of Informatics and Translational Research, HFH
• Dr. Suth Krupp, Vice Chair of Operations, Department of Emergency Medicine, HFH
• Dr. Sandeep Soman, Division Head, Nephrology, HFH
• Paul Toenjes, Founder and Executive Chairman, Cura Collaborative

Looking Ahead

Entering its thirteenth year, the Davidson Fellowship continues to show that some of the most promising ideas in healthcare come from those working closest to the challenges.

The graduation presentations were a strong reminder that innovation is not just about identifying problems. It is about building solutions that are grounded, ambitious, and created by teams who understand the work firsthand.

Interested in taking on a challenge like this? Applications are open for the 2026-27 cohort that begins this September. Learn how to apply.