Respecting Health

Esmita Charani Societal biases appear just about everywhere, and once you notice them, it is impossible to ignore how they affect our decisions and they way we build our societies. You also realize how normalized they can be. Artificial intelligence trainers are thinking more about bias in data sets. Data scientists are thinking more about how bias creeps into the data used to analyze just about everything related to health, from research to resource allocation. A lot of it though is somewhat h

Anna Gilmore A couple of episodes back, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rob Moodie, who led a project to examine commercial determinants of health in more detail. The result was a three-paper series published in The Lancet. The project produced a model that illustrates the intricate interrelationships among the various commercial actors, their drivers, and the environments in which this all plays out. Some of the consequences of commercial interests are very good, while others are well-known

MaryAnne Sterling, CEA In this episode I discuss the experience of caregiving, especially related to family members with dementia, with MaryAnne Sterling. MaryAnne is a caregiver advocate and subject matter expert in the Alzheimer’s disease community. Her experiences with caring for family members with dementia, and a long term commitment to making a difference makes her a highly respected voice. I was pleased to see in recent weeks that the family of Henrietta Lacks and Thermo Fisher have agr

Rob Moodie sees a big issue and solutions that require us to re-examine our values not just as individuals but as organizations with commercial interests. Commerical Determinants of Health (CDoH) have a powerful influence on society and health. First, some background. Within the world of healthcare, the concept of Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) has seen a lot of attention, especially in the past several years. More organizations are paying attention to the issue. What are social determina

So far in the Respecting Health series we’ve talked about societal values and how they affect a culture’s approach to health; we’ve talked about the experiences of physicians and the changes in approaches to (and ability to address) public health over the course of their careers. This time out, I take a look at what it’s like from one patient’s perspective. Have you ever wondered what it must be like to walk into a hospital and wake up 45 days later? What was that experience like for the patient

In this episode of Respecting Health, we look at Greed! Have you ever wondered about high prices, or why some countries can provide healthcare for everyone while others cannot? The discussion in this episode pulls aside the curtain and looks at this challenging topic. As always on Respecting Health, we talk values. Values can have negative or positive effects on people and societies. When it comes to the United States health system, the idea of greed has probably crossed everyone’s mind at one