Newsletter

Milken Institute Public Health — Fall 2022

Public Health

In This Newsletter

Executive Director's Note
Program Descriptions
Staff Speaking Engagements
Policy Updates
Programs at a Glance
What’s Ahead
Connect with Us

 

As we enter the last stretch of 2022, I’m pleased to share with you some of the progress we’ve made over the summer and continue to make this fall, as it relates to our priorities and commitment to accelerate action at the Center for Public Health (CPH).

One of the most energizing aspects of our work is collaborating with stakeholders from a variety of industries and sectors to advance our three focus areas: prevention and chronic disease, health equity, and mental health. In July, I was honored to join such a group of esteemed colleagues at the White House Summit on the Future of COVID-19 Vaccines to discuss the next generation of vaccine development and production, as well as opportunities to advance vaccine equity so that no one is left behind in the next phase of the pandemic response. In late September, I was pleased to travel to and take part in our Asia Summit. 

In late July, CPH published Chronic Kidney Disease: Roadmap to Prevention, Earlier Detection, and Management, a companion to the report that was published in late June. The roadmap is a condensed, visual distillation of the report and serves as a guide for implementing practical, evidence-based strategies to advance engagement and progress. We are delighted that Nephrology News & Issues highlighted the roadmap and report. In addition, the American Journal of Managed Care interviewed Sarah Wells Kocsis, the director who led this work, to discuss some of the opportunities to address chronic kidney disease that she and the team identified through their research. 

From a policy perspective, in August, we submitted this comment letter on behalf of CPH and FasterCures to express our support to bring the PREVENT Pandemics Act to the Senate floor and see it passed. The legislation will strengthen our nation's public health and medical preparedness and response systems, and take action steps to inhibit shortages of medical products. 

We continue to make strides in our health equity work. We are very pleased that in June, CPH Advisory Board Member and CEO and President of the National Minority Quality Forum Gary Puckrein spoke at our “Achieving Health Equity: Civil Rights Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice” session as part of the larger Health Equity Forum in Memphis. In September, CPH and FasterCures released an issue brief, A Call to Action for Health Equity: Solutions from the Front Lines for Local and National Efforts. To read more about our efforts in advancing health equity, please see the Health Equity Program Update section in the newsletter. 

As you may know, today, October 10, is World Mental Health Awareness Day. At CPH, we continue to advance the projects in our mental health portfolio by engaging employers in working towards “whole person” health that prioritizes mental and physical health equally. The Leidos Pledge Collaborative Action Group, which is made up of executives across sectors dedicated to addressing addiction and improving mental health in the workplace, most recently met in September and will meet once more in November. Our upcoming racial equity project focuses on the impact of racial inequity on mental health and how employers can help address racism in the workplace. We also look forward to the upcoming release of an action brief resulting from our work with The Hartford. More information on these can be found in the Mental Health section of the Program Updates.  

I would like to take this opportunity to thank once again our esteemed Advisory Board, whose expertise and insights continue to guide our work at CPH. For more information on our current projects and recent reports, please continue reading. To stay up to date on the latest news and information from CPH, we invite you to check out our newly updated and refreshed CPH webpage and connect with us on LinkedIn. We look forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming 2022 Future of Health Summit/Partnering for Patients Forum in Washington, DC, December 6-8. 

Regards,  

Esther Krofah  
Executive Vice President, Milken Institute Health and Executive Director, FasterCures and Center for Public Health  
Milken Institute  

Program Descriptions

Health Equity

Building thriving communities and advancing health equity requires improving the interrelated social and economic conditions at the root causes of health outcomes. This includes ensuring that health communication, access, and delivery reflect the needs, experiences, and unique characteristics of historically excluded people.

Prevention and Chronic Disease

This all-encompassing priority addresses how chronic diseases are understood and managed, how populations are impacted, and how issues related to infrastructure and financing can affect health and well-being.

Mental Health

​To attain total health, we must normalize a “whole person” approach that prioritizes mental and physical health equally. We are working strategically with employers, as they are uniquely positioned to reach employees, their families, and the surrounding communities, and can help them access evidence-based, innovative, inclusive prevention, treatment, and recovery resources to address mental health issues and addiction.

Staff Speaking Engagements

We are delighted that several of our staff members have taken part in external speaking engagements.

  • Associate Director Athena Rae Roesler spoke on a Smithsonian Institution panel about Living Longer in the Future.

  • Director Sarah Wells Kocsis discussed the chronic kidney disease (CKD) report and companion roadmap as part of a video interview series by the American Journal of Managed Care. See the links to the four videos below.

Policy Updates

On behalf of the Center for Public Health and FasterCures, Executive Vice President Esther Krofah sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in support of the PREVENT Pandemics Act.

Programs at a Glance

Mental Health

The CPH portfolio currently includes a variety of projects working with employers, particularly their role in prioritizing mental health, including substance use disorders, as part of a “whole person” approach to total well-being. Some of this work entails private, invite-only forums, survey work, and deliverables focused on achieving better mental health through racial equity efforts and through health technology investment and innovation. We look forward to sharing insights from these projects in a future newsletter. Until then, below are updates from some of our other active projects.

