About
Emily offers a unique perspective from within the American medical system: A spoken-word-poet-turned-healthcare-executive, she is on a mission to remix the human in healthcare, challenging entrenched assumptions about what it means to give and receive care in the digital age.
At a glance
What I do:
I talk about how we talk. I am a therapist for metaphor.
I believe beauty is a vital sign. I check the pulse in everything.
I am a forever student of leadership. My pronouns are we/our/us.
Day job:
Vice President of Digital & Innovations Strategy
for Northwell Health’s Digital Patient Experience.
What that means:
I lead teams in designing and implementing the large-scale applications necessary to care for patients in a digital world. From apps to Alexa skills, waiting room screens to websites, tech transformation is never just about the parts you plug in, but the humans who bring it to life.
In the wee hours:
Poet, essayist, and occasional jazz vocalist, mom to two goofnuts,
partner to the amazing Geoff Trenchard.
What I’m reading:
Just finished Victor Montori’s book “Why We Revolt”.
Bought a dozen copies and I’m handing them out everywhere.
Educational cred:
B.A. from UC Berkeley
M.S. in Science Writing from MIT
Executive training at the Yale School of Management
Words to live by:
“The dream is free, the hustle is sold separately.”
- told to me by the incredible Mahogany Browne .
Full bio
Emily Kagan Trenchard offers a unique perspective from within the American medical system: A spoken-word-poet-turned-healthcare-executive, she is on a mission to remix the human in healthcare, challenging entrenched assumptions about what it means to give and receive care in the digital age.
As Vice President of Digital and Innovation Strategy for New York state’s largest health system, Northwell Health, Emily leads teams that push the limits of how we use technology to make healthcare seamless and steeped in humanity, while keeping the company competitive at a time of radical change. She is a big believer that innovation is an ongoing process, not just a box to check, and launched Northwell’s first UX department to ensure that patient perspectives and needs drove the design of digital tools and systems.
Emily also spearheaded the transition of Northwell’s website platform to an open source stack, a move that helped the company save hundreds of thousands of dollars in software licensing costs; transitioning to open source also enabled the growth of an award-winning software development group whose applications include one of the first-ever healthcare uses of an Amazon Alexa skill.
Prior to joining Northwell Emily lead web systems for New York City’s Lenox Hill Hospital where she drove the development of many early consumer health tools, including the first-ever implementation of the ZocDoc scheduling platform for a hospital.
Emily’s career is a continual exploration of the effects of technology, language, and design on the ways we care for one another. Outlets ranging from The Wall Street Journal to TechRepublic and CMS Wire turn to her for a fresh perspective on emerging technologies and the future of healthcare.
She is also a nationally recognized poet, essayist, and speaker; recent speaking engagements include the Cleveland Clinic’s Empathy and Innovation conference and WebSumit in Lisbon. Emily holds a master’s degree in science writing from MIT and a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley.