Leana Wen

Physician & Healthcare Executive; Washington Post Columnist; Author; Former Baltimore Health Commissioner

Leana Wen

Physician & Healthcare Executive; Washington Post Columnist; Author; Former Baltimore Health Commissioner

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Biography

Dr. Leana Wen is a practicing physician, healthcare executive, and one of America’s leading public health experts. She is a columnist for The Washington Post, where she writes a twice-weekly column on medicine and public health and anchors the Post newsletter, "The Checkup with Dr. Wen". She is also a professor of health policy and management at George Washington University, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a frequently featured on-air commentator, including as a medical analyst for CNN and guest contributor for NPR, PBS, BBC, and MSNBC.

Previously, she served as Baltimore's Health Commissioner, where she led the nation’s oldest continuously operating health department in the U.S. to fight the opioid epidemic, address disparities and mental health access, and improve maternal and child health. She is author of two critically-acclaimed books, When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests and Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.

Dr. Wen obtained her medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine and studied health policy at the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She completed her residency training in emergency medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital & Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was a clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Wen has received recognition as one of Governing's Public Officials of the Year, Modern Healthcare's Top 50 Physician-Executives, World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders, and TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People.

Dr. Wen lives with her husband and their two young children in Baltimore.

Speaker Videos

Dr. Wen - Bloomberg School of Public Health Commencement 2018

Public Health As An Urban Solution | Leana Wen | TEDxBaltimore

Perspectives from the Frontline of the Fight for Public Health: A Live Q&A with Leana Wen

Discussion with Nick Kristof on the launch of Dr. Wen’s new book, Lifelines

U.S. News Live Presents: A Conversation With Dr. Leana Wen

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Speech Topics

Post-Pandemic Lessons, Trends & Implications for the Future of Healthcare

Dr. Leana Wen has been one of the nation’s most prominent experts during the COVID-19 pandemic, called upon for her expertise by Congress, state and local governments, and featured daily on CNN, NPR, and PBS. She can speak to what the pandemic revealed about social determinants of health, mental health access, and health preparedness, then cover what major trends are ahead. What does the future look like for digital health and telemedicine? What innovations has the pandemic spurred, from AI to payment reform to behavioral health treatment? And what can be done to address rampant burnout among health professionals?

A New Day for AI & Healthcare’s Digital Revolution

Hear the perspective of a practicing physician and Washington Post columnist who is an expert on the digital transformation of healthcare. She will discuss the rise of telemedicine and digital health strategies that have enabled remote patient monitoring and at-home diagnostics and “hospital at home” treatment. She will also delve into the promise and perils of artificial intelligence in medicine, going through use cases of predictive and generative AI to explain how AI can improve diagnosis, personalize treatment, and reduces inefficiencies. And she will delve into potential pitfalls, the need for regulatory guardrails, and why digital fluency is so crucial for the healthcare sector.

Mental Health & Well-Being

The stress that people have endured during the pandemic will not vanish after the immediate crisis passes. Dr. Wen brings audiences insights from her work as a practicing physician and expert in addressing mental health and addiction policy. She shares personal experiences, strategies to combat isolation and reestablish connection, and best practices for employee health from around the world. She describes the often hidden epidemic of addiction, including to alcohol and opioids, and the growing need for education and regulation of marijuana and psychedelic usage. Finally, she outlines for audiences a framework for incorporating mental and physical wellness and resiliency practices into the office, home, and everyday life.

Reducing Health Disparities & Striving for Equity: A Practical Playbook

Dr. Wen is a leading national expert on health disparities. During the COVID-19 crisis, she was asked to testify four times to the U.S. House of Representatives on the unequal impact of the pandemic on communities of color. While she served as Baltimore’s health commissioner, she reconfigured the agency to specifically focus on health equity and was among the first leaders to declare racism as a public health crisis. She upon these lessons, outlined in her book Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health, and gives specific examples of successful innovations that reduce disparities and improve equity.

Women in Leadership

Women, and women leaders, face distinctive challenges in the workplace. Trained in trauma/ER medicine and having been one of many “firsts” as a woman of color, Dr. Wen speaks from first-hand experience and from her professional research about the challenges and opportunities for women in leadership. These include advice for women about the “double bind” and “glass cliff,” such as owning one’s authentic identity and negotiating societal expectations. Dr. Wen also gives talks in crisis leadership and overcoming adversity. These include lessons from innovative leadership locally and nationally, drawing upon her background convening unlikely stakeholders around shared goals; leading collective impact, public-private collaborations in public health; and getting to points of agreement in turbulent and polarizing environments.

Testimonials

"Dr. Wen was an exceptional speaker and exceptional to work with. She was so personable and accommodating, and gave a fantastic talk that was well tailored to our audience. A home run all the way around.”

- Executive Producer of Speaker Series

"Dr. Wen is an extraordinary speaker. She is passionate about her work and compassionate with the audience she is addressing. Her knowledge and tone earned her some of the highest audience ratings of any of our conference speakers."

- Healthcare Trade Association

"Dr. Leana Wen’s talk was met with enthusiasm. Her session was refreshing, inspiring, and offered practical advice for navigating public health issues. Attendees commented that they appreciated how she spoke both sincerely and authoritatively. Dr. Wen was the perfect opening keynote for our conference. Her perspective, real life examples, and authenticity were truly a breath of fresh air."

