Health Care Strategy
Jul 15, 2026 • 4-6 hours per week
Align business strategy with challenges of the health care industry
- Health Care
- Consulting
- +2
- Featured
- Certificate
Individual Course
Digital Health: AI and Emerging Technologies in Health Care
Course Length
5 weeks
3–4 hours per week
Featuring faculty from:
Harvard Medical School
Certificate Price:
$ 1,600
Enroll by Aug 6, 2026
Enroll NowCertificate Price:
$ 1,600
Enroll by Aug 6, 2026
Enroll NowTaught by Harvard Medical School faculty, this Harvard Online course explores the opportunities and difficulties facing the widespread adoption of digital and AI-driven technologies to improve individual and population health in the US and around the world.
How have digital technologies, including AI, reshaped the health care industry?
Millions of health-related data points are captured every day, from information collected by our personal devices and doctor’s office visits to public health data on disease prevalence and treatment outcomes. Emerging technologies such as ambient listening tools, machine learning systems for operations, and AI-powered diagnostics are accelerating this shift. How can health leaders critically evaluate these tools, decide which ones truly improve access and outcomes, and implement them responsibly at scale?
Throughout this course, you will become familiar with developments that have led to digital transformation in health care and weigh the pros and cons of digital and AI technologies in diverse settings. You will also explore the process of product development in digital health innovation by participating in a fictional hackathon. Working alongside other learners, you’ll practice change management strategies and determine which digital and AI-enabled tools to invest in for maximum impact
Self-Guided
Harvard Online
Industries:
- Health Care
- Pharmaceuticals
- Technology
- Consulting
Global Learning Community
- Learning Outcomes
Understand How Digital Health and AI Technologies Address Key Challenges
- Learning Outcomes
Analyze the Use of Health Data, AI, and Digital Tools
- Learning Outcomes
Navigate Barriers to Implementing Digital and AI Innovation
- Learn from real case studies
- Do it on your own time
- Get a certificate, add it to your resume
- Be part of the Harvard Community
Syllabus
Digital technologies can improve health care by empowering patients, expanding access, and improving outcomes. Yet health care has adopted these tools more slowly than many other industries. In this course, Digital Health, learners will use practical frameworks for thinking strategically about digital solutions, how to design and implement them within health care’s unique culture and ecosystem, and navigate the needs of multiple stakeholders.
Faculty
Industry Experts
Your Instructor
Stanley Y. Shaw, MD, PhD
Stanley Y. Shaw, MD, PhD is the Associate Dean for Executive Education at Harvard Medical School. In this role, he directs Harvard Medical School's programs for companies and individuals in the health care industry that provide insights into leadership behaviors and emerging technologies. These programs educate learners across diverse sectors of health care, such as tech, IT, biopharma, investing, and care delivery organizations. A practicing cardiologist, Dr. Shaw’s research studies how digital tools, bioinformatics, the gut microbiome, and patient-reported data can be leveraged to better assess health and disease.
Industry Expert
Katherine Chou
Director of Research & Innovations, Google
Hear from the Director of Research & Innovations at Google on using health and AI data for social good.
Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.
Industry Expert
Sean Duffy
CEO, Omada Health
Hear from the CEO of Omada Health on designing user-friendly digital tools for optimizing patient success.
Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.
Industry Expert
Dr. Jia Luo
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Jia Luo, MD, is a medical oncologist in the Thoracic Oncology Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Her research has focused on oncogene-driven lung cancers and developing tools to understand responses to immunotherapy. She has first and co-authored papers in journals such as Cancer Discovery, Annals of Oncology, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, Cell Reports and Clinical Cancer Research. She has received foundation and NIH grants for her research.
Dr. Luo grew up in Madison, WI. She received her BS from University of Wisconsin; MD from Stanford University School of Medicine; internal medicine residency, including a chief year, at Oregon Health & Science University; and medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Industry Expert
Hai Nguyen, PhD
AI Entrepreneur and Researcher
Hai Nguyen is an AI entrepreneur and researcher based in Norway and the founder of Synplan, a health-tech company that uses artificial intelligence to optimize workforce planning in healthcare. With over a decade of experience in machine learning, he has led projects in areas like cybersecurity, fraud detection, and IoT, and has also served as an associate professor at NTNU. His current work focuses on applying predictive analytics to address staffing challenges in healthcare, helping organizations improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance patient care.
Overall, my experience with Harvard Online’s Digital Health course has been profoundly rewarding. It has provided me with the knowledge and skills necessary to drive innovation in healthcare and has been a catalyst for my professional growth. I am excited about the future and confident that the insights and connections gained from this course will continue to influence my career in meaningful ways.
