An Update from Milken Institute Health—June 2026

Health

Group of diverse professionals posing at 2026 Global Conference event

In This Issue

Play Back Milken Institute Global Conference Health Sessions
View Announcements 
Read Program Highlights 
Access Our Latest Reports
Learn from Milken Institute Health Experts
Join Us at Upcoming Events


Milken Institute Global Conference Health Sessions

Search the Milken Institute Global Conference program and playback any of the public session recordings on demand. 


Announcements

2026–2028 Milken Institute Public Health Advisory Board

The Milken Institute Public Health team is pleased to announce its 2026–2028 Advisory Council. Through applied research and expert convenings, Public Health at the Milken Institute catalyzes solutions to advance chronic disease prevention, mental health, and public health systems worldwide.

The Advisory Board plays an important role in strengthening and extending the impact of this work by providing strategic guidance, informing key initiatives, and elevating engagement across sectors. We are honored to bring together a distinguished group of leaders committed to improving public health and expanding the reach of our work in the United States and globally.

The Milken Institute Public Health Advisory Board members include:

  • Joseph Betancourt, president, The Commonwealth Fund
  • Esther Dyson, author, In Defense of Limits: Human Time and AI Scale 
  • Kelly Gebo, dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at GWU
  • Nadine Gracia, president and CEO, Trust for America’s Health
  • Chan Harjivan, visiting fellow, Duke University's Margolis Institute for Health Policy
  • Charles Henderson, CEO, American Diabetes Association
  • Adnan Ali Hyder, dean of the School of Public Health at Boston University
  • John MacPhee, CEO, The JED Foundation
  • Judy Monroe, president and CEO, CDC Foundation
  • LaQuandra Nesbitt, senior associate dean of population health science and health equity
  • Andrey Ostrovsky, managing partner, Social Innovation Ventures; former CMO, Center for Medicaid and CHIP 
  • Kyu Rhee, president and CEO, National Association of Community Health Centers
  • Ashwin Vasan, operating partner, Commonweal Ventures and senior fellow in health policy and global affairs at Yale University

2026–2027 FasterCures’ LeadersLink Cohort

The 2026–2027 FasterCures’ LeadersLink program cohort of nine exceptional leaders was selected from a highly competitive pool that represented the highest application volume in the program’s history. This year’s theme focuses on advancing biomedical innovation through strategic industry partnerships. Through a capstone project, mentorship, in-person convenings, and virtual collaboration, participants will build skills and connections alongside mentors from the FasterCures Changemakers community and other senior leaders across the Milken Institute network. 

Meet the cohort. 

  • Lauren Chaby, executive director, Project 8p 
  • Jason Curry, founder and executive director, SCN2A Foundation 
  • Amber Freed, Founder and CEO, SLC6A1 Connect 
  • Lauren Harte-Hargrove, executive director, Misophonia Research Fund 
  • Catherine Leigh Higgins, senior vice president of science programs, Stand Up To Cancer 
  • Laura MacNeill, CEO, CMT Research Foundation 
  • Sudhir Sivakumaran, chief scientific officer, Lewy Body Dementia Association
  • Emily Taylor, CEO, Solve M.E. 


Program Highlights

Employer Action Exchange

Anchored in research highlighting emerging and escalating risks with tangible actions for employers, the Employer Action Exchange (EAE) delivers customized research, thought leadership, projects, and a framework centered on four interconnected levers: organizational culture, benefits, community and business investments, and industry and sector standards that challenge the status quo.  

EAE briefs and companion pieces are published year-round and provide timely, sought-after, evidence-based resources and approaches that advance employer priorities. The publications released to date capture insights and actions from EAE research and the executive roundtable series, which has brought together nearly 60 employers, beginning with Employers Mitigating Risk and Building Resilience: Response to Early-Onset Cancer  in January. EAE published Employers Investing in Women: Advancing Business, Employees, and Communities  to coincide with International Women’s Day in March and the Employer Strategies for Human-Centered AI brief in April. Follow Milken Institute Health LinkedIn for upcoming publications. 

The EAE’s Executive Insights series is a curated interview series highlighting the work of executives in a wide range of C-suite roles, with new interviews published approximately twice a month. The insights and actions captured in these interviews are applicable across industries, sectors, and organizational sizes.

Advancing Women’s Health

Since the launch of the Milken Institute Women’s Health Network one year ago with Chair Jill Biden have assembled a 14-member steering committee, welcomed 170 organizations into the Network (with 63 percent of our newest members from countries around the globe), established five working groups and initiatives to support women’s health, convened thousands of people around the world in roundtable discussions and events to move from dialogue to action. The network is now mobilizing a $1 billion funding initiative. Learn more in this newly released video.

Reducing Cancer Mortality by 2035

Cohosted by the Milken Institute and the Richard Nixon Foundation, Cancer 2035: A Roadmap for the Future brought together more than 40 leaders from science, medicine, policy, technology, finance, and philanthropy—including Nobel Laureate James P. Allison and National Cancer Institute Director Anthony Letai—to discuss what is needed to significantly reduce cancer mortality by 2035. 

