13 Innovators Shaping Long-Term Health

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In an industry valued at more than $800 billion, it’s hard to stand out. But the following innovators have figured out a way. Whether they’re addressing women’s fitness, creating wellness communities, or encouraging us to adopt better habits, this year’s finalists are making a difference in the lives of many. They are doctors, scientists, marketers and advocates whose project is to create a happier, more fitness and more equitable world. Our winners have made significant achievements over the past year and are their influence in developing access to fitness and wellness. Learn more about them below.

As the nation’s “physician,” the American surgeon general is no stranger to public fitness crises. But lately, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy is a strong advocate for emotional and intellectual well-being through fighting the loneliness epidemic and releasing his office wellness report.

In an interview with Fortune’s Brainstorm Health convention earlier this year, Murthy said, “It turns out that loneliness is a public health issue. And I would say it’s reached the point of a public health crisis. It’s a delight we all enjoy from time to time, but when it’s persistent or extreme, it can lead to significant health risks.

In addition to loneliness, the surgeon general also warned the country about threats to intellectual health from social media, especially when it comes to teenagers, and called for greater government scrutiny of social media companies, stating: “There are many signs that social media can also pose a significant threat of harm to the intellectual fitness and well-being of young people and adolescents.

After attending countless frustrating doctor appointments and seeing her pain systematically ignored (unfortunately, a common experience for women navigating the U. S. healthcare system), Fiji Somo was sick and tired of being in poor health.

“I was constantly fainting, feeling weak and went to see this neurologist. She said, ‘Honey, you’re just a tired mom,'” Simo told Fortune’s Maria Aspan in 2021. “It’s infuriating.

The experience led Simo to co-found the Metrodora Institute with Dr. Laura A. Pace and James Hemp with the goal of focusing on the studies and treatment of “complex neuroimmune disorders,” including long COVID, migraines, endometriosis, and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. The 60,000-square-foot medical and study center opened earlier this year in Salt Lake City and includes a for-profit clinic and a nonprofit foundation.

“Our current physical care formula is not designed to diagnose, treat and ultimately cure complex chronic diseases. We founded the Metrodora Institute to break down silos between other medical specialties and between clinical care and research,” says Simo. “The Metrodora Institute has been encouraged through what deserves to be physical care and provides patients with the multidisciplinary and collaborative care they deserve and the ability to contribute to research. Science deserves human fitness faster, so we hope Metrodora can offer a style of how we will tackle all chronic diseases in the future.

More than half of U. S. adults report drinking alcohol in the past month, with only about 17% (defined as five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women) and 6% reporting binge drinking (15 or more drinks per week). for men). men and 8 or more drinks for women). But Reframe, an alcohol-relieving app co-founded by Ziyi Gao and Vedant Pradeep, aims to replace that.

By focusing on forming scientific habits, Gao and Pradeep assistive users avoid drinking altogether or reduce their alcohol consumption, depending on their goals. For starters, users want to find out why they want to reduce their alcohol consumption. From there, they enter a 90-day program developed in partnership with psychiatrists and psychologists that includes activities such as reading and journaling. Users are then informed to identify their triggers and update their negative behavior with healthier ones. So far, the app has helped more than 2 million other people have reduced their alcohol consumption since its launch in 2020, when the United States recorded a 40-year high in “alcohol-induced” deaths.

Last year, the company began offering 24/7 live corporate training sessions, and soon the Super Human Project, which is part of the Reframe Mind app, will be available. “This effort aims to help users succeed at the peak of their human condition through a personalized wellness and stress resilience plan. Through activities based on innovative studies in neuroscience and psychology, users can combat tension in all spaces of their lives,” Gao told Fortune via email. “At Reframe, our goal is to be the benchmark for wellness. That’s why this task provides an end-to-end lifestyle program that provides workout programs, mindfulness activities, stress relief tips, and complementary tips tailored to each user to solve their unique problems.

