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Veterans Health Administration Innovation Ecosystem Team
Department of Veterans Affairs

Blake Henderson
Allison Amrhein, MPH
Brynn Cole
Joshua Patterson
Thomas Osborne, MD

Blake Henderson

Allison Amrhein, MPH

Brynn Cole

Joshua Patterson

Thomas Osborne, MD


This Gears of Government President’s Award recognizes the Veterans Health Administration Innovation Ecosystem (VHA IE) employees responsible for curating, funding and expanding in-house innovations, which include practices to de-prescribe unnecessary medicine to Veterans, prevent hospital acquired pneumonia and reduce opioid overdose deaths at VA campuses.

“The VHA IE team has transformed the way VA employees view the culture of innovation in our organization,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie.

“VHA IE truly empowers frontline employees to take charge in helping improve services for Veterans by providing staff with proper resources to develop their ideas while simultaneously investing in the infrastructure necessary to adopt and accelerate cutting edge solutions in collaboration with academic and industry partners.”

- VA Secretary Robert Wilkie

Since its reconfiguration in 2018, VHA IE has helped reshape employees’ ability to discover and spread their innovations throughout the VA health care system. To date, VHA IE innovation projects have improved care for over 1 million Veterans, lowered costs for taxpayers by over $40 million, saved lives from opioid overdoses and advanced care for the entire field of medicine.