We live in an interconnected world of volatility and disruption. Systems are linked in a web of dizzying and only partially visible complexity, and change in any one domain has a swift impact on many others. Join Andrew Zolli in a walking tour of emerging tools – such as next-generation satellite imagery, social media, and advanced analytics – that allow us to make sense of this complexity and render the underlying relationships between people and the planet more visible, accessible, and...

With the end of polio realistically on the horizon, it’s not naive to ask what other “finish lines” might we dare to reach in the next few decades? Global health and development often feels like a game of two steps forward, three steps back – but on the ground there is real progress. Join the Aspen New Voices Fellows, some of the world’s most effective grassroots leaders, as they share their true life stories of mesmerizing, measurable success (and all the false starts and unexpected turns...

Technology is transforming how we provide medical care, improve diagnostics, share information, and extend the reach of public health. From disposable syringes that deliver a calibrated dose of medicine before self-destructing to 3-D printers that recreate the facial structures of combat-injured veterans, seemingly intractable problems are being met with cutting-edge solutions. Sheets laden with bacteria-destroying nanoparticles are being used as water filters, cell phones are turning into...

Over the past 10 years, there has been an increase in opioid overdose rates, particularly since 2013. President Obama has made addressing this epidemic a top priority of the Administration and has proposed $1.1 billion in new funding to help Americans with an opioid use disorder get the help they seek. In this session, US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will discuss their work on the Administration's interagency initiative to tackle the heroin and...

Artificial limbs are familiar devices to replace body parts lost to injury or illness, but brain implants that can command those limbs to work represent a revolutionary advance. By creating a direct line of communication from the brain to the prosthetic device, neurally-controlled chips not only restore functionality, but also recreate the sensory experience of the lost limbs. A Manhattan Project for prosthetics, the work requires interdisciplinary collaboration across the fields of applied...

Medicine is being disrupted from every angle, as the financing and organization of clinical care are overhauled and scientific knowledge grows increasingly sophisticated. Academic health centers are being asked to provide a more patient-centered approach, while meeting the challenges posed by the Affordable Care Act and the evolving demands of Medicaid and Medicare. They must remain on the forefront of the innovative research that may make tools like swallowable digital cameras and...

Polio is likely to be wiped off the planet in the next two years, a huge triumph for global health. Seventy-four cases of polio were reported in 2015, in contrast to 350,000 when eradication efforts began in 1988. Although polio remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, there is now a push towards the finish line, with creative strategies in place to attract religious leaders as immunization advocates, fine-tune vaccine logistics in remote regions, and foster community trust. How is polio...

Dr. J. Craig Venter, one of the pioneers in human genome sequencing, talks about coming opportunities to use genomics, advanced technology and machine learning to custom-tailor individual care and fundamentally alter the practice of medicine. Speakers: J. Craig Venter, Jonathan LaPook

It is no longer possible to separate the health of the planet from the health of its people. Disease patterns are changing as the climate does, and human health is at risk from loss of biodiversity, depleted water supplies, environmental toxins, and collapsing food systems. As the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health states: “The continuing degradation of natural systems threatens to reverse the health gains seen over the last century… We have mortgaged the health of...

Bold thinking is most often seen at the margins. Organizations with small staffs and lean budgets, unweighted by habit and committed to impact, are approaching familiar problems in unfamiliar ways. They are testing new ideas to bring health care that last mile, finding creative ways to support small farmers, adapting cost-saving techniques from low-resource settings, and growing leaders from the ground up. As nimble as they are innovative, these social entrepreneurs are teaching their more...

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) haunts some 300,000 veterans who have returned from Afghanistan or Iraq. Drugs and psychotherapy provide only partial relief. Increasingly, vets are turning to other techniques, including meditation, yoga and breathwork, to heal their trauma, sense of isolation, and anger, and to reclaim their lives. Researchers have shown that Sudarshan Kriya Yoga, or SKY, a week-long breathing exercise program, has a long-lasting impact on anxiety and PTSD. How does...

When Damon Tweedy begins medical school, he envisions a bright future where his segregated, working-class background will become largely irrelevant. Instead, he finds that he has joined a new world where race is front and center. In his New York Times bestselling debut effort, Tweedy – now a psychiatrist at Duke University – explores the challenges confronting black doctors, and the disproportionate health burdens faced by black patients, ultimately seeking a way forward to better treatment...

When the University of Texas completes its new medical school campus, it will introduce an entirely different approach to the study of medicine. Self-directed projects, collaborative work spaces, and design thinking will replace memorization and lecture halls, and help to claim a leadership role for academic medicine in addressing the systemic issues that influence health. The University of Utah is also “rethinking everything," working to completely overhaul its curriculum. How is physician...

The proliferation of infections that can not be treated is a nightmare scenario we have not done nearly enough to prevent. Half of all prescriptions written for antibiotics in the US are still inappropriate and new medicines are barely trickling through clinical development. And now comes the MCR-1 gene, which renders bacteria resistant to colistin, the final antibiotic line of defense against recalcitrant infections like CRE. MCR-1’s ability to transfer resistance from one bacterial species...