Employers Prioritizing Mental Health: Collaboration with Leidos

CPH and Leidos were pleased to host the third invite-only meeting of the Leidos Action Group in September, during which Action Group members heard from Leidos CEO Roger Krone. We look forward to the last meeting of the project, scheduled for November. Behind the scenes, group members continue to collaborate and share their experiences to learn from one another to further elevate and address mental health in the workplace. We look forward to sharing insights from this year-long effort during the Future of Health Summit in December.

Employers, Racial Equity, and Impact on Mental Health

In 2020, many of the United States’ largest corporations pledged over $50 billion to advance racial justice and confront the nation's history of systemic racism. These often externally facing commitments sparked deeper discussions among employers about where racial inequities exist and what can be done in workplace communities. Since then, companies have shown varying degrees of success in meeting their commitments and dismantling the structural components that perpetuate racial inequity.

Given racial equity's ties to employee safety and mental health, addressing racism within the workplace represents an important consideration for companies as part of their framework for action.

Throughout this project, CPH will explore insights, challenges, and progress gained by employers through their racial equity responses and provide action steps to actualize a path forward.

Health Tech Innovation and Investment in Substance Use Disorders

In March 2019, CPH collaborated with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to host the Investment and Innovation Accelerator Forum. The event, designed to increase stakeholder awareness, featured a sample of small business interventions working to reach communities combating the opioid crisis—including prevention, diversion, treatment, or recovery perspectives. Drawing upon the Small Business Innovation Research program of NIDA, each company presented its innovative technologies and scalable community solutions to stakeholders at the event. CPH tracked the progress of innovation for a year and highlighted 10 innovators as they pivoted during the pandemic.

Following the Accelerator Forum, CPH is conducting a series of discussions and an insight survey to capture lessons learned, barriers of entry or success, and ways to embed evidence-based research and outcomes into digital health tools addressing substance use disorders offered by employers. The CPH team will identify actionable items that reflect the need to effectively address ways to incorporate evidence-based, employer-provided digital health tools for mental health. The findings will be disseminated to our broader network to support decision-makers and digital health innovators in the development of future deliverables aimed at building trust among the employee/app user community, employers, and digital health developers.

Closing the Gap to Provide Addiction and Mental Health Resources with The Hartford

This fall, we will publish an action brief created for company and HR leaders to promote a mentally healthy workplace. This brief will share actionable steps employers can take to create a psychologically safe workplace, dispel stigma, and foster performance and engagement. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn for updates on this valuable resource.

Executive Advice and Insight Series

Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn for an upcoming series highlighting snapshots of advice and insight from leaders across industries and sectors on the topic of mental health in the workforce.

Prevention and Chronic Disease

Chronic Kidney Disease Roadmap: Finding a Path to Prevention, Earlier Detection, and Management

This summer, CPH released Chronic Kidney Disease: Roadmap to Prevention, Earlier Detection, and Management.

This roadmap is a condensed, visual distillation of the companion report CPH released at the end of June that paves a path for catalyzing change in the CKD ecosystem based on feedback and insight the team gathered through a series of workshops and information-gathering sessions. Following a core public health philosophy, CPH convened leaders and innovators from diverse fields to explore the challenges and barriers and better understand the various factors inhibiting CKD detection and care at earlier stages.

Serving as a guide for implementing practical, evidence-based strategies to advance engagement and progress, the roadmap:

  • calls on six key stakeholder audiences to engage with intention and collaborate with urgency by assuming leadership and supporting roles across public health, health delivery, and nontraditional health sectors to galvanize a whole-of-society movement;

  • highlights four system-level drivers that are critical to bolster the nation's public health infrastructure to better respond to CKD-specific challenges; and

  • offers 40 stakeholder-specific recommended actionable steps spanning eight opportunity areas to overcome obstacles to achieve a shared vision of a world free of kidney disease.

We are pleased that both the report and roadmap have received media attention and invite you to check out the following links:

For more information about CPH's chronic kidney disease initiative, contact Sarah Wells Kocsis.

Envisioning the Future of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

For the past few years, the highly intricate and interconnected supply-chain system has faced significant disruptions due to globalization, geopolitical issues, and, most recently, the coronavirus pandemic. The Center for Public Health recently kicked off an important initiative with the Healthcare Distribution Alliance to better understand how the pharmaceutical supply chain in the United States supports public health, while evolving and adapting to the challenges we face today and into the future. As part of this work, CPH will identify actionable opportunities for the pharmaceutical supply chain to strengthen and sustain public health. Please reach out to Sarah Wells Kocsis if you are interested in learning more about this project.

Health Equity

Health Equity Forum Issue Brief

Capturing learnings from the Health Equity Forum at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis in September, FasterCures released an issue brief on A Call to Action for Health Equity: Solutions from the Front Lines for Local and National Efforts, co-authored by CPH Associate Director Athena Rae Roesler. This issue brief identifies key factors and strategies to drive actionable policy change and bridge the gaps that perpetuate inequities within our health systems.

What’s Ahead

Advances in Science Webinar Series

You are invited to join our “Advances in Science” webinars to hear the latest scientific and public health advances and engage with scientists and senior leaders on how to craft a path forward to achieving innovation in health. Please subscribe here to receive invitations and updates on the upcoming webinar schedule, which includes:

  • Thursday, October 27, at noon ET—Lessons Learned from the HIV/AIDS Pandemic Applied to COVID-19

  • Tuesday, November 15, at noon ET—The State of the World’s Antibiotics

Upcoming Milken Institute Events

Connect with Us

In case you’ve missed our posts, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn.