This week, Mark and Margaret speak with former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Co-Founder of One Mind for Research. The Congressman discusses One Mind’s goal to cure all diseases of the brain within 10 years by creating a broad-based, global coalition of partners engaged in research, funding and advocacy.
This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, President of the National Physicians Alliance, an organization founded to restore trust in the medical profession by eliminating conflicts of interest. Dr. Arkoosh discusses their “Un-Branded Doctor” initiative which urges physicians to refuse payments of any kind from the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, and talks about the organization’s “Good Stewardship” program which calls for doctors and patients to reduce costly and unnecessary tests.
This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Joel Kupersmith, Chief Research and Development Officer of the Veterans Health Administration who heads numerous research initiatives at the VA. Dr. Kupersmith discusses the creation of The Million Veterans Program, which is seeking to compile the largest data bank of genetic information in the nation for ongoing research. He outlines the benefits of the VA’s long-standing use of electronic health records to better track patients’ health as well as yielding meaningful data…
This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Amelia Haviland, Senior Statistician on Health Insurance for the RAND Corporation, a non-profit organization committed to improving public policy through non-partisan research and analysis. Dr. Haviland discusses RAND’s in-depth study of the rapid growth of consumer-directed, high-deductible insurance policies in the private insurance market. She also explores their potential to save tens of billions of dollars in health care costs annually, while cautioning that such plans could lead to diminished health outcomes…
This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America who discusses the millions of Americans receiving basic health care through the organization and the expansion of health information outreach to tens of millions via the internet and social media. Ms. Richards also discusses the numerous legal challenges to Planned Parenthood on the state and national levels.
This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Sonia Ehrlich Sachs, Director of Health, Millennium Villages Project at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Dr. Sachs discusses the Millennium Project Goals to eliminate extreme global poverty by 2015. This model has greatly improved maternal and infant health outcomes in targeted regions of Africa through the use of community health workers, improved agriculture and nutrition, and development of local health systems.