Latest Interviews

Women Leading a Wellness Revolution

Joyce Chang, Nancy Brinker, Alexia Brue, Donna Karan, Melanie Whelan

Moderated by Joyce Chang, a panel of industry leaders including Donna Karan, Nancy Brinker, Alexia Brew, and Melanie Whalen convened to redefine the wellness movement as a collaborative force driven by community accountability and shared impact. The discussion highlighted distinct strategies for systemic change, from SoulCycle's peer-driven transformation model and Well and Good's democratization of health journalism to Susan G. Komen's focus on closing care access gaps and Urban Zen's integration of holistic care within commercial and healthcare frameworks. Ultimately, the group agreed that the future of wellness relies on shifting resources from reactive "sick care" to preventative lifestyle solutions supported by clean data and scalable community networks.

A Conversation with PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi, Michael Milken, Andrew, Mike

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi transformed the beverage and snack giant through "Performance with Purpose," a strategy that integrated social and environmental sustainability into core operations while shifting the revenue portfolio toward healthier product lines. This cultural overhaul was driven by scientific leadership under Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Mahmood Khan and reinforced by tying executive compensation to specific nutritional and environmental goals. Nooyi further extended the company's impact by forging partnerships with healthcare institutions to improve access for underserved veterans and advocating for systemic policy changes to address chronic disease and nutritional equity.

Innovators Improving Access: Creating Healthier Links in the Food Chain

Kevin Boylan, Matt Barnard, Lee Anne Grant, Dariush Mozaffarian, Sam Polk, Josh Stevens, Simone Friedman, Jeffrey Davis, Ambassador Compson

Leading entrepreneurs from Everytable, Plenty, Day2, and Brandless, alongside Tufts University Dean Dr. Dari Mozaffarian, convened to debate scalable solutions for a U.S. food system that drives 70% of annual deaths through diet-related chronic disease. The panelists presented contrasting strategies ranging from Everytable's dual-tier pricing and Plenty's water-efficient vertical farming to Day2's machine learning-driven personalized nutrition, while challenging the federal government's $46-to-one research funding disparity between nutrition and pharmaceuticals. Ultimately, the discussion highlighted a critical pivot toward integrating healthy food into healthcare infrastructure and expanding global operations to address the 1,400 daily cardiovascular and diabetes deaths attributed to dietary factors.

A State of Emergency: Integrative Approaches to Addiction and the Opioid Epidemic

David Beier, Jerome Adams, Terry McAuliffe, Lori McFarling, Tom Moriarty, Nora Volkow, Tammy Wincup

A federal and state coalition deployed 14,000 officials alongside private sector partners like CVS and Discovery Education to address the opioid crisis through prevention economics, educational outreach, and prescription limits that reduced Virginia's over-prescriptions by one-third. Initiatives including a new data-sharing compact among 46 governors and the Surgeon General's social capital report aim to leverage granular prescription analytics and community resilience to cut costs associated with incarceration and unemployment. These coordinated efforts target the multifactorial nature of the epidemic by embedding science-based prevention in classrooms, enforcing seven-day prescription caps, and expanding safe disposal programs to recover from 64,000 overdose deaths recorded in 2016.

The Future of Health: A New World of Collaboration

Michael Milken, Francis Collins, Lynn Goldman, Bob Hugin

The National Institutes of Health, alongside corporate leaders like Celgene and academic institutions such as GW School of Public Health, is driving a decade-long strategic shift toward cross-sector collaboration to address mounting global health crises including opioid addiction, rising obesity-related cancers, and antimicrobial resistance. Key initiatives such as the Accelerating Medicines Partnership and the "All of Us" research program are deploying hundreds of millions in combined public and private funding to accelerate therapeutic discovery, leverage genomic data, and implement preventive structural interventions. This coordinated effort aims to reverse declining U.S. life expectancy trends and reduce the $4 trillion annual economic burden of chronic disease by aligning industry innovation cycles with public health objectives.

Boundless Potential: How Unlocking Big Data Can Change Health

Dan Diamond, Murray Aitken, Aneesh Chopra, Martin J. Murphy, Robin Thurston

Industry leaders from Quintiles IMS, Helix, and the Obama administration convened to evaluate big data's transition from hype to a tangible reality that is currently constrained by fragmented data, misaligned financial incentives, and a cultural gap in healthcare adoption. The panel highlighted Project Data Sphere, which has grown into the world's largest open-access cancer trial database to enable synthetic control arms that could halve trial timelines and improve survival rates for small cell lung cancer. Looking forward, experts discussed how lowering sequencing costs, blockchain privacy tools, and shifting toward value-based payment models aim to overcome current silos and empower consumers to drive precision public health initiatives.

A Conversation with FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb

Scott Gottlieb, Michael Milken, Indra Nooyi

This summit convened experts and FDA leadership to address critical public health challenges, including the link between sleep deprivation and obesity, the scaling of screen time interventions, and the opioid epidemic. Regulatory strategies were detailed for reducing opioid exposure through shorter prescription durations, while new tobacco policies aim to minimize nicotine addiction in combustible products and regulate youth-targeted vaping technologies. Additionally, the discussion covered FDA responses to supply chain disruptions in Puerto Rico following a hurricane and the development of regulatory frameworks for emerging digital health and artificial intelligence tools.

