Latest Interviews
Showing 691–705 of 2,089 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute58 min
Age-Forward 2030: The Intersection of Housing and Health Care
Susan Donley, Gretchen Alkema, Bechara Choucair, Tama Duffy Day, Christopher Herbert
A comprehensive panel convened by AARP, city health officials, and healthcare leaders identified housing as the critical determinant of health outcomes for seniors, highlighting that over half of middle-income older adults cannot afford to age in place. The discussion detailed how structural inequities, rising housing costs, and social isolation drive severe disparities in mortality and medical expenses, while showcasing innovative solutions like California's Master Plan for Aging and shared housing models that integrate care directly into residential communities. To achieve a future where 16 million elderly households can remain safely housed, the group advocated for bipartisan federal infrastructure investments, inclusive zoning reforms, and a systemic shift toward embedding social health and accessibility into Medicare benefits by 2030.
- Milken Institute59 min
Reducing the Cost of Antimicrobial Resistance
Allan Coukell, Ella Balasa, Nick Crabb, Mark Feinberg, Jeremy Knox, Jenelle Krishnamoorthy, Alan Kockel, John Rigg, Robert Horn
This event convened global health experts to address the critical economic barriers and market failures preventing the development of new antimicrobials amidst rising resistance. Panelists highlighted the urgent need for innovative pull incentives, such as the UK's subscription model, to replace volume-based revenue while emphasizing that stewardship and rapid diagnostics are essential to preserve drug efficacy. The consensus called for immediate policy action to align public, private, and philanthropic resources across G20 nations to sustain the antibiotic innovation ecosystem before the window of opportunity closes.
- Milken Institute57 min
Sexual, Reproductive, and Maternal Health in America
Meg Tirrell, Michael Lu, Christy Turlington Burns, Lauren Underwood, Leana Wen
With over 700 U.S. women dying annually from pregnancy-related causes and stark racial disparities driving these statistics, Representative Lauren Underwood established the bipartisan Black Maternal Health Caucus to mobilize legislative action and secure federal funding for research. This caucus is advancing critical reforms including extending Medicaid postpartum coverage to 12 months, mandating implicit bias training for accredited providers, and scaling safety bundle protocols that have previously reduced maternal mortality by 60%. Addressing systemic barriers such as over-medicalization and social determinants, the initiative seeks to replace the archaic six-week checkup model with continuous care and technology integration to treat maternal health with the urgency of other major public health crises.
- Milken Institute59 min
Advancing Global Health Equity Through the SDGs
Thomas Bollyky, Ruth Berg, Patrick Fine, Melissa J. Kopolow McCall, Tom Boyke, Katherine Connelly
The discussion highlights the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals' structural shift toward integrated, cross-sectoral approaches led by entities like AB InBev, Palladium, and FHI 360 to address gaps in child mortality and non-communicable disease outcomes. Participants debate the necessary evolution from primary health care to universal health care, emphasizing the critical roles of private sector financing, data disaggregation, and new donors from China and India in achieving a "leave no one behind" framework. Ultimately, the dialogue underscores the ethical complexities of engaging industry leaders in public health strategies while advocating for local ownership, fiscal policy reforms, and stakeholder capitalism to drive measurable, sustainable results.
- Milken Institute56 min
Resilient Communities, Successful Disaster Recovery
Lynn Goldman, Elizabeth Disco-Shearer, Nancy Knight, Robert Ottenhoff, Umair A. Shah, John Balbus
This panel unites CDC officials, Harris County Public Health leaders, and philanthropic experts to address the critical "invisibility crisis" where preventative public health work remains unrecognized until disasters strike. Drawing on funding allocations like the CDC's $620 million in emergency preparedness and the disproportionate 10% of philanthropic dollars given to mitigation, the speakers argue that the current reactive funding model fails to address long-term health and economic vulnerabilities exposed by events such as the 2024 California wildfires. To counter these systemic gaps, the discussion calls for a strategic shift toward human capital resilience and sustained investment in pre-existing social vulnerabilities to ensure communities can withstand climate-driven extremes.
