Body and Mind

Imagine you're a doctor about to write a prescription for a patient, but you realize what she really needs is food, or heat, or a safe place to live. For years, you had two options, says Rebecca Onie, co-founder and CEO of Health Leads. You could either adopt a "don't ask, don't tell policy" and look the other way, or spend valuable time away from clinical care addressing social needs. (In fact, one survey conducted at Bellevue hospital found that for every fifteen minute visit with a patient, doctors spent 9.2 minutes addressing social – and not medical – needs.) That’s where Health Leads comes in. 

This week, Innovation Hub is all about altruism in business. Meet one CEO who walks the walk: Michael Schrader of Vaxess Technologies, a company that uses silk protein to stabilize the temperature of vaccines so they can be shipped across the globe without refrigeration. In other words, with Schrader’s help, some of the 2.5 million people who die annually of preventable diseases could be saved using the fiber in your bedsheets. 

Can money buy happiness? We ask Michael Norton of Harvard Business School and Elizabeth Dunn of the University of British Columbia, authors of “Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending.” Read More...

Humanitarian doctor Paul Farmer explains how global health is rooted in community. Read More...

From soccer games to corporate boardrooms, what helps us win? Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, bestselling authors of Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing investigate the art of competition. Read More...