Leading Disruption: A Health-Care Innovation Summit

Thank you to the nearly 200 people who attended the 2024 Innovation Summit.

Mark your calendars for April 5, 2025, where we will be back at ArtsQuest in Bethlehem, Pa.

This event is now closed.

Join us on April 6, 2024, at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks in Bethlehem, Pa., for a one-day conference designed to inspire an innovation mindset through thought-provoking presentations, interactive workshops and networking.

This summit unites a diverse community of health-care professionals, thought leaders, academics, students, and industry experts who are motivated to challenge the status quo. Don’t miss this opportunity to be at the forefront of health-care innovation; register now to secure your spot.

Leading Disruption is hosted exclusively by Good Shepherd Rehabilitation, a leader in providing innovative solutions for patients, practitioners and people living with disabilities.

2024 Conference Speakers

Keynote Speaker: David Putrino, PT, PhD

David is a physical therapist with a PhD in Neuroscience, currently working as a professor of rehabilitation and human performance at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He works to develop technology solutions to assist those in need of better health-care accessibility. His notable works include helping completely paralyzed people achieve autonomy using novel brain computer interfaces to partnering with organizations such as the U.S. Olympic Team, the Brooklyn Nets and Red Bull to enhance athletic performance. He is the author of “Hacking Health: How To Make Money and Save Lives in the HealthTech World and was named “Global Australian of the Year” for his contributions to health care. David will be speaking on “How To Be An Innovator” with the goal to educate physical therapists and health-care professionals to learn, identify and embrace opportunities for innovation within their organization.

Rhonda J. Manns, MBA, BSN, RN, CCM

Recognized as one of LinkedIn’s Leaders in Nursing and “Top Voice,” Rhonda is a nationally recognized nurse innovator, mentor, coach and health-care speaker. She is a registered nurse and certified case manager who brings awareness of empathy and design thinking to the corporate sector. She works as a Senior Clinical Product Manager and, in her spare time, serves on the ANA’s Innovation Advisory Committee as a Data Science and Artificial Intelligence committee member. She is a founding member, former Board Member and committee chair for the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders (SONSIEL). She has acted as a hackathon organizer, facilitator and workshop designer for various organizations, guiding diverse groups of people to generate innovative solutions to pressing healthcare problems. Rhonda’s interactive lecture is “Rapid Prototyping: A Practical Application of Innovating for Upper Extremity Rehabilitation,” which will equip attendees with an understanding of user-centered design and rapid hands-on prototyping techniques to reveal innovative approaches to upper extremity rehabilitation.

Gene Murtha

With more than 40 years of marketing, sales, new product development and international business in the toy, games and gift industries, Gene has launched more than 7,000 new product concepts, including Star Wars, Cabbage Patch Kids, Trivial Pursuit and Tickle Me Elmo. His career includes 16 years at Mattel in executive roles, both in the U.S. and abroad, where his focus was in new business development, profit improvement, marketing and sales effectiveness. Having retired in 2011, Gene is a board member of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association and a volunteer at the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) association, acting as a mentor for small business operators and start-ups. Gene will be presenting “Secrets of the Successful Inventor: Ideas to Action,” with the goal to equip attendees with the abilities to evaluate the quality of new ideas, executing on that idea and overcoming common barriers throughout this process

Nathan Urban, PhD

Nathan joined Lehigh University as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs on July 1, 2020. As provost, Nathan serves as the university’s chief academic officer while working collaboratively with the president and university leadership on the development, formulation, and implementation of “Inspiring the Future Makers” – the university’s strategic plan. Nathan graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1991 with majors in Neuroscience and Mathematics and Philosophy. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg Germany, Nathan joined Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Biological Sciences. Nathan’s scientific work continues to focus on experimental and computational analysis of sensory processing by neural circuits in the mouse brain, with a focus on the sense of smell. He is also interested in the development of new techniques and methods for neuroscience, especially in the areas of recordings of brain activity and the computational analysis of behavior. His work has been funded by NIH, NSF, DARPA, AFOSR, the Simons Foundation, the Commonwealth of PA, and the Human Frontiers Science Program, among others.

Lisa Getzler

Lisa is vice provost for entrepreneurship at Lehigh University. She is guiding Lehigh’s new direction in entrepreneurship, which includes oversight of the Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity & Innovation, which was launched in 2010 to create a culture of entrepreneurship across the university, promote innovative thinking and foster the realization of entrepreneurial ideas. Lisa is responsible for the Institute’s strategy, mission-driven program design, internal and external partnerships and developing the resources needed to provide students from all disciplines with opportunities to develop their entrepreneurial mindset and actionable skills as well as their early stage ventures. In 2017 she spearheaded Lehigh@NasdaqCenter, a partnership between Lehigh and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco, providing Lehigh a permanent, year-round academic presence on the West Coast, particularly in the globally renowned startup hub of nearby Silicon Valley. Lisa is a co-founder of TEDxLehighRiver where she serves as curator and speaker coach. Lisa was named a Lehigh Valley Business Woman of Influence and is the recipient of Lehigh’s Hillman Award for her major impact on advancing the role of entrepreneurship at Lehigh, and has served on the executive board of directors at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center.