Rinki
I really liked the structure of the course, the topics covered, the videos and especially the case studies. The Hackathon was entertaining as well and I feel I learned many things that I can apply in my future career of health care entrepreneur.
Iulia Cristina S.
CEO and digital health startup founder
[Health Care Leadership] offered valuable insights into addressing complex challenges within the health care sector and fostering effective, evidence-based leadership. It strengthened my ability to navigate complex health systems, drive impactful change, and lead with purpose in today’s evolving healthcare landscape.
Dr. Nawaf A.
Ophthalmologist and Refractive Surgeon
Learning Path in this topic
Health Care Leadership
Health Care Leadership courses are developed with health care professionals in mind. Harvard University faculty guides you through topics with a specific focus on the current state of the US health care system and how you can apply innovative strategies to make improvements within your organization.
See learning path4 Courses available
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Past Participant Discounts
Learners who have enrolled in at least one qualifying Harvard Online program can receive a 30% discount, automatically applied to the Program Fee upon time of payment.
Learners who have earned a verified certificate for a HarvardX course hosted on the edX platform are eligible to receive a 30% discount using a discount code. Please check your email for a code or contact us.
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FAQs
We offer 30% discounts to past participants of select Harvard Online courses. We also offer discounts on select courses to learners who work in nonprofits, government, military, or education, or are U.S. veterans. You can find more information about current discounts and eligibility on our course policies and discounts page.
Once you've earned your Certificate of Completion, list it on your resume along with the date of completion:
Harvard Online
Certificate in Digital Health
[Cohort Start Month and Year]
List your certificate on your LinkedIn profile under "Education" as follows:
School: Harvard Online
Dates Attended: [The year you participated in the program]
Degree: Other; Certificate in Digital Health
Field of Study: Leave blank
Grade: Complete
Activities and Societies: Leave blank
For the program description on LinkedIn, please use the following:
Digital Health explores the opportunities and difficulties facing widespread adoption and explores innovative frameworks to think strategically about adopting and implementing digital transformation in your organization.
You are expected to complete all coursework in a thoughtful and timely way. This includes completing the modules and fully answering the questions in each module between the course start and end dates so that the cohort can move through the course at a similar pace and benefit from social learning opportunities. In addition to completing modules and assignments, you are expected to provide feedback on other learners’ reflections and contribute to discussions on the platform.
You can set your own daily or weekly routine and adjust it as needed, but to receive your certificate you must complete all modules and assignments by the stated course end date. Learners who do not complete the course requirements will not receive a certificate and will not be eligible to retake the course. No letter grades are assigned for this course; your participation is evaluated on a complete or incomplete basis.
For detailed information about technology and bandwidth requirements, please see our full Harvard Online FAQs.
There is no application required for this course. You can enroll directly through Harvard Online if you are at least 18 years old, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the program.
No specific prerequisite medical or health care technology knowledge—such as coding or programming—is required. While it is beneficial for anyone working in or with the health care sector, it will especially benefit: health care leaders who are managing, developing, or investing in digital and AI solutions; developers and tech entrepreneurs looking to create tools to improve health and health care; and health care investors and consultants interested in working with innovative digital health technologies.
Upon successful completion of this program, you will receive a digital Certificate of Completion from Harvard Online. Our team reviews all participant coursework after the final deadline in your course, and, once eligibility is confirmed, your Certified Electronic Credential will be delivered to your email address.
You will have access to the materials in every prior module as you progress through the program. Access to course materials and the course platform ends 60 days after the final deadline in the program.
At the end of the course, you will be able to download a PDF summary highlighting key concepts that were introduced throughout the course. We hope the summary document will serve as a helpful resource after you finish the course.
This course is meant to build a better understanding of the factors that contribute to the success of new digital initiatives in health care and examine unique challenges such as stakeholder needs, data security, and developing sustainable business models. While it is beneficial for anyone working in or with the health care sector, it will especially benefit:
- Health care leaders who are managing, developing, or investing in digital solutions
- Developers and tech entrepreneurs looking to create tools to improve health and healthcare
- Healthcare investors and consultants interested in working with innovative health care technologies
Professor Shaw and our team have developed and added brand-new content for this course focused on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in health care.
To reflect this new AI-focused content, we’ve also updated the course title from Digital Health to Digital Health: AI and Emerging Technologies in Health Care so it better captures the skills you’ll gain after completing the course.
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