Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick
Host of News You Can Use
LinkedIn: Nick van Terheyden, MD
X: @drnic1
In this week’s special edition of “News You Can Use” on Healthcare NOW Radio I sat down with Dr. Kris Olson, Vice President of Design Impact at Mass General Brigham, and was struck by how his journey through medicine and global health has shaped his work today. From refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border to post-tsunami recovery in Aceh, Kris learned firsthand that healthcare innovation doesn’t come from dropping in shiny new systems. It comes from listening, respecting local expertise, and empowering those already on the frontlines. Whether it was training midwives in newborn resuscitation or finding resource-appropriate tools, his career highlights the power of humility and empathy in driving real change.
Listen to the Conversation
At Mass General Brigham, Chris now leads Springboard Studio, a design-thinking platform aimed at making healthcare more human-centered for both patients and the providers experiencing record burnout. He describes design thinking as both a process and a mindset: solving problems with creativity while staying grounded in empathy. Instead of assuming we know the answers, it’s about asking the right questions, uncovering hidden barriers, and co-creating practical solutions with the people most affected. This approach resonates deeply in healthcare, where time pressures and rigid systems often leave little room for curiosity or creativity.
55 Minutes of Thinking, 5 Minutes of Fixing
The results speak for themselves. During COVID-19, Chris and his team transformed a South Korean “testing booth” idea into a “hexapod,” boosting testing capacity by 354%, cutting gown use by 97%, and saving $1M per booth annually. In the heyday of the Pandemic, it was notable how much cooperation and sharing of ideas went on, and that flow of knowledge went both ways.
More recently, they created a low-tech “mobility speedometer” that improved inpatient mobility by 300% and reduced hospital stays. These solutions weren’t flashy, but they worked because they were born from empathy, collaboration, and trust. Chris’s story is a reminder that the future of healthcare innovation isn’t about more technology for its own sake, it’s about design grounded in human experience, creativity, and the courage to rethink how we solve problems together.
At the heart of it all, the lesson is simple: true healthcare innovation doesn’t come from adding more technology or piling on new processes, it comes from listening with empathy, involving the people closest to the problem, and giving them the tools and confidence to create change. When we combine humility with creativity, we don’t just design better systems. W15e design better outcomes for patients, providers, and communities alike.
Check out the MGH Springboard Studio.
This article was originally published on the Dr. Nick – The Incrementalist blog and is republished here with permission.
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News You Can Use gives you a quick insight into the latest news, twists, turns and debacles going on in healthcare with Dr. Nick and Dr. Craig and where every diagnosis comes with a side of side-splitting humor. Your hosts are Dr Nick a long-time host, innovator and healthcare wizard who can prescribe a digital dose of innovation to cure even the most ailing operational inefficiencies. And Dr. Craig Joseph is the healthcare guru who can diagnose both patient and software glitches with equal precision, making sure hospitals run smoother than a well-oiled robot doc.
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