Next step: The team is preparing to launch Reframe Habits, an app designed to help users set sustainable goals in all walks of life: exercise, nutrition, hydration, etc. ” Users get real-time knowledge about their progress and can track their trends over time,” Gao says. “This metrics-based technique is effective in helping users frequently adjust their routines and behaviors for optimal results. “

Since black women make up less than 3% of American doctors, Dr. Uché Blackstock made the decision to take the issue into his own hands. Blackstock, an emergency physician who spent 8 years as an assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine, dropped everything. in 2019 and founded Advancing Health Equity, a fitness equity consulting firm.

“The core project of Advancing Health Equity is to collaborate with fitness care and similar organizations to dismantle prejudice and racism in fitness care for the purpose of mobilizing for fitness equity and closing the gap between racial inequalities in fitness,” he says.

Since then, Blackstock has a vital voice in the fight against racism in medicine and his company has partnered with a variety of organizations, from hospitals to nonprofits to pharmaceutical corporations. Their mission? Equip businesses with the fitness equity equipment and systems and improvised explosive devices they need to provide racially equitable care and create an anti-racist arts culture that honors each and every human being. And it’s far from finished.

This year, Blackstock partnered with the Advil Pain Equity Project, a multi-year commitment to address racial inequality and bias in pain diagnosis and management. She is also preparing for the January 2024 publication of her long-awaited memoir, Legacy, which documents her as a doctor, her career in medicine, and her fight against fitness inequalities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Where we live can have a profound effect on our happiness and health. Just ask Spencer Orkus, one of the developers of the Alafia housing project in Brooklyn, which is being developed in the world’s Blue Zones and is expected to be completed by 2030. .

In blue zones, such as Nicoya, Costa Rica, Sardinia and Italy; Ikaria, Greece; and, more recently, in Singapore, other people tend to live longer, healthier lives in close-knit communities that prioritize plant-based eating, long-lasting and meaningful friendships, and physical activity. The Alafia project, which includes more than 2,400 sets on a 28-acre site in East New York City, seeks to reflect this by integrating affordable housing into an open area that encourages movement, community-scale programming, and access to physical care in one of the world’s most expensive cities.

“We want to offer a safe space that allows other people not to just focus on their physiological needs,” says Orkus, who joined L M in 2007 and has developed more than 5,000 affordable apartments through various projects. “Networking and belonging, creating opportunities for other people to have a sense of self, and access to healthy food in a walkable neighborhood, our purpose is not only residents’ quality of life, but also fitness outcomes. “

Approximately one in three people suffer from reduced mobility due to injuries, disabilities and/or the effects of aging. That’s why Steve Collins and his team at Stanford University have developed a wearable robotic boot that will allow other people to walk and run with “less effort. “, more speed, less pain and greater balance. “

The unique design includes flexible hardware emulators, which Collins describes as “virtual truth systems for the legs” and “human optimization in the circuit. “Thanks to the learning of the device, the exoskeleton can better help the user with the step.

“Our exoskeletons can temporarily adapt to the speed of new users when walking and decrease fatigue when walking around campus in real-world conditions,” says Collins, who also directs Stanford’s Biomechatronics Laboratory. “Lately we’re using devices that help other people regain their balance when they start to fall and in devices that decrease joint pain when walking and running. “

Not much has replaced natal tablets since the original oral contraceptive debuted in the 1950s. But this summer, pharmaceutical company Perrigo announced that Otablet would be the first over-the-counter contraceptive in the United States. The tablet (which has limited side effects because it doesn’t contain estrogen) has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for sale over the counter, though it may not start shipping until next year.

This landmark decision was largely led by Frédérique Welgryn, Perrigo’s Global Vice President of Women’s Health. Welgryn, who is an educated pharmacist and has also led efforts to get emergency birth control approved for over-the-counter use, tells Fortune that the procedure took about a decade, but it was worth it.

