Leading into the final day of the 2017 Lake Nona Impact Forum, the unofficial theme was “convergence” as speaker after speaker discussed ways to bring technologies and people together, thinking exponentially about future health technology applications and gaining insights from those who set health policies at the highest levels.

Throughout the day attendees heard from an army of entrepreneurs working to solve issues of health system inefficiencies, developing next-generation drug therapies and enabling citizen scientists to unlock big data benefits by accessing our health and genomic data. Setting sights on big issues like access to care, achieving real-time, data-based preventative care solutions, and new technologies barely in the concept stage may make major disruptions seem far off, but when predicting the future, Ray Kurzweil told us, technological progressions often prove that big changes are right around the corner.

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Called a “restless genius” and “rightful heir to Thomas Edison,” Kurzweil inspired by discussing technology’s predictable, exponential path.  With Moore’s Law and the law of accelerating returns promising rapid advances, the implications of which are already seen in our increasingly smaller and more advanced smart phones, the future of radically disruptive health is coming – in genomics, in inexpensive consumer 3D printing, in health-augmenting devices the size of blood cells – and likely sooner than you might think.  Imagination may be linear, Kurzweil says, but technology is exponential.

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To close the day, an esteemed panel of four consecutive U.S. surgeons general provided insights into the impacts and controversies that emerge in public health leadership.  Dr. Antonia Novello, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Dr. David Satcher and Dr. Richard Carmona took part in an impassioned, enlightening and often humorous discussion on the duties of the office and their experiences with conflicts of policy, politics and good science.  When advocating for issues of controversy or crises in mental health, needle exchange, warning labels on tobacco products or the post 9-11 anthrax scare, Dr. Satcher argued that their most important job was “talking directly with the American people about their health and what they can do to improve it.”

The potential and opportunities discussed here at the 2017 Lake Nona Impact Forum inspire us all to look forward and not only imagine what is next but actively work towards it together.  “This is what our nation needs,” added Dr. Carmona.  “The reason I got involved was the power of possibility.”

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The second day of the 2017 Lake Nona Impact Forum brought illuminating debates on healthcare from leaders who defined policy on the national stage to those battling epidemics and recurring issues in communities nationwide.

The morning session set the stage with a passionate dialog around the Affordable Care Act and the future of healthcare in America.  Opinions differed on the immediate prognosis and debates raged around structural changes to community care, the need to transform chronic care management, and the role of technology each step of the way. 

LNIF_GWIC-403  LNIF_GWIC-201Spirited and heartfelt discussions continued throughout the day focusing on improving health processes and general wellness, targeting the increasing epidemics of obesity and diabetes, embracing the “Silver Tsunami” of elder care, and showing compassion and understanding to those struggling with mental illness. In each case, common approaches included engaging individuals in their own healthcare, connecting care to the community, and making improvements in diet, exercise, and socialization that will add purpose and create lasting improvements on quality of life.

Arguing that connected health goes even deeper than “body and community” to “body and mind,” Deepak Chopra provided a roadmap to higher health that puts all aspects of mental, physical and emotional health as one unified activity:  consciousness.   Chopra’s panel inspired by creating communities with soul and purpose, and literally connected communities with the Humagram holographic technology that brought actress Michelle Rodriguez and Ninja Warrior Travis Brewer “live” to the stage from Los Angeles.  Together, even remotely, they demonstrated the ways that “the power of human connection allows us to do things we could not by ourselves.”

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Finally, with sports at the heart of so many communities, the day’s closing Hall of Fame panel brought together golf’s all-time great Annika Sorenstam, Heisman Trophy Winner Charles Woodson, Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Johnson and acclaimed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews to discuss the future of youth sports.  With many inherently physical and increasingly year-round games threatened by potential injuries and burnout, Sorenstam reminded parents that, “fun is the most important thing a kid should have when they play a sport.”

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These discourses among often united, often disparate voices represent the spirit and convening nature of the Lake Nona Impact Forum where shared experiences, expertise and impassioned advocacy create paths for new ideas, partnerships and opportunities.

 

 

An international community of innovators came together under one roof today at the official start of the 2017 Lake Nona Impact Forum.  In its fifth year, the event has become the annual destination for more than 250 top CEOs, health care innovators and thought leaders, creating a community of cooperation centered here in Lake Nona, but connecting innovators around the world.

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The event, presented by Johnson & Johnson and hosted tonight at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine presented approaches to creating community and wellness centers that build opportunities for innovation, many of which influenced the founding of the Impact Forum and Lake Nona Medical City.

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Frans Johansson’s The Medici Effect connected these ideas seamlessly by presenting a concept that inspired a reimagining of Lake Nona Medical City and countless innovative centers worldwide.  Innovators challenge rules and defy expectations, Johansson said, and by creating new convening centers with a diverse group of innovators, new connections, opportunities and innovations will follow.  “The notion that diversity delivers innovation,” he said of the Lake Nona Impact Forum and the vision of the community itself, “is at the heart of what is happening here.”

