Healthcare

In an effort to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations in communities of color, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and members of the White House Corona Virus response team recently met with former surgeons general to discuss advancing equity in our country’s COVID-19 response. Those who joined the meeting included exclusive APB speakers and former surgeons general Drs. M. Joycelyn Elders, David Satcher, Richard Carmona, Regina Benjamin and Jerome Adams. The physicians met to discuss how they could work together to ensure that communities of color have the information and access they need for vaccination. 

APB speaker Daniel E. Dawes’ latest book has been named one of “The 36 Books and Podcasts on Health and Science to Check Out This Summer.” The Political Determinants of Health (Johns Hopkins University Press) was selected by Stat, a news site focused on health, medicine and scientific discovery. The site is produced by Boston Globe Media. In the book, Dawes argues that political determinants of health create the social drivers—including poor environmental conditions, inadequate transportation, unsafe neighborhoods and lack of healthy food options—that affect all other dynamics of health. By understanding these determinants, their origins, and their impact on the equitable distribution of opportunities and resources, we will be better equipped to develop and implement actionable solutions to close the health gap, Dawes writes.

In a little more than a month, over 14,000 people from more than 200 countries will gather in Tokyo, Japan, for the Summer Olympics. They will be joined by thousands of delegates and members of the press. One month later, an additional 5,000 athletes and support staff will come together in Tokyo for the Paralympic Games.  These two enormous events have APB speaker Dr. Michael Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and several of his colleagues deeply concerned. 

As a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering global humanitarian crises and suffering around the world, New York Times columnist and author Nicholas Kristof thought he had seen it all. But what has surprised him the most are the problems and hopelessness happening right here in the United States. An epidemic of despair, he calls it.  

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There is a new data map that will help track systemic health disparities across the country, and APB speaker and health policy expert Daniel E. Dawes J.D. helped create it. "A game-changer, while still in its initial phases, the Health Equity Tracker will provide us the opportunity to track the health inequities plaguing this country,” said Dawes, to Fierce Healthcare.  

On May 26, 2020, Philonise Floyd learned that his older brother, George “Perry” Floyd, Jr. had been murdered by four police officers in Minneapolis after a store clerk alleged that he passed a counterfeit $20 bill. The world watched as named officer, Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. George’s death sparked a worldwide outpour of protests against police brutality, especially toward black people. Philonise vowed that George’s death would not be in vain, another hashtag on a t-shirt, and started the Philonise and Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change, actively working to eliminate the daily impacts of police brutality, criminal justice reform and systemic racism.

Do you constantly feel overwhelmed by stress, feel dissatisfied in your career and relationships, and feel like you lack purpose? APB speaker, biologist, and stress expert Dr. Rebecca Heiss says that the answer to fixing these problems exists in rewiring instincts. Titled  Instinct: Rewire Your Brain with Science-Backed Solutions to Increase Productivity and Achieve Success, Dr. Heiss' new book is ideal for Gen Z and their known pursuit of manifestation and changing the subconscious. In everyday life, people use outdated instincts because biology and evolution haven’t quite caught up to today’s world. Dr. Heiss offers simple, actionable techniques to redirect those instincts to work for us rather than against us.  

NPR interviewed APB speaker Nora McInerny on the topic of how one can move forward when experiencing grief or hardship. An expert on facing life’s rough edges, McInerny shares ideas on how to live life fully even when you experience loss.   

Heather Abbott’s life changed forever when she was struck by bomb shrapnel at the Boston Marathon and lost her left leg.  After receiving a prosthetic leg for walking, she was then told by her insurance that they would not cover anything additional. This became the catalyst for the Heather Abbott Foundation, which is dedicated to mission of giving fellow amputees the prosthetics insurance won’t cover.  Now recognized by CNN as the complete embodiment of a hero, Heather Abbott captivates audiences with her inspirational story of pain, anger, optimism and resilience.