Putting Prevention First

Liz Szabo, Kelly Close, William Dietz, Frank Hu, Anne Schuchat, Hugh Waters, Bill Dietz

Recent data reveals that US obesity rates continue to rise across all demographics, with annual prevalence increasing by 1% for decades and severe disparities affecting over half of African American and Hispanic women. These trends drive a $3.4 trillion annual economic burden and sharply increase risks for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and 13 types of cancer, prompting experts to shift focus from treating established obesity to preventing weight gain in young adults through environmental changes and policy reform.

The Rapidly Changing Food Industry and What it Means for Health

Michael Klowden, Cristina Alesci, Shane Emmett, Neil Grimmer, Douglas Munk, Jonathan Neman, Irwin Simon

Leaders from Sweetgreen, Nestlé Ventures, and emerging startups convened to address the industry's structural shift from industrial mass production to personalized, transparent nutrition driven by millennial demands. While major corporations like Nestlé deploy $900 million initiatives to incubate smaller brands and reduce sugar and sodium, panelists highlighted persistent supply chain bottlenecks and shelf-space barriers that cause 85% of new healthy food companies to fail within 24 months. The discussion concluded that achieving price parity and long-term scale requires bridging the gap between rapid consumer adoption, evidenced by 40% revenue growth in targeted health brands, and the slow, three-year organic certification timeline necessary to secure sustainable ingredient sourcing.

A State of Emergency: Integrative Approaches to Addiction and the Opioid Epidemic

David Beier, Jerome Adams, Terry McAuliffe, Lori McFarling, Tom Moriarty, Nora Volkow, Tammy Wincup, Indra Nooyi, Scott Gottlieb

Federal and state leaders are mobilizing a multi-sector response to the opioid crisis, deploying 14,000 officials while partnering with organizations like CVS and Discovery Education to expand prevention education and pharmaceutical take-back programs. This coordinated strategy integrates clinical data, economic recovery initiatives, and new state-level regulations, such as Virginia's prescription limits, to address the 22% surge in overdose deaths and the underlying social determinants driving addiction. Stakeholders are urged to audit medicine cabinets and commit to shared resource distribution, aiming to transition from reactive emergency measures to proactive community resilience through improved health infrastructure and data analytics.

The Future of Health: A New World of Collaboration

Ed Greissing, Michael Milken, Francis Collins, Lynn Goldman, Bob Hugin, Indra Nooyi, Scott Gottlieb

No substantive event occurred as the provided input contained only the repetitive word "you" and a single "Thank you." Consequently, no key figures, decisions, or actionable outcomes were identified to summarize. The transcript lacked any narrative arc, facts, or trends that could form the basis of a descriptive account.

Experiments in Art and Technology with Artforum Editor Michelle Kuo

Michelle Kuo, Kat Mañalac, Craig Cannon

Founded in 1966 by artist Robert Rauschenberg and Bell Labs scientist Billy Kluver, Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT) established a non-hierarchical network connecting thousands of creators with engineers to merge artistic vision with specialized technical expertise. The organization executed large-scale interdisciplinary projects such as the 1970 Osaka Pepsi Pavilion and the "Automation" townhouse, which utilized military-grade infrared technology and broadcast systems to test new forms of performance and labor relations. Despite facing criticism for their ties to the military-industrial complex and eventual project failures due to budget disputes, EAT's legacy endures through its pioneering of site-specific, portable technology works that influenced subsequent corporate art programs.

Talks at GS – Edward Norton: Capitalism and Creative Disruption

Edward Norton

In a discussion spanning his activist family lineage and career in entertainment, actor Edward Norton analyzes the necessity of treating ecological services as a financial asset class to drive sustainability. He contrasts the late-1990s studio system's willingness to risk new voices, exemplified by *Fight Club*, with the modern disruption caused by streaming services that have dismantled traditional DVD revenue models. Norton further details his transition to founding EDO, a data science firm applying finance-grade ROI analytics to media to replace outdated engagement metrics and align ad spend with actual audience action.

Electric cars will come of age in 2018

The 2018 automotive landscape marked a global tipping point where electric vehicle costs fell below those of fossil fuel models, driven by halved battery prices, doubled driving ranges, and government mandates from nations like Britain and France to ban internal combustion engines by 2040. China's dominance in production and sales, combined with corporate commitments to fully electrify fleets, aims to disrupt global oil demand while introducing ethical supply chain challenges regarding cobalt extraction in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Experts characterize this transition as an inevitable momentum that will eventually phase out the 1880s-era internal combustion engine, despite the trillions of dollars required to upgrade power grids and stabilize regions reliant on oil revenue.

Content Marketing Tips from Experts at First Round Capital and Andreessen Horowitz

Camille Ricketts, Sonal Chokshi, Craig Cannon

First Round Capital and a16z articulate a content philosophy that prioritizes strategic metrics and deep, long-form storytelling over vanity traffic, utilizing an editorial instinct honed through pattern recognition. These firms deploy a rigorous production workflow ranging from a three-tier interview framework to the use of "maker schedules" that protect creative energy while balancing reactive news with enduring "stock" projects. Their approach to audience growth relies on identifying niche "true fans" and leveraging proprietary data narratives to ensure utility, rejecting shallow advertorials in favor of authentic, emotionally resonant, or tactical advice.