by Reed Tuckson, MD, 03/26/2015
I was thrilled last December when I heard that Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, accepted the United Health Foundation’s invitation to participate in the 25 on 25 Thought Leader Perspectives initiative, which was a significant component of the 25th anniversary of United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings®. I urge you to watch his video and experience firsthand the perspectives of one of our nation's most thoughtful health and science intellectuals on the relationship between scientific discovery and optimizing the health of all Americans through disease prevention. As you’ll see in the video, Dr. Collins is by turns celebratory of recent accomplishments, sobered by worrisome challenges, and excited by key initiatives that he and his colleagues are implementing.
I think that we can all agree with him that the identification of risk factors for chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, has been an extraordinarily important development for preventive health engagement. Additionally, advances in the ability to diagnose and treat HIV/AIDS disease have been nothing short of miraculous.
However, Dr. Collins is greatly concerned about the persistent and related challenges of obesity and diabetes. All of us on the America’s Health Rankings team were encouraged to hear him focus on these two conditions because they have been among the highest of our priorities for almost two decades.
He also notes the growing incidence of Alzheimer's disease is a priority concern. As such, Dr. Collins is excited by the recently announced BRAIN Initiative, which promises to deliver a wealth of new insights into how the brain works and the precursors of brain illnesses such as Alzheimer’s. Dr. Collins is equally enthusiastic about NIH's new Precision Medicine Initiative, which promises to provide important new knowledge relevant to preventing and treating diseases such as cancer.
I was impressed by Dr. Collin's inclusive and collaborative vision that encourages partnerships across diverse stakeholders. More than once in his comments, he emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships. United Health Foundation couldn't agree more on the importance of this approach. All of us who care about improving the health of the nation should understand that none of us can do it all by ourselves.
Some may be surprised that we would reach out to the Director of NIH, and others may have been surprised that a leader as busy as Dr. Collins would take time to share his thoughts with us. However, we’re glad he did because we are all in this together. We have so much more to learn about the science of health and disease, so many opportunities to learn to more effectively implement new clinical knowledge, and so much more we can do to engage people and communities in advancing health. Like Dr. Collins, we are energized by the challenges and opportunities before us. Take a moment and enjoy what Dr. Collins has to say.