HARVARD COFFEE WITH LEADERS SESSION

We are very proud that one of our students became a representative at the Harvard Coffee with Leaders Session with Dr. John Glaser – Executive in Residence at Harvard Medical School Executive Education, she is Gwyneth Sastra, Grade 11F.

“Overall, I had a fantastic time being with outstanding students, and I am honoured to have had this excellent opportunity of having a session with Dr John Glaser,” said Gwen.

Here is the short interview with Gwen about the session.

1. Can you tell me about the Harvard Coffee with Leaders Session?
   Coffee with Leaders is a pro bono activity where students from all around the world interact with leading faculties in an informal setting via video conferencing for 60 minutes.
   This time, 15 high school students were invited and nominated by schools worldwide to join a session with Dr John Glaser, Executive-in-Residence of Harvard Medical School Executive Education. The faculty speaker would give an assignment to the students who join the day before the video conference, and it will be the topic starter for the session.
2. What is the purpose of this event?
   The purpose of this event is to get inspired by and learn from professionals. The session allows active participation of students and enables them to speak freely to the faculty speaker about the topic. This allows all participants to get different perspectives of other people’s opinions and get insight into how things are done differently from where they are based on the topic of discussion. For example, I learned about the development of digital healthcare in Italy during the session.
   An application called Docdot can detect an individual’s heart rate and heart rate variability, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation using advanced reflected light plethysmography. From this event, I have been more aware of the development of technological advancements, and I am inspired to learn more about further potentials.
3. How is the process so that you can be selected as a representative?
   I was called on a meeting with Ms Sherrie and Ms Mariza when they had informed me that they received an invitation for Coffee with Leaders, and I was nominated as the school representative. Ms Sherrie sent me the application form; I filled it in and submitted it. I received an email the day after that from Learn with Leaders informing that I was chosen as one of the participants for Coffee with Leaders with Dr John Glaser and received an assignment to watch a few videos about the topic for the session.
4. Tell us about your experience with this event.
   I was extremely nervous because I had no expectations about how the session would be, especially since I did not have much time to prepare. I was nominated and accepted only a few days before the d-day. I watched the video assignment and finally got into the session. I was ecstatic to start the session when I saw that there were around 50 participants in the room from the Czech Republic, Senegal, Greece, Switzerland, and other parts of the world. As soon as the session began, Dr Glaser immediately asked about our thoughts and questions about the videos we watched, and people immediately had their hands up. It was fascinating to hear about their perspectives and Dr Glaser’s responses.

   I had raised a question about how digital healthcare could provide inclusivity to the population, considering that those who need healthcare mostly live in rural areas and may not have the privilege of having quality healthcare or living conditions. Moreover, they may not afford the necessary technology for digital healthcare, rely on traditional relief and doubt modern technology, especially digital healthcare.

   Dr Glaser responded that people have their preferences; although they have access to digital healthcare, they would rather have offline checkups to build connection and trust with the doctor and ensure that the observation is accurate. But more people have learned to adapt to situations and digital healthcare, so it shouldn’t be a problem for those who still have doubts since it isn’t something that can change right away, and people need to be educated about.

   He also mentioned that there is a higher demand in healthcare and everywhere else than there are resources. Therefore, there should be a policy and the government plays an important role. To illustrate, the government could provide scholarships to medical schools if there is a shortage of healthcare professionals. The government could also invest more in building wireless infrastructure in rural areas for further progress in telehealth and for people to try it, have increased comfort levels, therefore have a less social gap in the distribution of quality healthcare through the population.