- Milken Institute58 min
Poised to Break the Bank: Paying for Chronic Disease
Allison Aubrey, Nancy Brown, Thomas Davis, Anand Parekh, Eric, Michael Golinkoff, John Rother, Megan Golden, Jess Leifer, Stephanie Cousins
Geisinger Health's pilot food pharmacy program demonstrated that high-intensity nutritional support significantly lowers chronic disease costs and improves patient outcomes, prompting federal interest through the 2018 Farm Bill despite scalability challenges. While experts advocate for integrated payment models and preventive policies like sugar taxes to address widespread chronic conditions, systemic barriers including data fragmentation, misaligned pharmaceutical incentives, and insufficient medical education continue to hinder broad adoption. Successful scaling now requires multi-payer collaboration to align financial incentives and address interconnected mental health and pain management needs that frequently undermine lifestyle interventions.
- Milken Institute16 min
A Conversation with Maxine Waters, US Representative, California
The Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease, led by a Congresswoman whose advocacy is driven by personal family tragedy, has secured bipartisan funding that raised research allocations from $586 million in 2015 to a $2.65 billion request for 2020. This legislative push aims to achieve a cure or effective treatment by 2025 while addressing critical caregiver burdens and correcting public misconceptions about memory loss through expanded testing and outreach to underrepresented populations. With significant support from 130 lawmakers and the private sector, the initiative focuses on drug pricing reforms and integrated medical strategies to prevent the disease from bankrupting the national healthcare system.
- Milken Institute57 min
Turning Back Time: The Science of Aging
Joanne Kenen, Nir Barzilai, Howard Fillit, Christopher Hite, Joan Mannick, Joanne Cannon, Sami, Aditi Ramdurai, San, Sarah Locke
A panel of experts led by Nir Barzilai, Christopher Healy, Howard Federoff, and Joan Manik is advocating for a paradigm shift in geroscience from treating individual chronic conditions to targeting the underlying biology of aging. The group is pursuing "healthspan compression" through concrete initiatives like the TAME metformin trial, TORC1 inhibitor development, and combination therapies designed to delay multiple diseases simultaneously. While regulatory hurdles and ethical concerns regarding long-term drug use remain, these efforts aim to prove that extending healthy life is economically viable and socially transformative.
- Milken Institute58 min
Redefining Philanthropic Drug Discovery
Emma Court, Bob Crutchfield, Kathy Giusti, John Rigg, Todd Sherer
Representative non-profits including the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, American Cancer Society, and Michael J. Fox Foundation are deploying specialized venture funds and pre-competitive consortia to accelerate drug development through strategic data ownership and direct investment. These entities face significant structural challenges regarding talent acquisition, donor reluctance to forgo financial returns, and the lack of viable reimbursement models for critical areas like antimicrobial stewardship. Panelists recommend that organizations conduct rigorous landscape assessments and adopt neutral, execution-focused investment strategies to bridge the gap between philanthropy and commercial innovation without crowding out private sector growth.