- Health Professional Organization

"Dr. Wen offered solutions to the audience for how they could address health disparities, that people at any part of their journey in equity work could find somewhere to start. She delivered her presentation and answers to audience questions with authority, authenticity and grace. With her overall equity framework and her scholarly knowledge on health care disparities, she was simply incredible!"

- Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion for Hospital

"Dr. Wen was incredibly engaging and a joy to watch. She was very passionate and sparked similar desire in the listeners. We greatly appreciated how she tailored her content to the needs of our organization and the theme of the forum. It was a great pleasure to work with Dr. Wen and to have her as our keynote of our event."

- Director of Trade Organization

"Dr. Wen’s keynote presentation was “spot-on”. She customized her content to meet the needs of our audience, delivered the current facts and reality of the healthcare landscape, and left our group with light at the end of the tunnel. She delivered her presentation with passion and energy."

- Director of Hospital Association

- Director of Technology Company

"I would use the word 'extraordinary' to describe Dr. Wen. She's so knowledgeable, so engaging, and such a gifted speaker. And what's more, she's an absolute joy to work with."

- Director of Speaker Series

"A great session and very well-received. Dr. Wen was articulate, authentic, and offered great insights. Truly a delight."

- Head of Public Health Association

“Dr. Wen is an extremely knowledgeable and passionate doctor who is committed to her message to transform physician-patient interactions. I enjoyed her enthusiasm, her stories and the overall approach of her presentation. I know many future physicians can learn from her and the message she is trying to evoke, while having fun at the same time. We would love to have her come back!”

- University of California, Davis

"Thank you for helping to make MAHP's 2021 Virtual Annual Conference a great success. Your participation as a speaker in our program was an important part of the conference. We greatly appreciated your thoughts and insights on the COVID-19 pandemic and improving public health. We have received excellent feedback from attendees on your segment of the conference and hope that you enjoyed your involvement in the event."

- Massachusetts Association of Health Plans (MAHP)

"A great session and very well received. As you well know, Dr. Wen was articulate, authentic, and had great insights-truly a delight."

- Tenn Public Health Association

“Leana is one of the best public speakers I’ve seen. She really knows how to use narrative to convey information. Her presentations at the Unite for Sight Conference were finely crafted, using brief, compelling stories (and some surprising twists) to make serious points without ever losing the audience's attention. And unlike many speakers, she seems to be truly enjoying herself on stage.”

- NextBillion

“Dr. Wen is an extraordinary speaker. She is both articulate and knowledgeable about the topics she is discussing. In addition, she is passionate about her work and compassionate with the audience she is addressing. Last month, we had the pleasure of having Dr. Wen speak at our organization’s annual national patient conference. Her knowledge and tone earned her some of the highest audience ratings of any of our conference speakers. Without a doubt, I would highly recommend Dr. Wen as a speaker and look forward to the opportunity to work with her again in the future.”

- Strategic Alliance & Initiatives Director, Colon Cancer Alliance

“Dr. Wen’s passion for helping people underlines her actions and led her to speak up when she sees a need for change, one of the many reasons for writing her book. She serves as a wonderful example to us all for what a true physician should be like: honest, caring, and trustworthy.”

- California State University, Los Angeles

“Having been a trial lawyer, I value communication skills. Dr. Wen delivers powerful messages through her enjoyable presentations. I heard her keynote address to Massachusetts' top health policy makers—her talk held the room rapt. With an easy conversational tone, she delivered a substantive message subtly, but compellingly.”

- Silver Lake Legal, Massachusetts

“Dr. Wen is empowering in a very unique way—a way that allows her audience to connect to the content of her presentation such that they feel they are part of the presentation themselves. Dr. Wen leaves her audience with an unforgettable perspective to contemplate and relate to their own lives.”

- University of North Texas Health Center

“Dr. Wen received rave reviews from the audience at our Empowering Healthcare Consumers conference. She zeroed in like a laser on how critical it is for patients and doctors to talk first before embarking on tests or treatments. She does this with a crisp and poignant delivery of true-life stories that resonate with all of us who have ever been healthcare patients.”

- Consumer Affairs & Business Regulation, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

“Dr. Wen is an amazing public speaker who I’ve had the privilege of listening to at the UC Davis Pre-Health and Pre-Medical National Conference. She not only captured the audience’s attention through her personal stories, but also raised questions that challenged everyone’s thinking. As a premed student, her speech has pushed me to be an even better leader within my community, and refined my understanding of why I am pursuing a career in medicine.”

- Sacramento State College

“Dr. Wen is both an incredibly accomplished physician and a truly engaging public speaker. When she presents, her words are not only insightful and personal, but highly actionable as well. She challenges conventional wisdom and gives her audience simple recommendations to improve their doctor-patient relationships and ultimately their health outcomes. I hope she continues writing, speaking, and helping patients everywhere!”

- Best Doctors, Inc.

“I want to thank Dr. Wen for coming to the Sandwich Public Library to talk about her book. I'm so grateful that she came, and I know that everyone who attended felt the same way. Dr. Wen has a mission and shared it so knowledgeably, passionately and compassionately. We all left the library with a better understanding of how to play a more active role in our own healthcare in the future.”

- Owner, Titcomb’s Bookshop

“Dr. Wen is a captivating speaker and her use of personal anecdotes grasps the attention of her audience. She explained the intricacies of the healthcare system today and what needs to be done to correct it. She has inspired me and many others to become attentive doctors that truly listen to their patients in order to provide them with the best possible care.”

- University of California, Berkeley