How are novel medical technologies adopted and used in practice? What are the economic and public policy drivers of innovation? How is digitization transforming health care and medical technologies? These are core questions posed in research projects by Dr Ariel Dora Stern, who was recently appointed HPI Visiting Professor for Digital Health Economics and Policy, at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam, Germany.

"I am very delighted to welcome Ariel Dora Stern at the HPI. With her extensive knowledge and expertise in the areas of health care and economics, she will have a great impact on the innovative environment at the HPI and strengthen the transformation of digital health”, says Professor Christoph Meinel, Director and CEO of the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI).

“I am energized by the innovative environment at HPI and the strong topical overlap with my own research interests”, says Professor Dr Ariel Dora Stern. “My main research focus is at the intersection of regulation, innovation, and digital technology in the health care sector and economics of health care.”

Stern is The Poronui Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School where she teaches “Transforming Health Care Delivery” in the Master of Business Administration (MBA) curriculum. Her original research has been published in top-ranked peer-reviewed journals. She is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and national media.

“Ariel Stern is an internationally-renowned expert in the field of economics of health care, whose research and contributions in teaching will have a major impact on innovation and technology development in the health care sector and in the HPI Digital Health Master's program" says Professor Erwin Böttinger, Head of the HPI Digital Health Center.

Concurrently with her HPI Visiting Professorship, Dr Stern directs the International Health Care Economics team at the health innovation hub (hih) of the German Federal Ministry of Health. Stern studied economics at Dartmouth College, USA, and Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, USA. Her doctoral dissertation was written on “The Economics of Health Care and the Regulation of Medical Technology”.

The HPI Digital Health Center (DHC) brings together individuals from health sciences, human sciences, data sciences, digital engineering and society with a shared goal to improve health and wellbeing. The Center assumes an open, inclusive network structure of researchers, projects and research institutions in order to empower patients and to transform healthcare with innovative digital health solutions. In March 2019, the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health at Mount Sinai (HPIMS) was formed as the result of a cooperation agreement between the Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) in New York City and the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI). With HPIMS both institutions aim to develop digital health solutions that empower patients and healthcare providers and improve health and health outcomes.

The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam is Germany's university center of excellence for digital engineering, advancing research and education in IT systems engineering, data engineering, cyber security, entrepreneurship, and digital health. With its bachelor‘s and master’s degree programs, the Faculty of Digital Engineering, established jointly by HPI and the University of Potsdam, offers innovative engineering- and application-oriented study programs. At present, more than 700 students are enrolled in the program. HPI consistently earns a top-notch place in the CHE University Ranking.  The HPI School of Design Thinking is Europe’s first innovation school for university students. It is based on the Stanford model of the d.school and offers 240 places annually for a supplementary study. At HPI there are currently twenty-one professors and over 50 guest professors and lecturers. HPI conducts research noted for its high standard of excellence in its IT topic areas. PhD candidates carry out research at the HPI Research Schools in Potsdam and its branches in Cape Town, Haifa, Irvine and Nanjing. The focus of HPI’s teaching and research is on the foundations and applications of large, highly complex and networked IT systems. In addition, HPI concentrates on the development and research of user-oriented innovations for all areas of life.