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Creating a community or a business committed to wellness also requires these connections, but also design, access and a consideration of the needs of those involved.  But those commitments pay dividends, whether in the “Live for Life” employee lifestyle investments Johnson & Johnson executive Peter Fasolo discussed or in creating wellness communities like Nerio Alessandri, founder of Technogym and the creator of the Romagna Wellness Valley.  Thinking holistically, whether an individual’s or community’s fitness has lasting and widely felt effects, Alessandri says, as the “wellness economy is the evolution of the green economy.”

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Personal stories can also spark conversation, policy shifts and changes in personal behavior, as evidenced by the story of mental health activist and former Canadian First Lady, Margaret Trudeau.  Her personal experiences with struggle and loss not only brought to light the very real effects and long-running stigmas surrounding mental health issues, but offered an example of resilience and hope.

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In closing his talk, Frans Johansson said, “if you’re able to create the Medici Effect you’re able to create connections. You can speed up innovations.”  And while new concepts and innovations will be discussed this week and perhaps tested here in Lake Nona’s living lab, it’s the connections made at the Lake Nona Impact Forum, with innovators meeting and forging new relationships, that will forge the next phase of health and technology innovations.

More than 250 of the nation’s top health care entrepreneurs and innovators, academics, government officials and other thought leaders will discuss and develop solutions to improve health, wellbeing and sustainable living throughout the world at the 2017 Lake Nona Impact Forum held Feb. 15-17 in Lake Nona, Orlando, Fla. The 5th annual Impact Forum will feature a series of collaborative, action-oriented discussions about the impact of healthy community innovation; sports health and performance; progress and challenges in advancing mental health care; and promising health care technologies and start-ups, among other topics.

“The health care environment is changing at an unprecedented speed.  By convening some of the world’s most brilliant minds at the Lake Nona Impact Forum, we are able to put innovative thought into action that improves health, wellbeing and sustainable living at home and around the globe,” said Gloria Caulfield, Executive Director of the Lake Nona Institute.

This year’s presentations and conversations will be led by some of the nation’s foremost health and wellness leaders, including keynote speaker Sandi Peterson, Group Worldwide Chairman of Johnson & Johnson. In addition, the Impact Forum will feature discussions about some of the most pressing health care issues today: the Affordable Care Act and universal health insurance, health care innovations for an aging population, America’s most costly chronic disease – diabetes, mental health care, technological advances impacting personal wellbeing and health, and the crisis in youth sports. A special panel will convene four of the most recent U.S. Surgeons General who will discuss public health for the 21st century.

Speakers and panelists include:

  • Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, Joint Appointment, Wharton School and School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Founding Chair, Clinical Center of the NIH; Former Special Advisor on health policy, Office of Management and Budget
  • Ray Kurzweil, Inventor, Author and Futurist; A Director of Engineering, Google
  • Vice Admiral (VADM) Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A., U.S. Surgeon General
  • David Satcher, Antonia Novello, Richard Carmona and Joycelyn Elders, former U.S. Surgeons General
  • Margaret Trudeau, former First Lady of Canada and mental health advocate
  • Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP, Founder, The Chopra Foundation; Co-Founder, Center for Wellbeing
  • Jeff Arnold, Founder and CEO of Sharecare
  • Michael Johnson, American sprinter, Olympic gold medalist, eight-time World Champion
  • Katrina Adams, Chairman of the Board, CEO and President of the USTA
  • Annika Sorenstam, professional golfer
  • Charles Woodson, ESPN analyst and NFL Hall of Famer
  • Steven Krein, Co-founder and CEO of StartUp Health
  • Kevin Hagan, CEO of the American Diabetes Association
  • Frans Johannson, Founder and CEO, The Medici Group
  • Sean Nolan, President and CEO of AveXis

The three-day symposium, developed by the Lake Nona Institute, is an invitation-only event inspired by the Aspen Institute, TED Conferences and the Clinton Global Initiative platforms. The event is set in Lake Nona, a 17-square-mile integrated, master-designed community in Orlando, home to one of the fastest-growing health and life sciences clusters in the nation and a model for the design of a comprehensive, healthy community that is the current focus of a longitudinal study by Johnson & Johnson Health & Wellness known as the Lake Nona Life Project.

To help develop innovative solutions to challenges in achieving optimum health and related technology, the 2017 Lake Nona Impact Forum is hosted at the health and life sciences cluster of Lake Nona Medical City; host venues include the Orlando VA Medical Center, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, the University of Florida Research & Academic Center, and the GuideWell Innovation Center.

The 2017 Lake Nona Impact Forum is presented by Johnson & Johnson, along with Founding Sponsors: Cisco, Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, GuideWell Innovation, Sharecare, and Tavistock Foundation; Impact Sponsors: KPMG, Integrated Wellness Partners, Technogym, Florida Hospital, and Citibank; Medical City Partners: Nemours Children’s Health System, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, UF Health; and Contributing Sponsors: Dr. Phillips Charities, PepsiCo, Roche, the United States Tennis Association, Tavistock Life Sciences and the Mayo Clinic.

To learn more about the Lake Nona Impact Forum and the Lake Nona Institute, visit www.LakeNonaImpactForum.org and www.LakeNonaInstitute.org.  Follow us on Twitter at @LN_ Institute and at Facebook.com/LakeNonaInstitute. You can also join the conversation online using the hashtag #LNIF17.