- Milken Institute35 min
A Conversation with Chef José Andrés, Founder, World Central Kitchen
Founder Jose Andres leads World Central Kitchen in delivering over 10 million meals across multiple continents through an agile, volunteer-driven model that rejects rigid planning in favor of on-the-ground adaptability. The organization addresses critical needs in disaster zones like the Bahamas and Haiti by deploying innovative logistics such as helicopter fleets and clean cooking stoves, while simultaneously supporting economic recovery through local restaurant support and vocational training. Relying almost exclusively on small-dollar donations to maintain operational speed, WCK challenges traditional relief frameworks by prioritizing fresh food, dietary customization, and long-term solutions to global malnutrition and poverty.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Opioid Addiction: A Crisis Fueled by Stigma
Sarah Karlin-Smith, Kelly Clark, Gary Mendell, Andrey Ostrovsky, Nora Volkow, Ronnie Solomon, Michael Golinkoff
A panel of leading experts, including Dr. Kelly Clark and Gary Mendel, identifies deep-seated stigma as a primary driver of the opioid crisis that obstructs effective funding and policy implementation. To combat this, organizations like Shatterproof propose a seven-point strategy shifting addiction from a criminal justice issue to a chronic disease model, while researchers in Rhode Island demonstrate that medication access for released inmates drastically reduces overdose mortality. Despite these clinical victories, persistent structural barriers such as the X-waiver requirement, inadequate federal budget allocations, and restrictive privacy laws continue to hinder widespread adoption of evidence-based treatments.
- Milken Institute1h 16m
Reducing the Cost and Risk of Dementia
Nora Super, Michael Belleville, Jennie Chin Hansen, Kevin Crain, Jeff Huber, Shari Ling, Sarah Locke, Ian Cramer, Orion, Alan Stevens, Jill Lesser
Leading health officials, financial institutions, and advocacy groups are collaborating to address the rising dementia crisis through CMS payment reforms, specialized geriatric emergency departments, and early detection strategies integrated into banking and home care services. Key initiatives include the ET3 transport model, the expansion of accredited GED facilities, and Bank of America's training of financial advisors to identify cognitive decline, all aimed at shifting from reactive treatment to proactive management. Despite these systemic efforts, significant barriers such as workforce shortages, late-stage diagnoses, and caregiver burnout remain critical challenges that require continued policy innovation and community engagement to resolve.
- Milken Institute57 min
Making Influenza History: The Quest for a Universal Vaccine
Michael Specter, Rick Bright, Anthony Fauci, Bruce Gellin, Margaret Hamburg, Casey Wright
Annual seasonal influenza causes approximately 650,000 global deaths and imposes a $36.1 billion economic burden in the United States alone, yet current egg-based production methods and fragmented research efforts hinder the development of a universal vaccine. Although advances in structure-based design and synthetic mRNA technologies offer pathways to stabilize conserved viral targets and eliminate annual vaccination, commercial disincentives and outdated regulatory frameworks continue to stall progress. To overcome these systemic barriers, experts advocate for a dedicated global entity and sustained funding initiatives, such as a proposed $1 billion legislative package, to coordinate interdisciplinary collaboration and de-risk the shift toward rapid-response, long-lasting immunization platforms.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Flipping the Script: Designing the System to Deliver for Patients
Annie Kennedy, Gigi Hirsch, Marcus Schabacker, Andy Schmeltz, Jeffrey Shuren, Marcus Wilson
Leaders from patient advocacy groups, regulators, and industry convened to address critical misalignments between regulatory data standards, payer requirements, and patient outcomes, driving a shift toward patient-led research and value-based care models. Through collaborative frameworks like FDA's Patient and Caregiver Connection and MIT's learning health systems, stakeholders are overcoming data fragmentation by integrating real-world evidence into device approvals and reimbursement decisions. This collective effort establishes a new paradigm where patient preferences directly influence benefit-risk assessments, ensuring medical innovations effectively reach the right patients at the right time while promoting equitable access.
- Milken Institute44 min
The Future of Brain Health
Meg Tirrell, Ruth Benca, Marie Bernard, Rod Hochman, Nora Super, Rudy Tanzi
The Milken Institute released a 2023 report highlighting the disproportionate burden of dementia on women alongside scientific breakthroughs in early detection and the re-evaluation of amyloid-targeting therapies like aducanumab. Experts are advocating for a multifactorial shift toward affordable oral medications, preventive sleep strategies, and age-friendly care systems that reduce reliance on hospital settings. While a total cure by 2025 remains unlikely, the field is converging on combining pharmacological interventions with lifestyle modifications to manage risk and improve outcomes for diverse populations.