Douglas L. Wood, M.D.

Location

Contact

SUMMARY

Douglas L. Wood, M.D., is medical director of Innovation and Design within the Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery. He and his team of designers, project managers, information technology specialists and others use human-centered designs to create solutions for care delivery, at-home care and highly functional spaces, and work to make existing technologies more useful for individuals. The Kern center's partnership with Delos Living studies the impact of the built environment on human health and behavior in a unique Well Living Laboratory.

Focus areas

• Creation of functional spaces. By understanding individual needs, Dr. Wood and the Innovation and Design team use observational research to design specific clinical spaces.
• Creation of service solutions. The Innovation and Design team creates unique services and experiences for various clinical areas. These include optimized team care in primary care clinics, better prenatal experiences for expectant mothers, redesign of dialysis care, creation of new care experiences for patients who've survived cancer, care for patients having proton beam therapy, regenerative medicine treatment, and care for patients during their hospital stay and transition home.
• Efficient interactions with technology. The team is partnering with Mayo Clinic Center for Connected Care and other experts in informatics and knowledge management to create easier ways to manage computer hardware with voice-user interfaces and to create better decision tools for people using unique software solutions. The Kern center has produced award-winning solutions for Mayo Clinic, including the Mayo Clinic app for patient use.

Significance to patient care

The specialized Innovation and Design team was the first of its kind in an academic medical center and is still one of the few organizations that work to understand the unique needs of individuals at home, work, school and health care settings to create truly helpful solutions. Dr. Wood and the team have produced major designs and redesigns for clinical care throughout Mayo Clinic, including the Healthy Living Program, Mayo Clinic Center for Connected Care and the Office of Population Health. The team strives to use its expertise in human-centered design to improve the lives of patients.

Professional highlights

• Medical director, Innovation and Design, Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, 2008-present
• President, Minnesota Medical Association, 2019