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Despite all of the scientific advances in genomic sequencing, genetic testing, and gene editing, science writer Carl Zimmer suggests we lack a rich understanding of what heredity means and how traits travel from one generation to the next. Cultural and environmental conditions have complex and nuanced influences on human biology, personal and family characteristics are not embedded exclusively in our ancestral DNA, cells within our own body birth new cells, and an infant’s DNA endures for years in a mother’s bloodstream. All of that, and much more, play significant roles in the legacies we inherit and pass on.
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Society

Meet Lea Masamo, a 2022 Aspen Ideas: Health Fellow who's building a movement of people living with sickle cell disease to advocate for programs and policies needed to improve...
Meet Kistein Monkhouse, a 2022 Aspen Ideas: Health Fellow who's bridging gaps in patient/provider communication with a storytelling app that empowers people to own the narrati...

Meet Neale Batra, a 2022 Aspen Ideas: Health Fellow who's on a mission make the field of epidemiology more efficient, collaborative, and equitable through open-source software...

Meet Lucy He, a 2022 Aspen Ideas: Health Fellow who's using technology and policy change to address critical delays in patient care caused by the "prior authorization" process...
Can the data collected through smartphones, wearable sensors, and passive monitoring devices be turned into actionable knowledge about the environmental impacts on our health?...

We're proud to announce the 2022 winners of The Aspen Challenge, four amazing teams of young people designing solutions to some of the most critical problems facing their comm...



Hospitals and health systems have a critical role to play in turning health equity talk into action. Learn how the field is using strategic investments to drive innovative sol...
From blockchain to back to school and virus-hunting to bridging divides, speakers at the 2021 Aspen Ideas Festival addressed issues in a new kind of world—one touched, and cha...







Did you know that only 7% of the investments made within the $715 billion global impact investing market go toward health? Learn how Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures is leadi...



Two pioneering doctors are saving lives and making surgeries safer with new, innovative approaches. Presented by Mount Sinai Health System







