Dr. Benjamin M. Scirica is a cardiovascular medicine specialist and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). He is the director of quality initiatives at Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s (BWH) Cardiovascular Division and a senior investigator at the Thrombolysis and Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) Study Group, where he is director of the Electrocardiography Core Laboratory.

Dr. Scirica received his medical degree from HMS. He completed an internal medicine residency and a cardiovascular disease fellowship at BWH. He also completed a research fellowship in cardiovascular disease with the TIMI Study Group at BWH and received a master’s degree in public health from Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Scirica is board certified in cardiovascular disease.

His clinical and research interests include assessing novel therapeutic agents and developing electrocardiography and cardiac biomarkers. As director of quality initiatives at the Cardiovascular Division at BWH, he leads projects to improve delivery of care and inter-disciplinary communications. At the TIMI Study Group, Dr. Scirica’s research focuses on improving risk stratification and cardiovascular disease treatment. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

We hope you enjoy this episode where we discuss disruptive innovations, change implementation, and teambuilding. Welcome to leading the rounds. 

Questions We Asked: 

• Tell us about your NEJM article “Disruptive and Sustaining Innovation in Telemedicine: A Strategic Roadmap”?
• How do we build sustainable systems to use innovative technology? 
• Have we been able to effectively evaluate telemedicine as a healthcare media? 
• What is your company CardioCompass? 
• What have you learned about leading diverse interprofessional teams? 
• What are your favorite books? 

Quotes & Ideas: 

• Disruption theory by Clay Christensen
• The Innovator's Dilemma 
• Cardiocompass 
• In order to create an innovation, you need to release a minimum viable produce and then refine and improve it based on feedback and inefficiencies
• “What’s the job that needs to be done” 
• As a leader, “think out loud and let people into your thought process.”
• “It’s almost impossible to over communicate, especially virtually.” 

Book Suggestions: 

• Books about Abraham Lincoln