Feb 12, 2014, 12:25 PM ETConference Presentation, Panel, Fireside Chat

The 2014 Atlanta Summit - - Lunch Program

The Rockefeller Foundation shifted its 100-year focus from medical cures to addressing sanitation, education, and poverty after early hookworm eradication efforts failed.
This insight catalyzed the development of public health as an interdisciplinary field combining medicine, social sciences, and engineering.
Subsequent generations expanded funding to physics and chemistry, which birthed the field of molecular biology through investments in Harvard, Columbia, Uppsala, and the University of Copenhagen.
A core tenet of the foundation's strategy is the recognition that societal prosperity is inextricably linked to the health of its population.

Polio remains endemic in only three countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria, down from millions of paralyzed cases across hundreds of nations 25 years ago.
In Nigeria, a significant hurdle in eradication efforts was the lack of accurate maps; in 2012, WHO partnered with US and Nigerian companies to use satellite data and GPS verification.
This geospatial innovation identified an additional 5 to 10 percent of settlements previously omitted from vaccination routes.
Trevor Gates notes that delivering health interventions in developing countries often requires advanced, rather than simple, technologies due to broken delivery systems and high technological hurdles.

The Global Health Investment Fund, supported by governments (Sweden, Germany, Canada), private entities (Pfizer), and philanthropies, targets dual-use products for both middle-income and developing countries.
The Gates Foundation's "Grand Challenges" initiative offers $100,000 grants for two-page proposals, eliciting a global response that has prompted matching funds from Brazil, South Africa, India, and Canada.
Under-five global mortality has declined significantly since 1990, driven by diverse partnerships, though neonatal mortality (under 28 days) continues to lag behind.
Frida (Pfizer) advocates for "meta-collaborations" that tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs) with the same eradication mentality used for infectious diseases.
Pfizer and the CDC successfully partnered to evaluate the economic impact of no-smoking laws on small businesses, shifting initial business opposition to support through data-driven education.
Non-traditional partnerships are expanding to include media organizations (e.g., CBS/Dr. Phil) for health education and employers for direct community outreach.

USC hosts the largest cohort of non-US citizen students (over 9,000) in any US university, driving a new era of global health engagement.
Carmen (USC) notes that young medical students now demonstrate a higher level of sophistication and passion for global health than previous generations.
Demand for bioengineering programs at institutions like Johns Hopkins is so high that programs are limiting enrollment to 25% of applicants.
The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is highlighted as a critical model for "interventional epidemiology," focusing on active program implementation rather than just analysis.
Medical education is shifting toward training for the economic, political, and legal dimensions of global healthcare delivery.

The 1918 Spanish Influenza killed 675,000 Americans and 40 million worldwide, surpassing WWI combat mortality by a factor of ten.
A single global influenza pandemic is estimated by the World Bank to cost the world economy $800 billion and kill tens of millions.
The CDC monitors high-risk migration events, such as Chinese New Year (3.6 billion trips) and the World Cup, due to their potential to accelerate viral spread.
Global health security remains compromised as 80% of the world has not met basic disease surveillance requirements (finding, stopping, and reporting).
Antimicrobial resistance is a critical focus requiring industry partnerships to develop new antibiotics and improve stewardship via the American Hospital Association.

Mobile health innovations in developing nations, such as text-message-based blood pressure monitoring in slums, offer low-cost solutions that can inform US healthcare cost reduction strategies.
Crowdsourcing platforms like Eli Lilly's Innocentive engage 40,000 registered innovators globally, often outside traditional labs, to solve specific R&D problems.
Data availability is driving a new generation of innovation, exemplified by 15-year-old Jack Andraka using public data to develop pancreatic cancer detection methods.
Carmen highlights that mobile device penetration (7.3 billion devices) enables remote diagnostics and monitoring, allowing developing nations to "leapfrog" existing healthcare infrastructure.

Patient organizations have evolved from advocacy groups into sophisticated partners providing longitudinal data, patient recruitment access, and political pressure.
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation contributed $58 million to Pfizer, marking a shift in financial power dynamics where patient foundations actively fund industry research.
Tom emphasizes the need for civil society to pressure government agencies like the CDC to maintain programs, citing the historical success of the tuberculosis control program in NYC.
The "Join or Die" snake cartoon is repurposed in 2014 to symbolize the necessary coalition of CDC, biopharma, philanthropy, and employers.