Last modified: Monday, January 7, 2008
Former HHS Secretary Thompson to visit IU's Kelley School on Tuesday
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 7, 2008
Editors: Tommy Thompson is expected to briefly meet with reporters at 3:40 p.m. in room 3074 of the Godfrey Graduate and Executive Education Center, 1275 E. 10th St. More information about the course, "The Business of Life Sciences," is available online at https://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/6770.html.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Tommy G. Thompson, former Health and Human Services secretary and four-term governor of Wisconsin, will visit Indiana University's Kelley School of Business on Tuesday (Jan. 8).
Thompson, now independent chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, will meet with undergraduate and MBA students and speak to a unique class at Kelley on the business of life sciences.
The class -- "X572 - Business of Life Sciences - Global Events and Trends Impacting the Life Sciences Industries" -- is the second of a new two-course series that is part of Kelley's Academy PLUS Life Sciences MBA study option for MBA students. The seven-week class places graduate business and science students together into multidisciplinary teams, challenging them to give strategic advice to real companies faced with unfolding trends and challenges.
It is taught by Larry Davidson, professor of business economics and public policy and liaison to Kelley's Healthcare & Life Sciences Initiative, and Carl Briggs, clinical assistant professor of operations and decision technologies. Hill-Rom, a leading hospital equipment supplier based in Batesville, Ind., has provided Kelley with an unrestricted educational grant to support this program.
The class has three goals: teach students about the main trends and future changes impacting the life sciences value chain, facilitate a project that allows business and life sciences students to work together and place the students in the same room with experts in the field. The first course in this new series was offered for the first time last semester.
"Tommy Thompson is widely recognized as one of the leading authorities on national and global healthcare issues. He was the keynote speaker at our annual business conference two years ago and is truly extraordinary in terms of his insight and candor. Exposing our students to world-class leaders is one of the things that makes the Kelley School so special. It is certainly an honor to have Mr. Thompson share his most recent ideas with us," said Dan Smith, dean of the Kelley School.
Also a partner at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Thompson is building on his past efforts to develop innovative solutions to the health care challenges facing American families, businesses, communities, states and the nation as a whole.
These efforts focus on improving the use of information technology in hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices; promoting healthier lifestyles; strengthening and modernizing Medicare and Medicaid; and expanding the use of medical diplomacy around the world.
At HHS, which he headed from 2001 to 2005, he led the Bush Administration's efforts to pass and implement a new Medicare law that is for the first time providing a drug benefit to America's seniors.
Thompson will be joined at the class by two other speakers, John Brown of Wellpoint and Ken Weixel of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP. The class has 70 graduate students from the business school, sciences, informatics, and the medical school, some of whom will attend through teleconferencing technology.
