2023 Schedule

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 dying process, even green b...

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 staff are reporting remark...

The rapid rise of retail health presents traditional provider organizations with many challenges as they shift beyond a facility-based care model to one more closely aligned with patient expectations for convenience, affordability, and a personalized, consumer-oriented journey. It also introduces vast opportunities to leverage emerging technologies and care models to improve patient experience and...

The trauma associated with natural disasters, refugee flight, teenage bullying, or gun violence can endure for a lifetime if appropriate mental health services are not provided. Just as we don’t wait for a wound to become infected before providing treatment, so too we must act quickly to curb emotional damage before it festers. Models of mental health first aid training show us how we can equip fi...

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 who should be helping us....

Human-centered architecture puts user needs at the center of the buildings in which people work, play, learn, and heal, recognizing that design decisions play a potent role in mental and physical wellbeing. In clinical settings, health-promoting spaces are easy for patients and visitors to navigate, let in natural light, minimize intrusive noise, and foster respect for human dignity. More broadly,...

The notoriously opaque healthcare landscape has been difficult for anyone to navigate. Patients need ways to find culturally sensitive providers, make wise medical decisions, understand their bills, and find communities of consumers facing similar health challenges. Health systems, employers, and insurers are looking for opportunities to personalize quality services, including in the area of behav...

Leadership, gender equity, youth engagement, strong communities, and actionable research to inform health services are among the core elements of building global health systems that work better for all populations. While it is impossible to ignore alarming trends in reproductive health, the impact of conflicts, and the rise of noncommunicable diseases, a look to the future also provides grounds fo...