Impact Stories

The Office for External Education helps advance Harvard Medical School’s mission by bringing innovative and impactful learning opportunities to audiences worldwide. Health care professionals, business leaders at all levels, and patients and families acquire knowledge and develop their potential from wide-ranging programs, courses, and published materials.

Below are the remarkable stories of a few individuals who have utilized the knowledge, perspectives, and insights they gained at Harvard Medical School to alleviate human suffering and improve health and wellbeing for people in truly meaningful ways.

Lelis Bauzá Vernon
Health Care Consultant
Safety, Quality, Informatics, and Leadership, 2022

Lelis Bauzá Vernon’s advocacy for family engagement and improved health care began during her time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with the premature birth of her twin boys. Her family spent four months in the NICU, which revealed gaps in care and communication. Vernon began her advocacy journey as the first volunteer to mentor and support families in the NICU by sharing her firsthand experience. From there, she grew a support group and got involved in quality improvement projects, representing the voice of families. Originally from Argentina, she had a particular sensitivity to the needs of Latino and Hispanic families. 

To become better informed, Vernon enrolled in the Safety, Quality, Informatics, and Leadership program at Harvard Medical School. Vernon wanted to explore how the safety and quality landscape looked from the clinical side to better translate the needs of patients and families in her work as a health care consultant. Her capstone project focused on improving communication and engagement with families in the NICU through the implementation of virtual rounding during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outcomes of her project have been shared at conferences nationwide. Through the program’s focus on clinical databases and design, she was able to reveal how patient narratives yield valuable data points essential in reshaping health care strategies. 

Vernon serves as a clinical advisor for the Advocacy Committee Leadership Council (ACLC) at the American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (SONPM); she is the family advisor for the California and Florida Perinatal Quality Care Collaboratives and actively participates as family representative with the Necrotizing Enterocolitis Society. 

Martin Ciernik, PharmD
Medical Affairs Manager, Boehringer Ingelheim
Corporate Learning Participant, Accelerate, HMX

Martin Ciernik, PharmD, a medical affairs manager at Boehringer Ingelheim, is passionate about the importance of lifelong learning.  During his career with Boehringer Ingelheim he has focused on bridging clinical science with clinical reality and collaborating with clinicians to improve the lives of patients.  

In 2021, Boehringer Ingelheim initiated a comprehensive, company-wide plan to change the way clinical development and medical affairs work is done at the pharmaceutical company. The ambitious goal of “One Medicine” is to bring therapies to market more quickly and create new levels of value for patients. A major part of this transformation was the launch of the “University of Medicine Excellence” to build the capabilities of individuals and teams to increase speed and value. 

After evaluating multiple educational providers, Boehringer Ingelheim selected Harvard Medical School Corporate Learning to work with the University of Medicine Excellence to create and co-deliver its “Accelerate” executive education program. The Accelerate program aims to empower individuals to grow as leaders and apply their skills to Boehringer Ingelheim, the biopharma industry, and the broader health care sector.  Participants explore the main drivers of change in health care and identify implications for the company. Patient centricity and engagement are core to the curriculum.  

Harvard Medical School has also created an advanced program, AccelerateEX, which includes in-person program time at HMS’s campus in Boston and the company’s German headquarters in Ingelheim. AccelerateEX participants work on real life challenges from the medicine organization and present their project solutions to executives at the end of the program. Additionally, the University of Medicine Excellence is making HMS’s HMX online medical science courses available to the entire Medicine community at Boehringer Ingelheim. 

Sarah Campbell 
Patient and Family Advocate
Senior Research Coordinator, Adult Autism Health Resources Initiative

As the parent of an autistic adult, Sarah Campbell is a dedicated patient and family advocate for those with autism spectrum disorder. As the senior research coordinator for the Adult Autism Health Resources initiative at Harvard Medical School – generously supported by the Nancy Lurie Marks Foundation – Campbell provides the voice of lived experience to the project.   Focused on improving autism care and the lives of autistic adults and their families, the project aims to educate clinicians, caregivers, and self-advocates in leading meaningful change across health care systems. Campbell created the Patient Experience Board, a virtual classroom site where group members could engage in discussions, pose questions, and share their thoughts on topics designed to inform the clinician course and website content. Campbell also identified clinicians and experts who might contribute to the Adult Autism Health Resources project. 

Alysa Langburt
Vice President of Strategic Partnership, Envoya
Global Health Care Leaders Program, 2023

Passionate about creating a healthier world, and improving the lives of patients, Alysa Langburt has spent her career in clinical research. She designed and standardized clinical research sites across Canada and the US, resulting in more than 40 sites running more than 300 clinical trials a year.  

Looking for a change, Langburt enrolled in the Global Health Care Leaders program, a one-year executive education offering from Harvard Medical School designed to enable participants to craft ambitious solutions and shape health care globally. There, Langburt was introduced to a classmate’s wife and founder of Envoya, an AI-powered drug delivery platform that leverages bio-compatible nanoparticles to target mutated genes, offering new treatments for genetic and rare diseases. Langburt is now the Vice President of Strategic Partnership for Envoya. She credits the Global Health Care Leaders program with securing a network of lifelong friends and colleagues, all dedicated to shaping the future of health care.