OSF HealthCare Accelerated

Health care innovation works best when new solutions are proven to support patients and care teams. OSF Innovation is testing the future of inpatient care by creating an innovation smart room. This fully simulated hospital room is designed to safely test, refine and validate new technologies, workflows and care models before they ever reach a patient’s bedside.

Join us as we discuss how this simulated patient room serves as a proving ground for practical, reliable and patient-centered solutions. This dedicated space allowed OSF to move away from piloting technology in active hospital rooms, which has accelerated meaningful improvements and paved the way for smart, connected inpatient care.

Host Shelli Dankoff chats with Becky Buchen, senior vice president of innovation and transformation at OSF HealthCare, and Kelly George, vice president of Performance Improvement at OSF HealthCare, about how this room represents a foundational step toward safer, smarter and more intentional care delivery through simulation.

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In honor of American Heart Month, this special episode of OSF HealthCare Accelerated looks back at three powerful stories that highlight just how far cardiovascular care has come, and where it’s headed next.

We revisit a conversation about the role of AI in personalized medicine, exploring how new technology is helping clinicians identify people at risk for familial hypercholesterolemia long before symptoms appear. We also return to the remarkable case of a toddler whose life was saved thanks to the groundbreaking use of the extravascular implantable cardioverter‑defibrillator — a global first that is reshaping what’s possible for young patients. Finally, we highlight the leading-edge work behind 4D beating heart models, a major advancement that gives surgeons unprecedented insight as they prepare for complex procedures.

Through these stories, hosted by Shelli Dankoff, you’ll get an inside look at how innovation, collaboration and compassion continue to drive the future of heart care across OSF HealthCare.

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Millions of women in the U.S. live in areas where access to prenatal and postpartum care is limited or unavailable. These gaps in care can increase the risk of pregnancy complications and maternal mortality, especially in rural and underserved communities.

Join us as we discuss how OSF OnCall offers new approaches to closing those gaps, including a mobile clinic designed to bring care directly to expectant and new mothers who may have trouble accessing traditional providers. We explore how the mobile clinic offers scheduled prenatal and postpartum services, connects patients to care teams and helps reduce barriers to access.

Host Shelli Dankoff chats with Kate Johnson, MSN, RN, manager of women’s services for Digital Care

at OSF OnCall about how this innovative program is making it easier for mom and baby to get the care needed during and after pregnancy.

Speaker highlights:

Kate Johnson, MSN, RN

Manager of Women’s Services, Digital Care

OSF OnCall

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Access to consistent, high-quality health care plays a vital role during pregnancy, birth and postpartum recovery.

Join us as we discuss how OSF OnCall supports moms throughout pregnancy and postpartum. Their digital program provides added support between traditional office visits, offering patients extra resources and education. We also highlight a new virtual labor and delivery monitoring program at OSF HealthCare that pairs bedside care with real-time virtual oversight to quickly identify and respond to changes.

Host Shelli Dankoff chats with Tarynn Appell, BSN, RN, supervisor, Clinical Digital Care at OSF OnCall, about how this innovative approach is making the pregnancy and postpartum experience safer for mom and baby.

Speaker highlights:

Tarynn Appell, BSN, RN

Supervisor, Clinical Digital Care

OSF OnCall

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OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois is the third-largest pediatric hospital in Illinois and the most comprehensive hospital for kids downstate. With 136 beds and more than 140 pediatric subspecialists, OSF Children’s Hospital cares for more children in Illinois than any hospital outside of Chicago.

Join us as we discuss exciting changes underway to support the families of OSF Children’s Hospital. Thanks to a generous donation from John and Annette Heller, The Heller Center for Kids is expanding to offer critical, non-medical support services to all specialty areas of OSF Children’s Hospital. Their programs provide coordinated services to support children and families during and after treatment.

Host Shelli Dankoff chats with Meg Zakrzewski, MBA, MSN, president of OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois, and John Heller, the philanthropist who made the Heller Center for Kids possible. They discuss the exciting changes in store that aim to make the OSF Children’s Hospital a destination for innovative pediatric care.

Speaker highlights:

Meg Zakrzewski, MBA, MSN

President

OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois

John Heller

Philanthropist

Founder, Heller Center for Kids

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Aortic aneurysms are often called “the silent killer” because they develop without symptoms and can be deadly if undetected. A team from OSF Innovation is working on a new project that could change how these dangerous conditions are found and monitored.

Join us as we discuss the Jump ARCHES grant-funded work to use 3D modeling and automation to analyze medical images of the aorta. The goal is to make diagnosing and tracking aortic aneurysms faster, more accurate and less dependent on manual measurements. In research conducted, this tool showed that automated 3D measurements closely match those done by clinicians, paving the way for a shift from traditional 2D imaging to more advanced 3D analysis.

