Katie Abbott is a healthcare professional with a passion for human-centered design. Katie has experience in leading multi-million dollar facility design efforts, strategic performance improvement initiatives and designing innovative programs from the ground-up. In her current role as the Senior Program Manager of Business Operations at Stanford Health Care’s Cancer Center South Bay, Katie delivers on her passion for human-centered design by providing leadership over business strategy execution, continuous improvement initiatives and day-to-day operations. Katie was a key leader in the design, development, and opening of the new Cancer Center which opened in July 2015. In her mind, the best part of being a healthcare leader is having the ability to influence how the industry delivers care in partnership with patients and families. Prior to her work with Stanford’s Cancer Center South Bay, Katie leveraged her skillset in lean system development to coach executive leadership and frontline staff through strategic improvements to impact patient value, business delivery and staff engagement. Her work in performance excellence allowed Katie to build effective relationships, quickly diagnose opportunities for improvement and coach others to fundamentally change how they see and run their businesses—foundational skillsets that she has learned are applicable in any role or field. While Katie is a Bay Area native, she received her Master of Health Administration and Bachelor of Science in Public Management from Indiana University. Katie started her career at Indiana University Health (IUH) where she discovered her passion for continuous improvement at IUH West Hospital. Katie serves on the Board of Directors for Women Health Care Executives (WHCE) and California Association of Healthcare Leaders (CAHL)—the Northern California chapter of the American College of Health Care Executives (ACHE). Katie believes the key to professional success is through personal balance. When she is not running around in a business suit, Katie stays active with her competitive San Francisco rowing team, volunteers with Kara Grief Support for Kids in Palo Alto and is an avid baseball fan (go Giants!). To contact Katie please email kabbott@stanfordhealthcare.org