Health Care Leadership

Digital Health: AI and Emerging Technologies in Health Care

Overview

Digital Health 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. Millions of health-related data points are captured every day, from personal devices and clinic visits to public health records, and emerging tools such as ambient listening, machine learning for operations and AI-powered diagnostics are accelerating change. The course helps health leaders decide which tools genuinely improve access and outcomes, and how to implement them responsibly at scale.

This is an official Harvard Online course, featuring faculty from Harvard Medical School and delivered on Harvard Online's learning platform. IPMC International handles your registration, payment and local support, then enrols you on the course. The format is self-guided within a scheduled cohort, includes a fictional hackathon and design challenge, and the Certificate of Completion is issued by Harvard Online.

Length5 weeks
Commitment4–5 hours per week
FormatSelf-guided online
Faculty fromHarvard Medical School

What you'll learn

The course builds three connected sets of skills:

  • Understand how digital health and AI address key challenges: evaluate how new technologies and health-care management tools can improve access, patient experience and outcomes, and identify gaps in care that healthtech and AI-enabled solutions can close, drawing on US and international cases.
  • Analyse the use of health data, AI and digital tools: examine how data from apps, sensors and clinical systems informs decisions while managing privacy risks, and understand what it takes to evaluate and deploy AI and machine learning at enterprise scale.
  • Navigate barriers to innovation: explore the regulatory, ethical and operational obstacles to bringing digital and AI-driven health products to market.

Course syllabus

The programme is taught through real case studies across five modules and an interactive design challenge. There are no prerequisites. To earn the Certificate of Completion from Harvard Online, participants complete all modules and the associated assignments by the stated deadlines.

Introduction to Digital Health and AI: Google Health

Using Google Health's diabetic retinopathy tool, learn the basic concepts of AI and how models are developed, how data generates value and the key challenges to realising it, and how digital approaches can address barriers to care.

Patient Perspective: Omada Health

Apply human-centred design and design-thinking tools to identify unmet needs and improve the patient experience, and weigh how digital solutions can widen access while introducing new barriers and questions of data control.

Physician and Enterprise Perspective: SynPlan

Examine AI as augmentation that supports rather than replaces clinicians, analyse a visit from the clinician's perspective, and see how a tool's success depends on fitting existing infrastructure, resources and workflows.

Business Perspective: Click Therapeutics & Evidation Health

Learn how digital health business models align payer goals (lower cost, healthier populations) with patient needs, and explore regulatory approval, payment systems, enterprise sales and how companies adapt over time.

Transforming Care Delivery: Mayo Clinic Platform

Understand the shift from a hospital-centred to a patient-centred model, how care teams and roles must evolve, and complete a digital health design challenge to compare a disjointed experience with a more integrated, tech-enabled one.

Faculty

Stanley Y. Shaw, MD, PhD: Your instructor. The Associate Dean for Executive Education at Harvard Medical School and a practising cardiologist, whose research studies how digital tools, bioinformatics and patient-reported data can be used to better assess health and disease.

Learners also hear from industry experts including Katherine Chou (Director of Research & Innovations, Google), Sean Duffy (CEO, Omada Health), Dr Jia Luo (Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and medical oncologist at Dana-Farber) and Hai Nguyen, PhD (AI entrepreneur and founder of Synplan). Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.

Who it's for

No coding, programming or specific medical technology background is required. The course especially benefits health care leaders who are managing, developing or investing in digital and AI solutions; developers and tech entrepreneurs building tools to improve health; and investors and consultants working with digital health technologies. It also suits graduates and organisations who want a globally recognised Harvard Online credential to advance their careers or capabilities.

Your certificate

On successful completion you receive a digital Certificate of Completion from Harvard Online. No letter grades are assigned; participation is evaluated on a complete/incomplete basis. Once earned, you can add it to your CV and LinkedIn. For example, under LinkedIn "Licenses & Certifications" list Harvard Online as the issuing organisation and the certificate for Digital Health as the credential.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost through IPMC?

The course fee is confirmed on enquiry and put in writing before payment.

How do I pay?

Pay IPMC securely by debit/credit card in UAE Dirhams (UAE) or by UPI, card or net banking in Indian Rupees (India).

Is the certificate really from Harvard Online?

Yes. The course is delivered by Harvard Online and the Certificate of Completion is issued by Harvard Online.

Do I need a clinical or technical background?

No. There are no prerequisites and no coding or programming is required. The course is designed for anyone working in or with the health care sector.

What are the learning requirements and how are grades assigned?

You complete all modules and assignments thoughtfully by the stated deadlines and contribute to discussions on the platform. You set your own pace within the cohort. No letter grades are given. Your work is assessed on a complete or incomplete basis.

What happens after I complete the course?

After the final deadline, coursework is reviewed and, once eligibility is confirmed, your certificate is delivered by email. You keep access to the materials for 60 days after the final deadline, along with a downloadable summary of key concepts.

When does it start?

This course runs as a scheduled Harvard Online cohort. The next cohort starts 12 Aug 2026. Contact us to reserve your place.

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