Host Shelli Dankoff chats with Matthew Bramlet, MD, a pediatric cardiologist and director of the Advanced Imaging and Modeling Lab about how this technology could help clinicians detect risks earlier and ultimately save more lives.

Speaker highlights:

Matthew Bramlet, MD

Pediatric Cardiologist

Director, Advanced Imaging and Modeling Lab

OSF HealthCare

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Around 40,000 babies each year in the United States are born with a significant congenital heart condition. About one in four of these babies has a critical congenital heart defect that requires immediate surgical or medical intervention within the first year of life. OSF Innovation is helping surgeons at OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois find new ways to bring hope for the smallest patients.

Join us as we discuss the work of OSF pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon Harma Turbendian, MD, who is dedicated to improving care for children with complex heart defects by advancing novel, research-driven surgical approaches. He is working on two concepts. One involves refining the Fontan procedure by incorporating a partial heart transplant to create a pulsatile conduit that could improve blood flow and reduce venous congestion. He’s also working to develop a heart simulator powered by artificial muscle technology. This device aims to better replicate the beating of a human heart, offering a more realistic and effective training tool for device testing, procedure simulation and teaching.

Host Shelli Dankoff chats with Dr. Turbendian about the future of these innovations and the importance of collaboration within and outside of OSF to bring new concepts like these to life.

Speaker highlights:

Harma Turbendian, MD

Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgeon

OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois

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Nurses are the heart of health care, but the profession continues to face challenges with burnout and emotional exhaustion. At OSF HealthCare, leaders are finding new ways to support and empower nurses.

Join us as we discuss the Nursing Innovation Fellowship. This three-year program equips experienced nurses to think creatively, collaborate across disciplines and lead change while staying close to the patients they serve. Fellows learn to assess their practice, identify opportunities for improvement and apply innovation in real time. Along the way, they grow from fellows to mentors to innovators, helping shape a culture of curiosity and continuous improvement across the Ministry.

Host Shelli Dankoff chats with Melinda Cooling, DNP, MBA, FAANP, chief nurse and advanced practice provider executive and Nikki Graham, DNP, RN, vice president of clinical excellence, about how the fellowship is helping nurses find renewed purpose and drive meaningful change that benefits both caregivers and patients.

Speaker highlights:

Melinda Cooling, DNP, MBA, FAANP

Chief Nurse and Advanced Practice Provider Executive

OSF HealthCare

Nikki Graham, DNP, RN

Vice President, Clinical Excellence

OSF HealthCare

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For more than a decade, the Advanced Imaging and Modeling (AIM) Lab at OSF Innovation has been creating 3D printed heart models to help surgeons plan complex procedures. Now, the team has taken a major leap forward, developing the nation’s only automated process for creating 4D beating heart models from CT scans.

Join us as we discuss how 4D hearts are changing surgical planning, improving patient outcomes and drawing attention from hospitals across the country. Using machine learning to segment and stitch together time-sequenced 3D images, the AIM Lab has transformed static visuals into dynamic digital twins that replicate every phase of a patient’s cardiac cycle. What once took months of manual work can now be generated with a single click, giving surgeons unprecedented insight into both anatomy and function.

Host Shelli Dankoff chats with Matthew Bramlet, MD, a pediatric cardiologist and director of the Advanced Imaging and Modeling Lab for OSF HealthCare, about how the technology works, the role of academic partnerships in making it possible and what the future of 4D modeling could mean for both providers and patients.

Speaker highlights:

Matthew Bramlet, MD

Pediatric Cardiologist

Director, Advanced Imaging and Modeling Lab

OSF HealthCare

Connect with us at www.osfhealthcare.org/accelerated

Sometimes being innovative means reimagining everyday challenges, like finding a way for kids with central venous ports to safely stay active. That’s exactly what an exercise physiologist at OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois and engineer at OSF Innovation Studio did when they created PortGuard, a breakthrough protective device designed to safeguard ports during play, sports and movement.

Join us as we share the development of PortGuard, a device designed to protect medication ports so kids can stay active. For one young girl, who once had to pause her favorite activities after receiving a central venous port, PortGuard means she can safely get back to doing what she loves. Like her, many children will be able to enjoy life with fewer worries about protecting their ports when using this innovative device.

Host Shelli Dankoff chats with Nick Kemp, exercise physiologist at OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois and Reid Jockisch, innovation engineer at OSF Innovation about their impactful work and what it means for children facing challenges with medication ports.  

Speaker highlights:

Nick Kemp

Exercise Physiologist

OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois

Reid Jockisch

Innovation Engineer

OSF Innovation

Connect with us at www.osfhealthcare.org/accelerated