Health
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In America, millions of people struggle with mental health including depression, anxiety, and more — all further exacerbated by living through a pandemic. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that one in five adults experience mental illness each year, but despite how common it is, mental health is still surrounded by stigma and shame. Our experts are candid abo...
How can we unlock the power of entrepreneurship to widen access to health care, close gender disparity, and increase prosperity in the global South? Hear from expert voices and innovators on tools to address social, economic, and environmental challenges in developing economies.
Forget quick fixes or gimmicks, Drs. Dean and Ayesha Sherzai teach evidence-based lifestyle modifications and cognitive strategies that have shown profound real-world impact. Drawing from their extensive experience in neurology, research, lifestyle medicine, and behavioral neuroscience, they share practical, science-backed tools and strategies for staving off cognitive d...
The mysteries of brain health are hidden deep within the ridges and grooves of the cerebral cortex. Join Mount Sinai Health System neuroscientists in this discussion of new techniques, innovative therapies, and lifestyle changes that unlock the brain’s secrets and boost your performance and longevity. Presented by Mount Sinai
The world has renewed hope that impactful treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias may finally be on the horizon. While previous therapies have modestly improved memory and cognition, none has altered the fundamental biology of the disease. Now, we have clinical trial results from monoclonal antibodies that appear to do just that by removing the amyloid-bet...
Advances in health and medicine no longer rest entirely in the hands of scientists and clinicians. Patients and citizen activists are stepping up to influence research priorities, crowd-source data, and scour arcane medical literature in search of novel experimental approaches. Often, they are motivated by personal experiences, the refusal to accept that a disease lacks tr...
Art tours for physicians, a choir for nurses, on-demand meditation for all healthcare workers. Clinical settings everywhere are testing support and wellness interventions to boost emotional health and tame the widespread stress and burnout among physicians, nurses, and other providers that intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to strain so many. Clinical s...
Despite knowing that death is the common thread that unites us all, we tend to keep the topic at arm’s length. Yet acknowledging the inevitability of death, contemplating what we wish the end to look like, and sharing our thoughts with loved ones can make our final moments profoundly meaningful. Aid-in-dying legislation, the availability of death doulas to assist in the dy...
In his new book, Rough Sleepers, author Tracy Kidder tells the remarkable story of Dr. Jim O’Connell, a Boston physician who has dedicated his life to providing healthcare to homeless people. Through the doctor’s eyes, Kidder also immerses us in the lives of the unsheltered population—their back stories, daily risks, survival mechanisms, and unmet human needs. In a society...
For decades, new therapies were routinely tested only in men, and assumed to work the same way in women. The landmark NIH Revitalization Act, with its requirement that women be included in clinical trials, rang in a new era. But on the law’s 30th anniversary, progress remains incomplete. Research into many conditions that primarily affect women are underfunded, findings ar...
This interactive session led by Ideo.org recognizes that little is more personal than the health of our minds and bodies and that deciding to seek out healthcare is to acknowledge vulnerability. Our cultural backgrounds and intersecting identities, often combined with prevailing stigma or previous experience with insensitive systems, complicates the ability to trust those...
Watch select daily livestreams and join the virtual #AspenIdeasHealth conversation from June 21-24!
A traumatic event can literally change the way our brain functions, and live on in our body in unexpected ways. The field of psychiatry has not always acknowledged or fully studied the physical impacts of trauma, and mental health practitioners are often not aware of appropriate treatments for traumatized patients. Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk has been researching trau...
The pain and discomfort brought on by a newly-developed chronic illness can be exhausting. On top of symptoms, millions of people also have frustrating and belittling encounters with the medical system while on a quest to diagnose and treat their illnesses. Journalist Meghan O’Rourke was one of them, and it took her more than a decade to convince a doctor to run the tests...
Robots as caregivers? Meet “Pepper,” a robot that can tell a joke, recognize emotions and help people remember special times in their lives. Professor Arshia Khan of the University of Minnesota Duluth spoke at Aspen Ideas: Health.
What do Sherlock Holmes and an internist have in common? Meet Lisa Sanders, the doctor reimagining the way medical mysteries are diagnosed. She explains why providers struggle with the "unknown" in our current health care system and offers advice for patients seeking an elusive diagnosis.
From the "War on Cancer" to the "Cancer Moonshot", extraordinary progress continues to be made in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Research is driving life-extending gene therapies, immunotherapies, and other targeted therapeutics forward. Otis Brawley of Johns Hopkins University explains the latest developments at the cutting-edge of cancer care.
In the wake of transformative biopharmaceutical innovation and breakthroughs, Americans need a health care system that ensures these life-saving breakthroughs reach all patients. Courtney Christian reflects on three tangible, collaborative ways to improve health equity. Presented by PhRMA.
A silent epidemic of chronic illnesses, including autoimmune disease, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and long COVID, afflicts tens of millions of Americans. Best-selling author Meghan O’Rourke discusses her own experience with this elusive category of diseases, often misunderstood and frequently marginalized within our medical system.
Achieving vaccine equity requires authentically communicating with and listening to all communities. As healthcare leaders, we must go where the community is to hear their stories, comprehend their challenges and better understand how to overcome their hurdles. Presented by Novavax.