From June 20-23, Aspen Ideas: Health will host thought-provoking conversations featuring 170 newsworthy and noteworthy leaders who are advancing innovative and intersectional approaches to better health for all.
Just because you aren't in Aspen doesn't mean you can't follow along. Take a look at the livestream schedule* below to tune-in to select sessions each day. Simply click the pink "Watch Now" button on each session page to tune-in at the specified times.
And be sure to follow the virtual #AspenIdeasHealth conversation on social media. We'll be amplifying big ideas across our @AspenIdeas accounts throughout the event and in the weeks following.
(*Note: times are subject to change)
Thursday, June 20
3:30-4:20 PM MT / 5:30-6:20 PM ET
Polling the Pollsters with Jennifer Agiesta, Mollyann Brodie, Emily Swanson, and Eugene Daniels (moderator)
What health issues will play a role at the ballot box this election season? And will they influence voter turnout? As 2024 campaigns heat up, pollsters want to know what most concerns voters and whether those concerns will translate into political engagement, especially in battleground states. They’ll be polling key voting groups, including women, about their priorities and asking how healthcare affordability and abortion access affect their decisions. And they’ll discuss the challenge of collecting accurate information and why the polls don’t always get it right.
Friday, June 21
11:40 AM–12:30 PM MT / 1:40-2:30 PM ET
CRISPR 2.0, the Next Generation with Benjamin Oakes, Samarth Kulkarni, and Jennifer Doudna (moderator)
History was made this year when the first FDA-approved CRISPR-based gene editing therapy became available to patients, designed to cure sickle cell anemia. That represents ground-breaking progress, but the treatment involves a months-long ordeal with often-brutal side effects and it is hugely expensive. With dozens of CRISPR therapeutics in the second phase of human trials, hopes run high that next-generation approaches will be easier and cheaper to deliver and more patient friendly. The payoff could be major progress in treating blood disorders, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and infectious diseases.
1:40–2:30 PM MT / 3:40-4:30 PM ET
Reimagining Motherhood: Giving Moms What They Need with Christy Turlington Burns, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Pooja Lakshmin, Cristina Gamboa, and Elizabeth Cohen (moderator)
The conversation about motherhood and the “power of moms” is becoming more robust and nuanced, and a spotlight is finally being shined on the needs of mothers and their families. Curbing preventable deaths in pregnancy and childbirth and creating the emotional landscape so vital to health and wellbeing requires passionate activism and advocacy, intentional shifts in cultural norms and national policy, appropriate and timely medical care, ready access to mental health and social services, and wrap-around support. Advocates, policymakers, and healthcare professionals share their ideas about making it a little easier to be a mom in America.
Saturday, June 22
1:40–2:30 PM MT / 3:40-4:30 PM ET
Atul Gawande, Advocating for a Global Immune System with Atul Gawande and Céline Gounder (interviewer)
To secure equitable global health and security, the world needs its own immune system. That’s the message from surgeon and author Atul Gawande, who leads global health assistance for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The current strategy is emergency-driven, rarely going beyond reactive responses to infectious diseases, natural disasters, and the violence that undermines health. Long-term, capacity-building investments would instead allow early and swift responses that emphasize prevention and early detection, fostering partnerships and learnings so the system emerges stronger after any assault.
3:00pm–3:50pm MT / 5:00-5:50 PM ET
Urban Health Challenges and Solutions: The Role of Nature with Kathy Corradi, Aruni Bhatnagar, Samuel Ramsey, and Vin Gupta (moderator)
Nature does not limit its influence only to rural populations. In cities around the world, dense living conditions, lack of green spaces, substandard housing, and poor sanitation allow rats and insects to proliferate and pollution to degrade health. But if certain urban characteristics help spread disease, others can curb it, including strategically placed trees, adaptable health systems, and a public health infrastructure that puts equity at its core.
Sunday, June 23
9:00-9:50 AM MT / 11:00-11:50 AM ET
Francis Collins on Science and Faith with Francis Collins and Elizabeth Dias (interviewer)
Few people are more deeply steeped in science than Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health and the groundbreaking Human Genome Project, and former acting science advisor to President Biden. The physician and geneticist is also an evangelical Christian and he sees no contradiction there. Indeed, Collins argues that harmonizing science and faith is the challenge of our times. His latest book, The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith and Trust, offers a framework for respecting facts, healing America’s political and cultural divide, and advancing the knowledge and ethical principles that can guide us forward.