How do we go from creating buildings that are sick – to buildings that are healthy?  We as humans spend 90% of our time indoors, yet we think very little about the health of our indoor environment.  Dr. Joseph Allen, director of Harvard’s Healthy Buildings Program, wants to change that.  He joins us on the podcast today to share the latest science – which shows that prioritizing building health can not only reduce disease transmission, but improve worker performance, lead to better mental clarity and sleep, and more. As an Associate Professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of ..read more

Allison Sesso is the President & CEO of RIP Medical Debt, a non-profit established for the sole purpose of reducing the medical debt burdens of low-income individuals across the country. To date, their innovative model has abolished over $7 billion in debt for nearly 4 million people. Healthcare costs are the #1 cause of bankruptcy for America’s families. In the past five years, more than half of U.S. adults report they’ve gone into debt because of medical or dental bills.  About 1 in 7 people with debt said they’ve been denied access to a hospital, doctor, or other provider because o ..read more

Dr. Marc Harrison is the former President and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, a Utah-based integrated health system that is the largest healthcare provider in the Intermountain West.  Marc left this role in August to start a revolutionary healthcare platform company with General Catalyst, which is still in its early stages.   Ranked No. 26 on Fortune Magazine's annual list of 50 of the “World's Greatest Leaders,” Marc is known for his transformational, founding leadership of the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi – which today delivers the best healthcare in the Middle East.     O ..read more

Dr. Ranga Krishnan is the former CEO of the RUSH University System for Health, and currently serves as Senior Advisor to the CEO.  He is a national leader in medical education – known for his efforts to reconceptualize traditional medical classroom learning.  For four years, he served as dean of the RUSH Medical College, and for eight years led the Duke-N.U.S. Graduate Medical School Singapore, a joint venture between Duke University and the National University of Singapore.    You’ll want to hear his approach for creating an engaging, first-class medical education that sig ..read more

Annie Lamont is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Oak HC/FT, where she focuses on growth equity and early-stage venture opportunities in Healthcare and FinTech. One of the most successful women in venture history, Annie has been featured on the Forbes Midas List, and was named one of the top 10 most influential people in healthcare in 2021 by Modern Healthcare.     Annie and I have known each other for a long time, and have had the opportunity to partner on several exciting companies. I have so much admiration for her vision and insightful approach to building impactful healthcare o ..read more

For today’s show, you’re going to hear an engaging, and wide-ranging, conversation between myself and my friend Dr. James Hildreth. We cover health equity, big data, climate change and the healthcare sector, and takeaways from the recent White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.    My co-panelist, Dr. James Hildreth, is the 12th President and CEO of Meharry Medical College, the nation's largest private, historically black academic health sciences center.  and in February 2021, Dr. Hildreth was named to President Biden’s Health Equity Task Force. My conversation wi ..read more

On September 28, 2022, the White House hosted a landmark conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, the first of its kind in over 50 years. Previously in 1969, a similar White House conference dramatically shifted and shaped the direction of our nutrition guidelines and federal food support programs. There is hope that this convening in 2022 will lead to the development of a national strategy around our nation’s most pressing food challenges.   We are sharing with you today a sampling of the conference. Our show features the panel I moderated, “Evidence to Action: Using research to guid ..read more

Dr. Randy Wykoff is the Dean of the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health, and the founding director of the new Center for Rural Health Research. He is a physician trained in both pediatrics and preventive medicine. His research focuses on the inter-relationship of poverty and health, with a specific interest in how to improve the health status of people living in poor and/or rural areas.    Prior to his time at ETSU, Dr. Wykoff served as senior vice president for international operations at Project HOPE. He also spent time in the federal government as the deputy a ..read more

Dean Rosen is a partner at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas. He’s one of Washington's foremost experts on America’s complex health care system--and a master of both the politics and policies that shape it. He has more than two decades of experience developing and advancing health policy initiatives on Capitol Hill and in the private sector.     Dean previously served as my chief healthcare advisor when I was Senate Majority Leader. There, he helped draft and navigate to final passage landmark legislation creating the Medicare prescription drug benefit, as well as major bioterro ..read more

Chad Pendleton is President of Amerigroup Tennessee, a leading managed care provider of health benefits for Tennessee residents who participate in the state’s Medicaid programs. Chad has more than 25 years of healthcare and executive leadership experience working with payers and providers across Medicaid, Medicare, Tricare, commercial and workers compensation insurance product lines. Prior to joining Amerigroup, he served as Vice President of Business Development at CareSource, and currently is a volunteer member of the Tennessee Medical Reserve Corps.   In today’s conversation, we dive i ..read more