The People:

Conference participants

Fifty scientists, engineers and healthcare clinicians who are leaders at institutions dealing with learning, design, engineering, and life sciences

Conference planning partners

CIMIT (Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology) at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, a nonprofit consortium of teaching hospitals and engineering schools that work to improve patient care

Kingbridge Center, a conference center located in King City, Ontario and dedicated to collaborative meetings and dialogue

The Masie Center in Saratoga Springs, NY, an international think tank that explores the intersection of learning and technology

The Challenge: Distinct organizations within the medial sphere frequently need to develop effective collaborative relationships. CIMIT approached Public Conversations about creating a conference to map the challenges to and opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration in medical settings.

The Shift: Laura Chasin and Bob Stains of the Public Conversations Project, along with CIMIT, the Kingbridge Center, and the Masie Center, designed and facilitated a conference called “Designing and Implementing Multidisciplinary Collaboration” in June of 2008 at Massachusetts General Hospital. After consulting professionals on the ground, Public Conversations helped the fifty leaders to map out barriers to collaboration and examine factors that lead to successful collaborations in medical settings. The conference design created opportunities for participants to develop collaborative relationships in the room while they were grappling with multidisciplinary cooperation in the real world.