Conference Presentation, Fireside Chat, Interview
Public Health Summit Dinner March 2, 2016
- Fact: Botanically, a tomato is a fruit; however, the U.S. Supreme Court declared it a vegetable for tariff purposes.
- Fact: NASA's treadmill launched to the space station in August is officially named the Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistant Treadmill (COLBERT).
- Economic Trend: Public health and medical research account for over 50% of global economic growth over the last two centuries.
- Fact: The concept of "human capital" and its economic impact was recognized with a 1992 Nobel Prize awarded to Gary Becker.
- Data Point: Immigration from the Warsaw region in the 1880s contributed to the founding of nearly every major film studio (except Disney) within 500 miles, including Sony, Viacom, and Comcast.
- Data Point: Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, an estimated $1 trillion in human capital left the Soviet Union, particularly migrating to Israel, Europe, and the United States.
- Policy Decision (Mexico): Mexico implemented a 10% tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and an 8% tax on junk food in November 2013, resulting in a 12% reduction in consumption in the first year.
- Initiative (Mexico): To combat obesity, Mexico's metro system introduced "health stops" requiring 10 squats for free transit and distributed 80,000 pedometers.
- Stat: Mexico is currently the second most obese country globally, with 37 million overweight citizens.
- Policy Goal: U.S. officials aim to replicate Mexico's anti-obesity initiatives in the U.S., with Chairman Upton supporting passage in the House.
- Core Concept (Tom Frieden): Frieden identifies an "implementation gap" between public health knowledge and action as a larger challenge than the "discovery gap."
- Challenge 1 (Zika): Congress is urged to approve rapid, robust funding for Zika response to protect pregnant women without displacing other budgets.
- Strategy (Global Health): The Global Health Security Program advocates a "find, stop, prevent" triad to mitigate health threats in countries like Uganda and Brazil that could affect U.S. citizens.
- Neglected Issue: Hypertension is the leading cause of global death, yet only 14% of those affected worldwide have it under control; low-cost community interventions like sodium reduction are needed.
- Challenge 2 (Antibiotics): The CDC requests $160 million in the FY 2016 budget for antibiotic stewardship to prevent a "post-antibiotic era" where routine infections become untreatable.
- Stat: Opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. have quadrupled over the past 15 years, paralleling the rise in prescription rates.
- Challenge 3 (Medication Stewardship): FDA Commissioner Rob Califf and CDC Director Tom Frieden agree on the need to "right-size" medication use, reducing overuse of antibiotics and opioids while increasing access to essential treatments like blood pressure medication.
- Policy (Precision Medicine): FDA Commissioner Rob Califf urges 100 million Americans to volunteer for the Precision Medicine Initiative to upload electronic health records to a secure database for faster regulatory decisions.
- Workforce Priority: The FDA seeks to recruit a larger, technology-savvy, and culture-sensitive workforce to manage the accelerating pace of biomedical discovery.
- Legislation (21st Century Cures): The House passed the 21st Century Cures Act with a 344-vote majority; Chairman Fred Upton hopes the Senate will assemble similar bills within a month for a presidential signature.
- Policy Alignment: The "Cancer Moonshot" is proposed as an add-on component to the 21st Century Cures legislation to accelerate cancer research.
- Fact: Approximately 50% of school-aged children walked or rode bikes to school in 1969; today, that figure is 13% to 15%.
- Budget (NIH): A bipartisan effort doubled the NIH budget over five years, followed by a $2 billion addition via the Recovery Act.
- Scientific Focus (NIH): The NIH is launching a 12-year Brain Initiative with $2 billion in new funding to map neural circuits, alongside efforts to develop a universal influenza vaccine and an artificial pancreas.
- Treatment Breakthrough: Clinical trials using ketamine show rapid remission of severe depression in patients where traditional antidepressants failed, with effects occurring within 40 minutes.
- Future Tech: Researchers are exploring stem cell-derived heart tissue to create "auto-transplants" for congestive heart failure, potentially eliminating the need for donor organs.
- Event: Francis Collins performed an original song titled "Joy to the World" addressing obesity, hypertension, superbugs, and the need to share data to solve public health challenges.