Veteran-centered innovation at 2024 VA Innovation Experience

Nearly 700 innovators from across the country gathered in October for the 2024 VHA Innovation Experience (iEX), hosted by VHA's Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning. This year's theme, "Collaborate for Change," showcased experiences that included expert panel discussions, breakout sessions and an exhibit hall format that enabled attendees to experience firsthand the future of Veteran health care.

The conference kicked off with an interactive panel discussion analyzing the future of digital health innovation at VA. The panel discussion featured VA leaders in artificial intelligence, technology and innovation. Examining the future of innovation, the panel discussed how these collaborations might change resulting from the emergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence across VA.

"If you have an idea, we want to help you. We want to listen to you, we want to help you, we want to hear you," said VA's Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Mark Zhang on the importance of supporting innovations from frontline VA employees.

10th VHA Shark Tank competition

iEX was also home to the 10th VHA Shark Tank competition, a showcase of 15 VA employee-developed innovations that address pressing VA health care priorities for Veterans and the VA community.

After finalists shared their practices with the live audience, the hosts concluded the competition by announcing this year's 10 winning practices and their selected replication sites based on bids from interested VA leadership. View the full list of this year's winning innovations on Diffusion Marketplace.

Inspiring iEX talks

Several innovators shared TED Talk-style presentations spotlighting real-world experiences where innovation has made advanced care for Veterans.

The first day closed with a keynote presentation from Army Veteran and Bronze Star recipient Shoshana Johnson. She shared a moving testimony of her experience being the first African American female prisoner of war and recovering with VA care after being taken prisoner during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

"My wish and my prayer are for every Veteran to have a village like I do. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but we need that village our whole lives. That village may change as we get older, but we need that village," she said.

The event concluded with the presentation of the Garry J. Augustine Veterans Service Organization Collaboration award and the Dr. Robert L. Jesse award for Excellence in Innovation.

The Garry J. Augustine award recognizes collaborations between VHA and VSOs that harness innovations to impact care outcomes at one or more VA facilities. This year's inaugural award was presented to the VA Center for Development and Civic Engagement for its collaborative "Enhance Volunteer Transportation During and Post Pandemic" program, which partnered with Disabled American Veterans.

The Dr. Robert L. Jesse Award series recognizes three categories of VHA employees. This year's Dr. Robert L. Jesse Award winners included Dr. Scott Pawlikowski from VHA's Office of Primary Care, Natalie Borges from Edward Hines Jr. VA Medical Center and the Pride in All Who Served team.

Learn more

Want to learn more about innovation at VA? View the 2024 VHA State of Innovation report, our website, scan Diffusion Marketplace, subscribe to our weekly newsletter and explore VA PathFinder.

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