“It’s about access. The birth control method that works is the one you choose,” she says. “It’s about getting the solution you want and want at the right time, uncomplicated, condescending, unpreachy, cheeky or taboo. Anything that increases the selection and our features go in the right direction. We will have to have a selection.

With labs in New York and Singapore, biotech startup Paratus Sciences Corp. It is investing $100 million in bat studies in hopes of finding new drugs that can fight viruses, such as cancer, diabetes and other medical conditions.

“By reading the unique DNA and motives of bats, we reveal nature’s centuries-old secrets for coping with demanding situations such as aging, cancer and viruses,” says Zwaka, a mobile researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. York. ” Our innovative projects only aim to treat diseases, but also to change the way we think about them, paving the way for a healthier future. “

What started as a “fertility agency” after co-founders Brittany Hawkins and Catherine Hendy met in South Africa after freezing their eggs, has grown into a virtual healthcare platform for others living with endometriosis, a common and little-known chronic disease in which tissues like the lining of the uterus, It grows outside the uterus. which can cause pain and infertility.

Its new app, EverythingEndo, was introduced in open beta in August with its first 1,000 registrations. Hawkins and Hendy created the platform in collaboration with patients, scientists and healthcare providers to provide greater support, reduce costs and faster and more effective interventions.

In addition to medical assistance, the underwriting platform provides surgical and fertility coordination, insurance advice and other equipment designed to help users cope with life with endometriosis. Next, the team intends to work with insurance companies to offer virtual care policies and expand their evolutionary style. to treat other overlooked chronic diseases in women.

Five years after gunshot wounds left Hamilton with a spinal cord injury and paralysis from waist to toe, he founded the nonprofit Disabled But Not Really (DBNR) to motivate other people with disabilities in nutrition and fitness.

After opening its first mobile gym in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2021, designed specifically to offer adaptive and inclusive spaces for people with disabilities, DBNR expanded its mobile gym offerings in Los Angeles in hopes of further expansion across the country.

“DBNR is committed to empowering other people with disabilities to succeed in their future by cultivating courage, confidence and competence,” says Hamilton. “Through state-of-the-art systems like #HelpMeFit, which includes a 12-week fitness challenge, DBNR offers a holistic technique that includes adaptive equipment, physical and occupational therapists, as well as a fully available gym at the DBNR Wellness Center. “

After the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the country’s blood supply to an incredibly low level, the Government Agency for Advanced Defense Research Projects (DARPA) began researching state-of-the-art blood substitutes that can be used in military and civilian situations.

According to DARPA, bleeding is the most common cause of life-threatening death in trauma, and while blood is the first choice, its limited availability and the need to keep it bloodless can make it difficult to discharge in emergency situations. The Bioartificial Resuscitation Products (FSHARP) hemorrhage program aims to replace that with long-life whole blood that can be deployed in the box to resuscitate trauma patients.

“We believe that no one deserves to die because there is not enough blood to transfuse them, whether on the battlefield in a military setting or in a network hospital or in a scenario of large civilian casualties in the United States or elsewhere in the world. The world. the world,” says the commander. Jean-Paul Chrétien, director of DARPA’s FSHARP program and U. S. Navy medical officer. The U. S. government is stepping up for the four-year program, which began earlier this year.

Under Chrétien’s leadership, a team at the University of Maryland in Baltimore is working with a giant consortium of other universities and corporations to expand long-life blood that can deliver oxygen, prevent bleeding, and update the volume of blood lost in traumatic events. They are also looking at scalable production strategies and tactics to stabilize the product for months so that it does not require cold storage.

“We need to harness the creativity of science and the generation network to find tactics to achieve this,” says Chrétien. “We need it to be as effective as genuine donated blood, and we are working on the built-in path to achieve that. “

This tale originally appeared in Fortune. com

More Fortune: Five side activities where you can earn more than $20,000 a year while running from home. Do you want to get more out of your investment? These 14 savings accounts have rates of five percent APY (and above). Buying a house? Here’s how much cash you want to earn per year to comfortably buy a $600,000 home.

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