Discussions focused on prevention and early detection, the future of clinical trial infrastructure, public‑private partnerships, and the role of technology in accelerating oncology innovation at scale. A common theme emerging from the discussion was the urgency of closing the gap between discovery and real-world care through better data and smarter AI use, a more coordinated and accessible clinical trial system, and cross-sector collaboration that accelerates innovation and brings products to patients faster. 

Watch the event recording and view the summary report outlining six priorities central to advancing the next phase of progress against cancer.

Activating Food Is Medicine Partnerships

As Food Is Medicine (FIM) becomes more deeply embedded in health-care delivery, policy, and financing, the partnerships that make this possible have grown increasingly complex. Feeding Change's latest report, Activating the Food Is Medicine Ecosystem: A Framework for Stakeholder Partnerships, highlights how clear models of cross-sector collaboration strengthen interdependence and coordination, improving program efficiency and participant success. 

The framework reflects the combined insights of nonprofits, health plans, philanthropic and funding organizations, technology partners, participants in FIM interventions, and more. In addition to offering actionable recommendations, Feeding Change updated its FIM stakeholder map to catalyze alignment across sectors and help stakeholders develop partnerships that support effective program implementation, ultimately driving better health outcomes.

The future of FIM depends on the strength of the relationships that support it. Stakeholders can use this report to guide thoughtful partnership design, strategic resource alignment, and adaptive partnership structures when forming or evolving relationships, ensuring that FIM advances with both momentum and durability. 

Elevating Healthy Longevity and Financial Well-Being

The Future of Aging continues to promote healthy longevity and ensure financial well-being through thought leadership, high-impact research, and purposeful stakeholder engagement. To date this year, we have focused on enabling longer and healthier lifespans through the publication of two issue briefs, a social media series on longevity preparedness, and our cross-network collaboration with our Alliance to Improve Dementia Care. 

Digital Technology Bundles: A Testing and Validation Blueprint for Fall Prevention provides a roadmap for stakeholders across technology, housing, and medicine to support healthy longevity at home by harnessing the potential of fall-prevention technology. Financial Longevity: Redesigning Economic Architecture for Longer Lives proposes a framework to modernize financial institutions to prepare for extended lifespans. 

We are additionally conducting an interview series with key leaders shaping how the public and private sectors can support Americans preparing for longevity. Read the current Stories from the Field (available here and here) on Future of Aging LinkedIn, and be sure to follow our page for upcoming interviews! 

Finally, the Alliance to Improve Dementia Care continues to serve as a hub for multisector leaders working to uncover the latest breakthroughs reshaping aging and longevity.

Expanding Access to Clinical Trials through FasterCures’ ENRICH-CT Coalition 

The Milken Institute’s FasterCures leads Enabling Networks of Research Infrastructure for Community Health through Clinical Trials (ENRICH-CT), a multistakeholder initiative focused on driving dialogue and advancing practical solutions for how the public and private sectors can support more infrastructure in the US to enable more inclusive clinical research. 

This year, the ENRICH-CT Coalition placed strong emphasis on expanding and strengthening its external presence through initiatives. ENRICH-CT launched a LinkedIn article spotlight series highlighting how member organizations are working to bring clinical trials closer to communities, strengthen local research infrastructure, and advance more inclusive, community based research models. We recently published an Insights article examining solutions and cross-cutting themes from more than 30 presentations, enhancements to the website that better reflect the breadth of coalition activities, and surface opportunities for external engagement, such as participation in an upcoming Food and Drug Administration (FDA) C3TI meeting.

In addition, the coalition’s working groups—focused on enabling policy and practice in clinical trials, developing toolkits for new research sites and partners, and advancing sustainable business models for community-serving organizations—will each release issue briefs this summer highlighting key resources, solutions, and actionable steps for their respective focus areas. 

ENRICH-CT also launched an honorarium program supporting nonprofit, community-serving organizations participating in the coalition, with four recipients selected to date. The coalition has further expanded membership to strengthen representation across key sectors. 

For more information about partnering with us, contact us at [email protected].


Latest Reports


Learn from Milken Institute Health Experts

Milken Institute Insights

Here are the latest thought-provoking Milken Institute Insights articles from members of the Milken Institute Health team. 

