Roya Ghazinouri has spent her professional life pioneering new programs and implementing innovative approaches to the delivery of health care.
Dr. Ghazinouri, a native of Iran, is now Director of Innovation and Ecosystem Partnerships at a digital health company called CloseKnit. Before CloseKnit, she was Director of Strategy, One Brave Idea, within Cardiovascular Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She also held positions as a Clinical Process Engineer at Haven Health and as strategic program manager for the Center for Healthcare Delivery Sciences academic research center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She also is the chief operating officer of the non-profit Operation Walk Boston. Each year since its 2008 founding, she has led a multi-disciplinary team of health care providers who perform surgery, provide rehabilitation care, and conduct research at the Plaza de la Salud Hospital in the Dominican Republic.
Dr. Ghazinouri received the Bette Ann Harris Distinguished Alumni Award, the Institute’s highest alumni recognition. Ghazinouri received her Master of Science in Physical Therapy in 1999 and her Doctor of Physical Therapy in 2007 from the IHP.
“It’s the most gratifying thing because we can help so many people improve their quality of life,” she said. “At the end of a mission, you feel pure joy mixed with exhaustion but I can’t wait to go back.”