Biographical Notes for Christy Strong
I received my bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from North Dakota
State University in Fargo. During college I became involved in healthcare process improvement and
completed internships with Premier, Inc. at Asante Health System in Oregon and Merit Care Health
System in Fargo, ND. I completed projects in Emergency Services, the Pharmacy, an Outpatient Clinic,
and developed and trained staff on a quality improvement tool commonly used in Manufacturing, a
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis.
After graduation, I joined Intermountain Healthcare in Utah as a Management Engineer where I mainly
supported three hospitals in the Urban-South Region. I worked with teams to improve the
Nursing/technician staffing models, improve utilization of the Cardiac Cath Lab, reduce the risk of quality
errors in the Operating Room, improve housekeeping and linen dept productivity, and provided other
operational consulting to the management team.
In 2005 I joined the Industrial Engineering Department at Boston Scientific in Maple Grove, MN. I
support Operations and facilitate the application of Lean in the organization and manage multiple
improvement projects. I have supported several balloon and catheter assembly manufacturing areas and
worked with teams on the business side (Finance, HR, etc). I use tools such as Value Stream Maps,
Kaizen Events, Standard Work, Kanban Systems, Visual Management, and 5S to reduce wait
time and inventory and improve quality, productivity, and customer service.
I am currently working on my MBA at the University of St. Thomas with an emphasis in healthcare. I am
also involved in the Twin Cities Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) and look forward to beginning my
term as president in January 2008.