Christian Milaster

In his role as Engineering Telemedicine Project Manager at the Mayo Clinic Christian has provided an amazing overview of all of Mayo's telemedicine systems used for teleconsultations between patient and physician, list of stakeholders and interrelationships, taxonomy of terms, technical support strategies and much more. He has organized meetings and provided follow up with appropriate team members to accomplish team goals and to implement smooth functioning systems/processes for our providers and patients. His computer and organizational skills are excellent in setting up systems to track data, issues, etc. He has provided colorful charts, graphs and diagrams that are easy to follow and eye catching. His work with Mayo IT and Media Video support teams as been instrumental in advancing reliable, efficient, low cost telemedicine systems used for live video consultations. Christian seems driven by a desire to do what's best for the patient and providers sharing his unique, creative approach with those who are open it. He is articulate, respectful and fun to work with.

I've worked with Christian for nine years and have found him to be positive, hard-working, and insightful. He brings tremendous focus and clarity to any work activity that he is associated with, engaging the team and customers fully to deliver solutions that meet the needs of the user. He immerses himself fully in any new endeavor, utilizing all resources to come up to speed quickly, frequently becoming the expert on any topic within weeks of getting a new assignment...Few people in the organization had a clear vision of what a telemedicine unit should look like when Christian took over the team. His research included both a survey of the market landscape and a thorough analysis of internal usage scenarios, both current and potential. The flawless implementation and high user satisfaction is a testament to his skills at both planning and execution. I'm confident that Christian would be equally successful in any environment.

There are very few people I recommend without reservation. Christian Milaster is one of those people. Christian is a problem solver who approaches problems the right way, by first asking what the problem really is. Too often engineers get wrapped up in the how" and not the what" and Christian never makes that mistake. His abilities as a business analyst are without peer. Not only is he highly skilled at identifying needs and requirements, he is also exceptional (at least in my case) at teaching others how to follow a systematic process that leads to invention, innovation and a successful project conclusion. I follow the process Christian taught me on every project I work on. As a business analyst, he is extremely effective leading process improvement efforts. One of the most telling examples was his work facilitating our last major strategic planning process. His carefully applied skills allowed a large and diverse group to identify dozens of improvement activities and more importantly, his abilities as a facilitator ensured that everyone felt valued and appreciated for their contributions. Christian is also an exceptional project manager. He moves easily between project phases and project development methodologies. And he knows the deliverables that ensure a quality product. Christian has many years of experience in the healthcare field and it shows in his insightful understanding of the challenges faced by the healthcare industry, in his intuitive understanding of the challenges faced by healthcare staff as they try to care for their patients each day, and in his ability to understand and clarify issues and then quickly move to effective solutions. This has allowed him to be successful in a number of significant initiatives that have improved clinical practice, including those in the fields of telemedicine and remote health monitoring. Finally, no summary of Christian would be complete without mentioning his friendly and positive personality, his organization and attention to detail, and his commitment to his customers. Christian is an exceptional individual.

Christian is one of the most organized persons I have ever met. If he has an assignment due in one week, it will probably be done in less than two days. On things he hasn't been trained in, he reads intensively on the subject. He isn't afraid of admitting what he doesn't know, but he will probably know about it within a few days. His skills in computer science add a tremendous advantage to his expertise. In some ways he is a polymath of information and he likes nothing better than the challenge of something that hasn't been done before. He then constantly thinks about the challenge in his off hours. Christian's business acumen is very impressive, again mostly self taught. He has built a house that is energy saving; his monthly utility bill is about $10. He designed almost everything in the house. His combination of engineering and business, to me, are unique. Integrity, diligence, respect for people are superb in Christian's character. He relates well with people. I would trust him with anything. In summary, if I had a problem, including especially in the area of medical application, and didn't know where to start, I would want someone like Christian to advise me.

Christian has a way of understanding physicians, nurses, and patients that have really helped us implement this type of technology in a way that is very easily adapted by our clinician staff. It's been really amazing to see Christian come in to our environment and very quickly establish credibility. He has a level of understanding of clinical practices and healthcare workflows that gave him credibility pretty quickly with our clinicians and our nursing staff. And once that credibility was established, it was easy for him to guide the way and they were very open to change. That doesn't happen easily. But it really was something that I was very pleased to see. One of Christian's greatest skills is his ability to really listen and understand. He continually questions and has a thought-provoking style. When you have a conversation with Christian over half of that time you spend with him is Christian asking questions to understand. Because of the plan and the road map that Christian has helped us establish, we'll be able to take off and expand our use of telemedicine in a good way for our organization and our patients. Christian has the skill set, the capabilities and abilities to successfully work in any healthcare organization to develop a telemedicine program. If an organization is looking at establishing a telemedicine program, it would be well worth their time to have a conversation with Christian about their project and about the results that they are hoping for.

Christian brings an enthusiasm for telemedicine and telehealth and he really wants to see this work for patients. Having a consultant who really has a passion for what it is you're doing, makes all the difference. By bringing telemedicine back to focusing on the patient Christian really helps everybody stay on the same page. The hard part about telehealth is understanding what should happen when a patient walks into one of our satellite clinics, which is a small clinic with limited staffing and limited space. Christian was very good at connecting the right people and asking the right questions, designing pilots so we could see how this could work. The secret sauce is in the process and in the communication and Christian is really good at both of those. From the point of view of telemedicine and patient care Christian has a way of making it easy. And that has really been a gift to getting this going. I think what I like most about Christian is, first of all he is very organized, which means he doesn't waste anybody's time. But he is not stuffy, he has a great sense of humor, he is just a nice person, and he always shows an interest in the people that he is working with. It makes it fun to be around him."

Christian brings a number of different aptitudes and skills to the organization. He is a very technically savvy person with good organizational skills that allows him to coordinate a lot of disparate groups and information and bring them into a cohesive message. Christian has the technical expertise and the understanding of the healthcare delivery system to appreciate what the expectations would be for the patients and for the governance of an organization. Christian is a very reliable, conscientious, dependable individual and has proven to be very attentive to our needs. The world of telehealth and telemedicine is going to continually evolve. What every healthcare organization should look for is someone who brings not only a technical but a compassionate understanding of how that care needs to be delivered. And Christian marries those together very well. We are fortunate that Christian spent some time with us and wish him good luck. Any organization that has a contract with Christian in the future will find that their needs are well served.