Coming Full Circle

One of the people in our lives for the past few years is our friend, and now California's first Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris. As consultants to Tipping Point many years ago, we had a chance to work with a dynamic group of leaders – one of them named Dr. Nadine Burke Harris – to craft a business plan for something truly different for children in San Francisco. It was the Center for Youth Wellness.

The Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) was founded in 2012 by former CEO and now California’s first Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris. Through her visionary TED Talk on ACEs followed by her best-selling book, The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-term Effects of Childhood Adversity, Dr. Burke Harris brought attention to a public health crisis hidden in plain sight.
With Dr. Burke Harris’ appointment as Surgeon General, Jim was named Interim CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness. He’ll be working with CYW’s Board and senior leadership team to prepare CYW for its next chapter.

During this engagement, Jim will continue to advise digital health companies and serve on policy workgroups addressing the needs of vulnerable populations. Sara will continue her work with our nonprofit clients on strategic communications and philanthropy. Speaking of California’s first Surgeon General, here’s a great article about her vision for this groundbreaking role.

Healthcare

Now that #MuellerTime is over, we can get back to debating healthcare. Medicare for All is getting a lot of attention these days. Democratic presidential hopefuls are moving as a pack in one direction, and industry opponents are gearing up as well.

Rep. Eric Swalwell weighed in on Medicare for All recently. We are happy to call @RepSwalwell a friend. We sat in the corner at a house party last fall and talked about the challenges our country faced and the basic needs that went unattended in our communities. His poignant story about his daughter’s stay in the ICU and what he learned about other families facing uncertainty captures the experience of too many families in the US.

Digital Health

Kaiser Health News published a brilliant article, “Death By 1,000 Clicks: Where Electronic Health Records Went Wrong” last week. This is a stunning look at the switch over of the US health care system en masse to electronic health records. We’ve had the privilege to work with companies like Collective Medical Technologies and PatientPing, examples of companies who have developed applications that sit on top of these EHR systems and bring forth actionable data from the depths.

Women’s History Month

As Women’s History Month draws to a close, the concept itself has been debated. This tension highlights the importance of “who tells your story.” There is no question that progress is being made with more women running for president than ever before! We hope that after rejoicing in 1992, the year that “women swept the Senate,” and 2018, the “Year of the Woman” when more women were elected to the House of Representatives, we can now turn our attention to listening to what women say rather than whether she smiles or if her “likability” is high enough.

Regardless, the commemoration of the month has brought forth many excellent articles highlighting women’s accomplishments and reminding us how much farther we need to go. Here are a few of our favorites: Women’s History Month Myths, Here Are 6 Women to Remember, and, all-important for the next generation … 60 Mighty Girl Books for Women’s History Month.