Robert “Bobby” Daly, MBA ’10, MD ’10
It has been a tremendous privilege to serve HMS in various roles that reflect my deep commitment to our community and its mission. My time at HMS profoundly shaped my personal and professional trajectory as a physician, researcher, and advocate.
During my time at HMS, I experienced an environment that emphasized academic excellence and patient-centered care. A highlight was my work with Harvard Medical International, where I traveled to Mumbai to improve healthcare access for the hijra population, a community facing significant barriers to care. Bridging my education at HMS and HBS, I drafted a business plan for a mobile health unit to serve this population, which we presented at the HBS Business Plan Competition. The relationships I built with fellow students across Harvard and with advocates in Mumbai exemplify the collaborative spirit of HMS.
In my alumni roles—as the Recent Graduate Chair, 2010 Class Agent, and Class of 2010 Reunion Chair—I have continued to foster these connections. As the Recent Graduate Chair, I worked with Elizabeth Chan and Debra Metcalfe to facilitate vital networking and mentorship opportunities. I enjoyed hosting receptions in New York and Chicago, where graduates could reconnect and support each other as we navigated our early careers. As a Class Agent, I strengthened ties among classmates, encouraging participation in HMS initiatives. Leading the Class of 2010 Reunion alongside Amanda Schmitt and Kristina Green has deepened my understanding of our class’s concerns and helped shape a responsive Reunion. For instance, I am currently working with Ms. Schmitt to plan a regional event in New York City focused on how artificial intelligence is impacting medicine, aiming to engage alumni in crucial discussions about technology’s role in patient care.
Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the opportunity to support the remarkable community that is HMS.
Robert “Bobby” Daly, MD ’10, MBA ’10, is a medical oncologist specializing in thoracic oncology and a health services researcher focused on innovative care delivery systems to provide high-quality, affordable, and sustainable care. His research is focused on developing novel cancer care delivery models that provide proactive, coordinated, and precise care through the innovative use of digital strategies. The ultimate goal is to make cancer care more convenient, accessible, and less burdensome for patients, families, and health care systems.
Daley graduated from Stanford University with a BA in history and economics with honors. He subsequently pursued an MD/MBA at Harvard Medical and Business Schools, graduating with the Dean’s Award from both institutions. During graduate training, his research focused on key areas for health care leaders to target to improve hospitals’ safety cultures. Later, as an oncology fellow, he continued to develop his research interest in care delivery science with a focus on disparities. Under the mentorship of Dr. Olufunmilayo Olopade at the University of Chicago, he investigated the racial survival disparity in breast cancer, finding that prior interventions had been too narrowly focused on the patient rather than improving care across the continuum of breast cancer evaluation and treatment, with primary analyses published in Cancer and JAMA.
Upon completing his fellowship in 2016 and commencing work as an attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering, he was the inaugural American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Health Policy fellow. He received focused, individualized training and mentorship in oncology health policy and care delivery. This experience shaped his career trajectory, steering it toward understanding how care delivery research can influence state and federal policies related to cancer care. He has established a strong presence in this field, with invitations to serve as an expert on care delivery and on policy committees, such as the ASCO Government Relations Committee and the CMS Expert Work Group on Admissions and Emergency Department Visits for Oncology Patients. He also co-founded the Bloomberg New Economy International Cancer Coalition with a mission to improve global health equity by leveraging technology and collaboration to accelerate cancer cures and prevention worldwide. He published in the Harvard Business Review on decentralized clinical trials with NIH Director Dr. Bertagnoli and in Nature Medicine on an international system for the approval of new cancer therapies. These publications resulted in him being invited to the White House in June 2024 to provide input on policies to improve clinical trial access. He also contributes as a leader of the NCI-funded MAking Telehealth delivery of Cancer Care at Home Effective and Safe (MATCHES) Research Center.
The Department of Health and Human Services stated, “Improving patients’ quality of life by keeping patients out of the hospital is a main goal of cancer care,” and a primary goal of the Cancer Moonshot is to improve the experience of people who are touched by cancer. Daly’s career aspiration is to accelerate the efforts required to realize these objectives by testing new models of care delivery that can influence local, state, and federal models.