[Editor’s note: To tap the wisdom of our distinguished group of Xconomists, we asked a few of them to answer this question heading into 2013: What makes you optimistic?]
As a person who has worked in the healthcare field for over 25 years, I am extremely optimistic about the recent trend towards the democratization of healthful behavior and good nutrition. We have finally gotten to a point where there is growing recognition across the nation that we can turn around our culture of illness by teaching our children about healthful eating and exercise from an early age.
While there are still food ghettos in many parts of the nation, nascent attempts to improve health are everywhere, from laws limiting access to giant sodas (one of the very worst offenders) to health-promoting trucks that visit urban areas with vegetables and fruit to teach children that these foods are fun and healthy (see Truck Farm) to tax incentives for grocery stores to locate themselves in the aforementioned food ghettos to employer-sponsored programs that reward healthy behavior.
The State of California has dedicated an entire task force to making California the healthiest state in the nation by 2022, starting with a bike that makes smoothies and ending with a statewide set of initiatives that are broad-reaching and targeted to all citizens.
More than half of our costly diseases, which compromise our national security, economy and quality of life, can be avoided by having a culture of wellness and good health. By making healthy eating/exercise as much a part of our culture as brushing our teeth every day, we will make America healthier, our nation stronger and ensure that we turn around the trend towards shorter life spans and infirm old age.
It is heartening to see an article like this where we see the hint of success in a reduced number of obese children across the country. If, as Michael Jackson said, the children are our future, we will have a much better future if they are healthier than their parents.
Efforts to make good health fun and cool, and the fact that they may actually be working, make me optimistic.
Author: Lisa Suennen
Lisa Suennen is a managing director with GE Ventures and former managing member of the Psilos Group, as well as the co-author of Tech Tonics: Can Passionate Entrepreneurs Heal Healthcare With Technology? and author of the blog Venture Valkyrie.
Prior to 2014, Lisa was a Senior Advisor to Psilos Group, a healthcare-focused venture capital and growth equity firm that focuses on the healthcare information technology, healthcare services and medical device sectors. Lisa was a co-founder of Psilos Group and a Partner at the firm from 1998-2014.
Prior to Psilos, Lisa was at Merit Behavioral Care (formerly American Biodyne, Inc), an $800mm behavioral healthcare company where she held various senior executive roles from its early start-up days through exit. Previously, Lisa held various positions in marketing and product management in companies in the high technology field.
Lisa was a Board Member of the Dignity Health Foundation, and Board Member of health IT company Beyond Lucid Technologies and is still a Board Member of medical device company AngioScore, a member of the Qualcomm Life Advisory Board, and an Advisor to the California Health Care Foundation Innovation Fund. Lisa also previously served as an Advisor to innovation consulting firm Accelevate, Inc. as a member of the Advisory Board of the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator Investing in Innovations program.
Lisa holds an M.A. in political science, a B.A. in political science and a B.A. in mass communications, all from the University of California, Berkeley, where she is now Vice Chair of the National Advisory Council of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University. Lisa is also a visiting lecturer at the U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business where she teaches the annual course on healthcare venture capital.
Lisa also writes a widely read blog on healthcare and healthcare investing at www.venturevalkyrie.com. She has recently published her first book, entitled: Tech Tonics, Can Passionate Entrepreneurs Heal Healthcare with Technology, coauthored with Dr. David Shaywitz.
View all posts by Lisa Suennen