Select Thought Leadership

Select External Speaking Engagements

  • Esther Krofah, executive vice president, Milken Institute Health, spoke on a panel about innovation in women’s health at a British Vogue event in London, UK. 
  • Krofah moderated a discussion on healthy lifespan as part of the “Villa Firenze Talks” series in Washington, DC, hosted by H.E. Marco Peronaci, ambassador of Italy to the United States. Watch a recording of the discussion.
  • Sarah Wells Kocsis, senior director, Public Health, moderated a conversation about the role of supply chain shortages at SummitONE PolicyLAB: “The Prescription for Resilience,” with Athena Rae Roesler, director, Public Health, and Anna Lin-Schweitzer, associate director, Feeding Change, supporting the moderation of three breakout groups.
  • Holly Freishtat, senior director, Feeding Change, spoke at the opening plenary of Future Food-Tech San Francisco 2026 on strengthening innovations fueling food system transformation. Key points were captured in this FoodNavigator  interview.
  • Freishtat spoke at the NationsBenefits Executive Health Innovation Forum 2026 on scaling clinical nutrition and Food as Medicine strategies that were summarized in this Milken Institute report.
  • Freishtat moderated a plenary session at the National Food Policy Conference, hosted by the Consumer Federation of America, exploring learnings, opportunities, and visions for global food security and international aid.
  • Diane Ty, managing director, spoke at the ASA On Aging conference on two panels, “Healthtech and Aging” and “Real Talk with Leaders on Personal Loss in an Age of Longevity.” Dawn Carpenter, director, Future of Aging, presented on the Longevity Equation with the University of Chicago Graham School Leadership and Society Initiative.
  • Hadly Clark, director, FasterCures, spoke on two panels at the Liquid Biopsy for Precision Oncology Summit in San Diego, CA. 
  • Clark spoke about innovative cancer diagnostics at the Innovating Veteran Healthcare/PFS Partner Event.
  • Abigail Humphreys, senior associate, Milken Institute Health, shared insights from the Milken Institute’s report on opportunities for local mammography deployment during a virtual Health Equity Summit hosted by Komen Foundation. 
  • Anna Lin-Schweitzer spoke on the closing panel, “Bridging the Food Health Ecosystem,” at Food Health LIVE.
  • At the National Health Council’s 2026 Science of Patient Engagement Summit, Raymond Puerini, director, FasterCures, and Ainslie Tisdale, associate director, FasterCures, presented a poster spotlighting FasterCures’ Vital Voices project—our work to strengthen patient engagement in CMS coverage and access decision-making. 
  • Jenica Patterson, director, Women’s Health Network, spoke at Women's Health Week USA 2026 on a panel, “Not All Roads Lead to VC: Alternative Routes to Scale."

Select Media Mentions

  • Washington Post Intelligence released an in-depth report examining sweeping changes underway at the US Food and Drug Administration under former Commissioner Marty Makary, detailing how the agency is moving toward a more variable, multispeed regulatory approach. Esther Krofah, executive vice president, Milken Institute Health, was cited emphasizing the importance of institutional stability and expertise as innovation accelerates. “We do want to ensure that FDA is appropriately staffed to match the pace of the review that’s coming before the FDA and the pace of that innovation,” Krofah said. She added that companies and investors “need that predictability and the stability with FDA so that those investments continue,” underscoring the Milken Institute’s focus on ensuring a regulatory environment that can both safeguard public health and support continued biomedical innovation.
  • McKnight's Senior Living published an article titled “New ‘Economic Architecture’ Needed for Aging Population, Report Says,” covering the Institute's recent Financial Longevity report and as well as the Longevity Equation framework. Dawn Carpenter, director, Future of Aging, and author of this work, frames the challenge as one that goes well beyond medicine: “The challenge of aging is not simply medical. It is economic, institutional, and social. Longer lives require a new architecture capable of sustaining participation, resilience, and human flourishing over time.” 
  • CURE Today published an article titled “How Workplaces Can Support Patients and Survivors of Cancer,” featuring insights and quotes from Sabrina Spitaletta, senior director, Employer Action Exchange, and Hadly Clark, director, FasterCures. The article explores how employers can better support patients and survivors of cancer—particularly younger adults ages 19 to 39, as incidence rates continue to rise globally. The article quotes Spitaletta, “Employers have the power to anticipate, support, and transform the experience of young adults with cancer. This isn’t just policy; it’s culture, awareness, and human connection. When we do it right, everyone benefits: employees, employers, and the wider community.”
  • An article in Men’s Health about longevity tech includes insights from Diane Ty, managing director, Future of Aging, who noted, “There is an early-stage set of trials for an Alzheimer’s vaccine that will also be underway in the near future. While many of these advances won’t cure the disease, they could meaningfully slow progression for some patients—especially when paired with earlier diagnosis enabled by biomarkers.”
  • Employee Benefits News articles quoted Spitaletta in two articles about women’s health including, “Companies That Invest in Women Outperform Competition” and “4 Ways to Support Mothers in the Workplace.”
  • A US News & World Report article about respite care quotes Ty: "Everyone deserves the dignity of aging well in the place they call home."
  • Ty joined the “Care Economy Podcast” from the USC Center for Advancing Caregiver Financial and Workplace Security to discuss how caregiving is reshaping today’s workforce.
  • Worth  filmed on-site at the Global Conference and published video interviews with:
  • Progressive Grocer published two stories, “The Evolution of Grocery Pharmacy: How GLP-1s and AI Are Transforming Retail Health” and “Closing the Gap in Pharmacy,” as part of a broader pharmacy-focused series examining how grocery retailers are navigating a rapidly changing health-care landscape. Both stories include quotes and insights from Athena Rae Roesler, director, Public Health. 


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