A Day of Connection, Collaboration, and Momentum for West Health Champions
The West Health Accelerator at Mass General Brigham’s team gathered on January 30 for the West Health Champions Mid-Year Retreat. The half-day convening brought together the first wave of Champions from Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Salem Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital who began their training in June 2025. Clinical and operational leaders from across Mass General Brigham were also present, along with team members from West Health and Huron Consulting Group.
The retreat opened with a program update from Rachelle Bernacki, MD, MS, co-director of the Accelerator, who highlighted how early Epic and practice changes have hardwired age-appropriate care across the system. Bernacki shared early positive data, reinforcing the essential role Champions play in translating system-level innovation into daily clinical practice.
Next was an interactive workshop led by Renee Tyska, RN, senior clinical director at West Health, focused on the power of storytelling in clinical transformation. Tyska opened with a story about her mother’s hospitalization, illustrating how storytelling can bring data to life and center the patient experience. “Clinicians don’t respond to dashboards alone,” explained Tyska. “They respond to patients.” The Champions then worked in small groups to explore key elements of effective storytelling and practice sharing their own stories of how the Accelerator has helped them deliver better care to older adults.
The morning also featured a multidisciplinary leadership panel titled Leading Across Disciplines: Strengthening Collaboration at Mass General Brigham, moderated by Bernacki and featuring:
Marissa Cauley, PA-C, chief advanced practice provider officer
Lindsay Gainer, MSN, RN, FACHE, president and chief operating officer of Mass General Medical Group
Zara Cooper, MD, MSc, FACS, executive vice chair of the Department of Surgery and co-director of the West Health Accelerator at Mass General Brigham
Mallika Mendu, MD, MBA, chief population health officer
Panelists shared insights on aligning clinical, operational and population health priorities to support the Accelerator’s efforts and improve outcomes for older adults across care settings.
The retreat concluded with a hands-on process-mapping activity led by Springboard Studio in partnership with the Accelerator team, giving Champions time to apply shared learnings to real-world implementation. Participants praised the retreat’s engaging content and optimistic energy, highlighting the growing momentum behind the Accelerator’s system-wide efforts to transform care for older adults.