2023 Schedule

When he was sworn in as 25th commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration in February 2022, Robert Califf knew the assignment would be intense because he had held the post before. With its oversight of more than $2.7 trillion in medical products, food, and tobacco—one-fifth of the nation’s economy—the FDA is always under pressure. Today, artificial intelligence, breakthrough pharmaceuticals...

Untapped market opportunities, coupled with the recognition that many diseases exclusively affect women, or affect them differently than men, are drawing venture capitalists into women’s health. These private equity investors, often entrepreneurial women, are motivated by a commitment to gender equity, a supportive regulatory environment, and awareness that there are profits to be made. Women have...

Constrained neither by the private sector’s quest for profit nor the political structure of government, foundations have tremendous leeway to pioneer ideas, pilot novel strategies, and pivot to meet unanticipated needs. Philanthropic funds can influence the health agenda by informing policy, advancing cutting-edge research, contributing to thriving communities, supporting workforce training, reduc...

Medicare covers 65 million people, pays out $829 billion in annual benefits, and accounts for 21% of total national health spending. An aging population, increasing costs, and coverage expansions all raise questions about the long-term financing of this hugely popular national insurance program. The availability of sophisticated home-based medical interventions, a new law lowering the price of ins...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Atlantic lambasted the US Food and Drug Administration for moving too slowly to approve vaccines with the provocative headline “The Death Toll of Delay.” Not long before, National Public Radio had run a piece titled “One-Third of New Drugs Had Safety Problems After FDA Approval.” As the agency tries to move safe and effective drugs as quickly as possible to patien...

A healthcare worker shortage is today’s reality, putting safe, quality healthcare at risk for everyone. According to the US Surgeon General's Advisory on Building a Thriving Health Workforce, the realities are that many of our health workplaces and practices are exhausting and demoralizing for our talented, caring, and overworked healthcare professionals. The emotional, physical, and psychological...

Remarkable screening and diagnostic tools are being developed so that disease can be identified in its earliest stages, when it is most treatable, and disease subtypes can be isolated to accommodate more precise treatment. New technology for testing blood can find cancer long before symptoms appear, a spinal fluid protein appears to be a biomarker for Parkinson’s disease, nanotechnology may be abl...

Private equity firms are using leveraged buyouts, venture capital, and other funding sources to acquire hospitals, clinical practices, nursing homes, and other health-related businesses on a grand scale. In 2021, they poured more than $200 billion into the sector, compared to $41 billion in 2010. Investors claim their capital will expand access to care, drive innovation, fund cutting-edge research...