Kelly Chibale describes the drug discovery process as a fairy-tale quest, stating, 'It doesn't mean that there aren't surprises or miracles. They do happen, but you have to kiss many frogs before you meet the prince.' This metaphor illustrates the challenges and unpredictability in finding effective medicines.
American healthcare has long suffered from a structural mismatch: the system generates enormous demand for patient communication while the clinical workforce available to meet it continues to shrink. The World Health Organization projects a global shortage of 10 million health workers by 2030, and the gap is already visible in overloaded intake queues, missed follow-up calls, and patients left without support between appointments.
"Do you believe that the abortion pill mifepristone is safe and should be prescribed without an in-person visit with a physician?" Sen. Bill Cassidy asked. "I think that every medication has risks and benefits," Means replied. "I think that all patients need to have a thorough conversation with their doctor and have true informed consent before taking any medication."
Saudi Arabia is already operating the kind of connected, AI-enabled healthcare infrastructure many countries are still debating how to build. At FII9, the conversation was unmistakable. Global innovation momentum is shifting toward the Middle East, and nowhere more than Saudi Arabia, where national digital platforms like Sehhaty already give millions of residents unified access to their health data. At the Global Health Exhibition, I saw population-level analytics, AI-powered diagnostics, multiomic initiatives, and interoperable infrastructure deployed at a speed and scale that would take years in other countries.
Emad Yassa is a healthcare entrepreneur and nonprofit founder with more than three decades of professional experience across clinical practice and international philanthropy. Yassa is the Founder and Chairman of Touch of Love International (TOLI), a nonprofit organisation focused on economic empowerment through micro-loans in underserved communities. Born and raised in Egypt, Emad studied physical therapy at Cairo University, graduating in 1985.
But these studies typically require large numbers of patients, huge amounts of data, and thorough follow-ups, none of which comes easy or free. The upshot is fewer investigations into scenarios that are clinically important but unlikely to yield a profit for the firms funding them. Accordingly, researchers have been developing an option that uses real-world data from insurers to save patients from falling through the cracks.
Public health consultant Dr Ross Keat said supporting people earlier to make small preventative changes would make "a big difference later on". Some 3,500 people in the north of the island within that age bracket are eligible for the checks. The checks will be carried out by two pre-existing nurses that support GP staff and would not replace GP appointments, Keat explained, adding that the cost would be minimal and absorbed by Ramsey Group Practice.
Means is a Stanford Medicine graduate who dropped out of her surgical residency and has since made a career infusing spiritual beliefs into her wellness company, social-media accounts, and best-selling book. The exact nature of her spirituality is hard to parse: Means adopts an anti-institutionalist, salad-bar approach. She might share Kabbalah or Buddhist teachings, or quote Rumi or the movie Moana. She has written about speaking to trees and participating in full-moon ceremonies.
Asia's healthcare challenges include aging populations, rising disease, and strained infrastructure, but the crisis is better understood at the kitchen table, where families decide what conditions to treat, and what to ignore, according to their savings. While the APAC region makes up 60% of the world's population, the region accounts for a mere 22% of global healthcare spending. According to the World Health Organization, most developing Asian countries spend just 2-3% of GDP on health, and in many cases public