Elizabeth “Beth” Dolan, PhD

Beth is the dean of Lehigh University’s College of Health. As dean, Beth leads the College of Health in their growth as a young college dedicated to promoting health equity. College of Health prioritizes working with communities experiencing health inequalities and utilizing innovative technology, educating students with real-world experience and conducting standard-defying research. Beth spearheads the College of Health in this approach in order to support the creation of lasting health equity, both locally and globally. Beth champions health and health-related issues, both in her prior roles at Lehigh and outside of the University. She served as founding director of Lehigh’s Health, Medicine and Society program, and co-led the creation of a community health cluster hire before the COH was founded. She also served as founding director of the board of the PA Medical Humanities Consortium, now folded into the National Health Humanities Consortium. In her education, Beth focused on the expression of suffering in narrative, focusing on the ways novel forms of expression intervene to address the social and political causes of emotional pain and ill health. After earning her B.A. in English at Davidson College, Beth obtained her master’s and doctorate in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, later serving as senior fellow in literature and medicine at the UNC School of Medicine.

Chris Kauzmann, MEng

Chris is interim director of Lehigh University’s Ventures Lab and Innovator in Residence and adjunct faculty member. He has taught, managed and run Lehigh’s Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation for a decade. In his role as interim director of Lehigh Ventures Lab, Chris plans to build out core structural systems, including mentorship, content, and policy, allowing Lehigh founders to focus on what matters. Chris graduated from Lehigh University in 2013 with a Mechanical Engineering degree and Entrepreneurship Minor, followed by a Master’s of Engineering in Technical Entrepreneurship in 2014.

Lou Awad, PT, DPT, PhD

Dr. Awad is a physical therapist, rehabilitation scientist and the founding director of Boston University’s Neuromotor Recovery Laboratory. He is an associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Boston University, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is also a research faculty member in the Center for Neurophotonics and Center for Neurorehabilitation, a member of the research faculty at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, a founding core faculty member of the Harvard MOVE Lab and an associate in the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University and the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Awad will present “Wearable Technologies for Advancing the Diagnosis and Treatment of Gait Propulsion Deficits After Stroke.” At the conclusion of this presentation, attendees will be able to define and describe precision medicine, identify phenotypes within a rehabilitation setting and review case examples of precision medicine within a rehabilitation setting.

Posters (Submissions Closed)

The Leading Disruption Conference Committee is pleased to invite submissions of abstracts for poster presentations.

In addition to the poster session, the Innovation Summit will feature a poster jam session in which an author can get up and give a one minute “elevator pitch” about their poster and invite people to come visit during the regular poster session.

Submissions should include:

• Title
• Author list and affiliations
• Type of poster (e.g., Good Shepherd Innovation Grant project, research project, work group project, business analytics or other clinical educational or research quality improvement initiatives)
• Abstract/description for review (300 words)

Questions or need more information? Contact [email protected].

Agenda (April 6, 2024)

Continuing Education Units (CEU)

Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network is an approved provider of continuing education by the Pennsylvania State Board of Occupational Therapy. This course is approved for 7.5 credit hours.

This continuing education session content is pre-approved by NCTRC for 450 min (0.75 CEUs).

This course has been approved by PA State Board of Physical Therapy for 7.5 continuing education hours.

This course has been approved by PA State Board of Examiners in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology for 6.5 continuing education credit hours.

This activity has been submitted to the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association for approval to award contact hours. The Pennsylvania State Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission of Accreditation.

This Nursing Continuing Professional Development activity was approved by the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association Approver Unit, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. This course has been approved for 7.5 contact hours.

This course has been approved by PA State Board of Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapists & Professional Counselors for 7.5 continuing education credit hours.

Hotel Accommodations

Innovation Summit attendees enjoy a special discounted per-night room rate at the neighboring Wind Creek Bethlehem.

To get started, visit the Wind Creek Bethlehem website.

Special Accommodations/Requests

For special accommodations and/or requests, contact Sherry Devine at [email protected] or 610.778.9208.

Sponsors & Exhibitors

Thank you to our 2024 Innovation Summit sponsors and exhibitors:

• Lehigh University College of Health (Keynote Level Sponsor)
• Kinotek
• MedRhythms, Inc.
• Neuro Rehab Recovery
• Partners in Medicine, LLC
• Penn’s Master of Health Care Innovation online
• Penumbra, Inc.
• Wandercraft

To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, contact Gloria Pugliese at [email protected] or 610.776.3557.