Last year, a 32-year-old Tennessee resident died after refusing to seek medical help because she had no health insurance to cover the cost of treatment. The story, although tragic, might not have captured the nation’s attention if it hadn’t appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal as an example of the healthcare crisis in this country. “Except for age, name, and the grace of God,” said Nancy Davenport-Ennis, referring to the incident, “there go many people in America.” Davenport-founder and CEO of the Patient Advocate Foundation, joined three other panelists
at Tuck on May 22 at a discussion convened by Professor Donald Conway MD T’72 as part of the spring Issues in Healthcare course.
“The focus of the course is primarily the intersection of for-profit business and global healthcare,” said Conway. “For our last session of the year, we presented the point of view of world leaders in the not-for-profit sector, many of whom have developed their skills in industry and now make key contributions in the world of healthcare.”
Panelist Deborah Warner Brooks T’86, co-founder of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF), told the audience the foundation has spent more than $91 million on research since it was launched in 2000. MJFF takes an outcome-focused approach to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Brooks said that unlike government funding, which often underwrites exploratory hypotheses without rigorous accountability standards, MJFF finances researchers invested in a particular strategy or solution and holds them accountable for progress. “The likelihood that any one investment will find a cure for Parkinson’s is zero,” she admitted. “Our hope is that funding a number of them will find a cure eventually.”
Curtis Welling D’71, T’77 and Nils Daulaire rounded out the panel by extending the discussion to the international healthcare arena. Welling is president and CEO of AmeriCares, which solicits drugs and medical supplies from pharmaceuticals and medical equipment companies and distributes them to developing countries. Ten or 15 years ago, said Welling, people thought lack of resources was the critical problem for ensuring adequate healthcare in developing nations but today, in fact, it is a problem, not the problem. The real problem is more complicated, he said, involving deficits in infrastructure, access, education, distribution, and administration of services. “There is money. The critical part of the problem to moving the money forward is finding the people who can apply the money where and when it’s needed,” he said.
Daulaire is president and CEO of the Global Health Council, which serves the professionals who support the poor, addressing policymakers and fundraisers on behalf of healthcare organizations and providers. Daulaire noted that millions around the world die because they don’t have access to the resources they need. “These deaths are so unnecessary; we already know what to do for most of these diseases,” he said. “It’s dangerous to have a world where there is such disparity in healthcare. And it’s wrong not to care.”
The panel discussion was capped by a reception hosted by the Allwin Initiative for Corporate Citizenship at Tuck.
