Milken Institute Announces Key Initiatives at the 2024 Global Conference to Shape the Future of Health

Programs on preventative health and community-based biomedical research, along with newly released reports, aim to strengthen the health system through collaboration.

The Milken Institute announced new initiatives to shape the future of health through partnerships and collaboration at its 2024 Global Conference in Los Angeles. The initiatives build on the Institute’s long-standing work advancing preventative health and community-based biomedical research.

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Esther Krofah (left), executive vice president of Milken Institute Health, with Emma Walmsley (right), CEO of GSK, at the 2024 Milken Institute Global Conference. (Photo: Business Wire)

“Working together with our partners and collaborators, the Milken Institute is committed to advancing solutions that bridge the gaps across the health, public health, and health care continuum to increase access to innovation and improve health outcomes," said Esther Krofah, executive vice president of Milken Institute Health. “As we continue to deal with rising health costs, we know that investments with and within communities are critical to prevent disease and achieve better health outcomes.”

Prevention and Innovation - Project Prevent

The Milken Institute recognizes that societies around the world are under strain from demographic changes, evolving disease patterns, and rising health costs, which are at risk of crowding out essential investments. It has been long known that health systems must focus more on preventing illness, rather than treating illness. At this critical moment, as health systems consider moves towards prevention-first models, making this shift needs practical, evidenced solutions that can help overcome the hurdles to long-term action.

Project Prevent will bring together partners and experts from across a variety of sectors to create a blueprint for deploying targeted health prevention approaches at scale to improve health outcomes. The initial work for this initiative will begin with projects in the US and UK, to research models for innovative funding and financing of prevention, as well as design a pilot to test and scale real-world approaches to accelerate access and uptake of preventative health care.

“Preventing and changing the course of the disease is at the heart of GSK’s purpose to get ahead of disease, together,” said Emma Walmsley, CEO of GSK, the founding partner of Project Prevent. “It’s time to reimagine how we invest in health. Together, we have an opportunity to shift from spending on sickness to investing in keeping people well. We look forward to working with the Milken Institute and other partners to generate tangible solutions to help advance investment in, and access to, preventative health care.”

Community-Based Research - ENRICH-CT

Enabling Networks of Research Infrastructure for Community Health through Clinical Trials (ENRICH-CT) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on driving dialogue and advancing practical solutions for ways the public and private sectors can support more infrastructure in the US for more inclusive clinical research. The Milken Institute’s FasterCures is leading the initiative, advancing the ability of organizations, biopharma companies, community-based companies, retail, health systems, commercial research organizations, and more to bring clinical research closer to where people live, work, shop, and get their care.

“ENRICH-CT can help in a variety of ways by exposing people to the opportunities that exist,” said Janet Woodcock, former principal deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration. “By bringing together those individuals and groups that fund clinical trials with those that may have populations or researchers to bring to the table, there is tremendous opportunity.”

Founding members of ENRICH-CT include: ACIRAH; Association of Clinical Research Organizations; Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy; Eli Lilly; Epic; Foundation for the National Institutes of Health; Heritage Provider Network; Inato; IQVIA; Javara Research; Kingdom Fellowship AME Church; Mayo Clinic; Medable; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; MITRE; National Institutes of Health*; National Minority Quality Forum; Novartis; Oracle; Our Healthy Community; Sanford Health; Sanofi; US Food and Drug Administration*; and Walmart. (*ex officio observers).

Food Systems - A Blueprint for Employer-Sponsored Food As Health Benefits

The Milken Institute's Feeding Change is launching a new project to develop a blueprint to accelerate employer-sponsored Food As Health benefits to support employee whole-person health. The project is financially assisted by the Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation and will outline the collaborations, infrastructure, and workflow needed to operationalize employer Food As Health benefits at scale, nationwide. With employer-sponsored insurance covering around 155 million people across the US, there is an immense opportunity to catalyze a private sector movement to expand access to Food As Health benefits.

“The foods we eat are directly connected to our health outcomes; and every day, we see that simple, convenient and scalable solutions are the best ways to make meaningful changes in our patients’ long-term health. We look forward to exploring together how employers and associates can use food to live healthier lives,” said Rodney McMullen, CEO of Kroger, who participated in a Future of Food Retail panel discussion where this initiative was unveiled.

This blueprint for employer-sponsored Food As Health benefits will identify actionable solutions that will ultimately push forward access to Food As Health for millions of individuals across the country. While employees are the direct recipients of the benefit, the infrastructure and financing foundation that the benefit creates will have a ripple effect that extends out to other employers and the communities they serve.

Milken Institute Health Programs

The launches of these new Milken Institute Health initiatives were discussed during several panel discussions at Global Conference with health experts, government leaders, and partners exploring how prevention, innovation, and collaboration can improve health outcomes and care. To view them online and to learn more about Global Conference programming visit www.globalconference.org.

The work of Milken Institute Health throughout the year bridges innovation gaps across the health and health-care continuum to advance whole-person health throughout the life span by improving healthy aging, public health, biomedical science, and food systems. This includes its Alliance to Improve Dementia Care, and programs from FasterCures, Public Health, Future of Aging, and Feeding Change, among other health initiatives. Health reports released during Global Conference include: Toward a National Action Plan For Achieving Diversity in Clinical Trials, Modernizing Care for Obesity as a Chronic Disease: A How-To Guide for Employers, Reimagining the Future of Employer-Sponsored Health Care to Drive Value, and Employer Investments in Digital, Whole Person Health for Substance Use Disorders.

To learn more about partnership opportunities with Milken Institute Health, contact: Brian Carandang at bcarandang@milkeninstitute.org

About the Milken Institute

The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank focused on accelerating measurable progress on the path to a meaningful life. With a focus on financial, physical, mental, and environmental health, we bring together the best ideas and innovative resourcing to develop blueprints for tackling some of our most critical global issues through the lens of what’s pressing now and what’s coming next. For more information, visit www.milkeninstitute.org. For updates on the event, follow Milken Institute on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and Facebook using #MIGlobal.

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