2021 is the Year for Health Transformation (No, Really) — Remember the musings of 2019 industry analysts last December, pondering which digital technologies and biomedical and life science advances would make their mark in 2020? Despite all the right indicators and common sense — and even a global pandemic that no one could have predicted — too many of these…

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin shocked America — the world — last week — when they announced consensus on a bill that includes the most significant climate spending package in U.S. history, directing billions of dollars to clean energy technologies and innovation. …

As Government Struggles to Find Solutions, Private Citizens, NGOs and Companies Step Forward Songwriter and folk singer Woody Guthrie captured the expansive and diverse nature of rural America in his classic ballad This Land is Your Land: This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the…

COVID and Diabetes Combined Are Clear and Present Dangers Last week, I wrote about public health authorities’ failure to unite Americans around adopting preventive measures that reduce the spread of COVID, which is now a constant backdrop to our lives, whether we acknowledge its impact or ignore it. …

The Days of Mass Communication Are Over. Target Micro Communities to Win Big Public health is now grappling with the most severe COVID threat: the “I don’t give a damn” variant. While some mask up, most people do not, and we have returned to holding and attending big social gatherings…

Until there is life-sparing action, Congressional members and staff must be required — regardless of political party affiliation– to see the destructive path of an AR-15 caliber bullet after every mass shooting The deaths of small children do not move us beyond tears and platitudes to policy action. What will…

Mentors — with offering an abundance of good advice — help us to evolve into the people we aspire to become. On this Labor Day, I salute the mentors in my life — past, present and future. Often they appeared when least expected — all appreciated. Labor Day is the last hoorah of summer for many in the United States (and around the world). It’s that wonderfully welcomed long weekend. Where it came from is found in the forgotten pages of history books. Some credit labor leader Peter McGuire for advocating for Labor Day. …

The Fuel of Enduring Empathy for People’s Suffering — Forty years ago, I lived my dream and my nightmare. As a boomer raised in the post-WWII and Korean War era, I wanted to follow in my father’s and uncles’ footsteps by serving in the military. I longed to be a paratrooper. I even practiced — without breaking any bones…

Incremental Progress in Treating Disease Is Foundational to Finding a Meaningful Cure — It may seem that the COVID-19 vaccines appeared almost suddenly, like rabbits pulled from a magician’s hat, but the invention of mRNA-based vaccines that protect against COVID-19 was the endpoint of a long journey. In a stirring New York Times article, authors Gina Kolata and Benjamin Mueller wrote: “…the breakthroughs…