2024 Schedule
Friday, June 21st
Taking on Autoimmune Diseases—with Worms!
In less-developed countries, parasitic roundworms can colonize the gut and cause significant intestinal problems. But autoimmune diseases, the devastating package of disorders in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy cells, are rare in those places. By contrast, in the United States, where roundworm infections are no longer part of the ecosystem, as many as 50 million people suffer with a...
Making an Impact: Investing in Youth Mental Health Innovations
Today's young people (Gen Z) are the most diverse generation yet, have grown up as digital natives, and report poorer mental health outcomes than previous generations. Venture capitalists and philanthropies have the opportunity to help fuel innovation and growth and usher in a new era of effective, inclusive, and affordable behavioral health care.
In Conversation with Governor Laura Kelly
Laura Kelly sits down to discuss health policy and practice in the state of Kansas. Kelly, a Democrat, heads the traditionally red state of Kansas, where government is divided. She'll discuss challenges—from fiscal pressures, Medicaid cost-sharing, and the need to bolster public health, to the threat of future pandemics and delicate decisions about reproductive health and gender-affirming care. In...
Climate Doctors: Frontline Medical Care for Climate Change
Extreme heat waves, storms, and wildfires; disease outbreaks, water shortages, and crop loss; tick-borne illnesses and asthma—these are just some visible signs of a changing climate. Few physicians have been trained to recognize the potent health consequences—allergies that are no longer just seasonal, athletes suddenly finding it hard to breathe, patients who can’t get needed care when travel bec...
Saturday, June 22nd
Building Bonds Across Generations
Contemporary American society is deeply age segregated. Youth spend most of their time in school or with peers and older people head to senior centers and retirement communities. Yet a yearning for connections is palpable across the age spectrum and innovators are responding with models that bring the generations together in their homes, schools, workplaces, and communities. Success stories includ...
What Animal Health Can Teach Us
Human beings sometimes forget they are animals themselves. The biological and emotional patterns of other mammals—seen in cancer among golden retrievers, high blood pressure in pregnant giraffes, the social behavior of insects, and connections among elephants that safeguard against loneliness—have much to teach us about our own health. The emerging field of zoobiquity, which joins evolutionary bio...
Harnessing AI for Equitable Healthcare
Artificial intelligence is generating enormous excitement for its potential to predict health risks, speed diagnoses, and guide medical decision making. At the same time, the algorithms that make AI so powerful carry an inherent danger of bias, as some models are known to return lower accuracy results on risk assessment or even exclude certain populations from clinical studies. Lack of diversity i...
On Your Mark, Get Set, Go: The Power of Play at Any Age
From early childhood to advanced age, we all need some fun. Society hints that there is something childish, even self-indulgent, about playing, but it’s quite the opposite: play helps us handle our adult responsibilities better. Taking time for fun can strengthen relationships, refresh cognitive capacity, bolster creativity, and invigorate daily life. Whether you carve out time for art, sports, da...
Monday, June 24th
Should We Send the Treasures Back?
The pressure on cultural institutions to return artifacts to their places of origin is growing in intensity, but some argue that repatriation threatens the preservation and study of these treasures. Who, in the end, does history belong to?
Without Just Cause: Political Prisoners and the Fight to Free Them
Over 1 million people globally are held as political prisoners. Two of the leading human rights attorneys working to release captives of authoritarian regimes and the mother of an American journalist kidnapped and killed by terrorists raise awareness about the struggles to win freedom for prisoners often forgotten.
Is There a Future for Oil and Gas?
Renewables are on the rise, but so is fossil fuel consumption as global development demands more and more. Does the oil and gas industry have a role in reaching net-zero goals? How do government policies shape the strategies of oil and gas giants as fossil fuels fade away?
The Dignity Index
What is dignity? How is it expressed, and how can we reclaim it? By using new tools for empathy, we can change the way we relate to each other. Participants in this interactive session leave with new ways of recognizing and avoiding discord.
Tuesday, June 25th
Mount Sinai Presents: Brain-Computer Interface Revolution
Brain-computer interfaces show potential to restore function to people impacted by incurable neurological conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disease. Experts from neurosurgery, neuroscience and technology explore the current state of BCIs, their applications and the possibilities of this transformative technology.
Creating a World With People on the Spectrum
Neurodivergent people make up 15% to 20% of the global population, and visionaries are busy trying to foster welcoming environments in areas like adaptive sports, fashion design and the arts. How do we create a world for — and with — people on the spectrum?
Israeli and Palestinian Voices of Peace
Across the chasm of anger that is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, some families who have lost loved ones have found common cause in their grief. Hear from those who eschew revenge and are fighting for peace.
Wednesday, June 26th
Biden’s Secret Weapon: Shalanda Young
President Biden promised to push for bipartisan legislation, and the White House Office of Management and Budget’s director has been key to the process. With a reputation as a skilled negotiator and a willingness to work across the aisle, OMB Director Young has navigated the threat of government shutdowns and a debt-ceiling crisis. What’s the secret to her success?
Presented by GE Vernova: It’s Electrifying! Tech and Climate Reshape Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
Even as the clean energy transition is underway, AI and global development are demanding more energy than ever. What’s the best plan to bring massive amounts of zero- and low-carbon solutions online — and is it possible to electrify and decarbonize at the same time?
Thursday, June 27th
Walton Family Foundation Presents: Dreaming Our Futures — A Fireside Chat on Mentorship and Education
The Walton Family Foundation’s latest research with Gallup shows that young people need a sense of purpose in school and work to feel happy—and the right adult mentors and guides can help them find it. Learn how leaders who are working with youth to help them navigate challenges on the path to adulthood.
Sci-Fi or Reality? Talking Tomorrow’s Climate Tech
It sounds like sci-fi: Scientists are beaming solar energy from space, subbing seaweed for plastic and brightening clouds to reflect sunlight to lower temperatures in a warming world. In this series of short talks, innovators working at the cutting edge of climate tech share recent breakthroughs in the field.
Machine Learning on Madison Avenue
In the world of advertising, technology and creativity are shaping a new narrative. Could tech lead to more trust — not less — with younger generations? From AI-driven campaigns to unconventional branding and collaborations, the boundaries of modern marketing are being redrawn.