Conference Presentation
Barbara Bush | Resilience in Global Health Leadership
- Over a 20-year horizon, global health systems in Africa and the developing world are expected to surpass those in the United States and developed nations regarding quality, accessibility, and functionality, with high-quality preventive care becoming the only tolerated standard.
- Vaccination is predicted to become as routine and socially accepted as topping up a mobile phone plan, contingent upon a shift in the global health and economic landscape driven by radical new leadership from the youth.
- A diverse, highly networked, and global cohort of emerging leaders will replace retiring giants like Dr. Piat and Dr. Farmer, with these new figures focusing on empathy, resiliency, creativity, and business acumen to address unchecked diseases.
- Specific future roles for individual alumni are forecasted, including Nargis Shirazi potentially becoming a Minister of Health, Amit Salvi serving as CEO of Partners in Health, Angel Chilwa leading the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Coach Lani Sala directing the Center for Disease Control.
- The organization currently recruits 168 fellows from 14,000 applications, partnering with 70 of 120 requesting organizations, while aiming to ensure 97% of alumni continue in global health with 10% in ministerial positions and 22% having already changed policy.
- Future leadership is expected to resolve specific crises including those in Flint, Michigan, Zika, and Ebola by leveraging a tight-knit network where the sum of parts creates elasticity to address global challenges.
- Sustainability is projected to grow exponentially with each new class, driven by a focus on resiliency frameworks that help fellows understand their motivation and overcome field-related challenges.
- The cumulative impact of this leadership network aims to ensure healthcare systems serve billions, with access to high-quality care anticipated to be as easy as breathing air within 20 years.