This week on the Johnson & Johnson health channel, my colleague Rob Halper posted a video that provides some exercise tips that could help build strength and bone density — which could also help reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
By Scott Ratzan, MD, Vice President, Global Health, Government Affairs, Johnson & Johnson
As many of us here in the US brace for several days of bitter cold, which carries with it the risk of illness and injury, I’m reminded of the important role that global health research plays in improving people’s lives.
Whether it is the over-the-counter treatments taken to help alleviate the symptoms of the common cold, the prescription antibiotics taken to knock out a bacterial infection, or the hip and knee replacements that help restore mobility, most of us have no doubt benefited in some way from the byproducts of medical research.
Yet all too often we forget that people in some of the world’s poorest nations aren’t so fortunate and lack the information and options needed to treat some of the debilitating diseases that affect them. But now I hope to do something more to help raise awareness of this situation.
I recently had the honor of being named one of twenty five “ambassadors” selected by Research!America’s Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research to advocate for greater US investment in global health research. As part of effort, I’ll be joining some of our nation’s foremost health research experts in an effort to encourage a more robust national discussion on the value and importance of global health research.
Together with my fellow Ambassadors I hope to meet with policymakers and opinion leaders to advocate for increased US investment in global health research to fight the diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest nations.
It s quite invigorating to be in a group that includes some of the world’s foremost scientists, physicians and health care providers who specialize in critical areas, including neglected and emerging tropical diseases, TB and polio. I think, however, that our experiences at Johnson & Johnson provide a unique vantage point to advance health and well-being globally.
I hope to draw upon these experiences to advance global health diplomacy and to make suggestions to improve health literacy, to encourage prudent policy making and to help different regional leaders determine how best to approach the different health issues that impact their communities.
It’s a start — but hopefully by sharing innovative ideas together we can help advance health globally.
This week on the Johnson & Johnson health channel on YouTube, Rob posted several videos that explore the impact of obesity on health:
… and on surgical complications:
Yesterday, I learned that Pharmalot, one of the blogs I read every day, is going to close shop. The news comes as the brains behind the blog, Ed Silverman, decided to leave his employer, the Newark Star Ledger, and join Elsevier. As the WSJ Health Blog points out, the Ledger, like many daily papers that are facing challenging times, cut 40% of its staff — and Ed decided to take a package.
I’m really going to miss Pharmalot. As I said, I read it every day — but not just for the posts. It’s the comments that I often find most intriguing. Through Pharmalot, Ed tapped into a community of people who are interested about the business of healthcare — from people who may work for one of the companies that make New Jersey the “medicine chest for the nation” — to people who are simply interested in health. In his final post (which is well worth reading) Ed sums this up well:
And what a community. Some of you angrily attacked pharma. Some of you vociferously defended it. So often, there were many different perspectives on any number of topics. Whatever the point of view, the discussions were extremely informative. Certainly, for me. Thanks to the thousands and thousands of comments posted here, I have learned a great deal about the business, science and policy issues that shape and confront this industry. Hopefully, many of you feel the same way. After all, no one has cornered the market on knowledge, try as we may.
It is this kind of community — that shares, challenges and provides additional information and new perspectives — that makes blogs so compelling. As Ed says, through reading the comments to his posts he has “learned a great deal about the business” — and as a reader, I have had the same experience. Now how can more traditional “one-way” communications tools ever hope to compete with that?
Anyway, though I know some of my peers in the healthcare industry have had their differences with Ed, I’ve always found him a good, solid reporter, and I wish him all the best in his new job — and, for that matter, in all that he does. But more than that, I just one day hope to see him return to the blogosphere.
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