Yeah.

You know limited.

Now.
So all of which are.

So.

Right so.

Why.

Extreme and like complex issues.

So very very interesting.

So I hope it's.

Something.

And thank you thank you.

Thank you thank you thank you very much.

It's a pleasure to be here and
I have very much.

That a wonderful time.

Yesterday evening.

And speaking to faculty here today.

So my talk is as Jeffrey.

Mentioned is dismantling complex problems
into their simple substrates and so

I'd like this is sort of
a big vision discussion.

So imagine if Marty McFly and

Doc round here you see up here
from back to the future and for

those of you who were born after that
movie came out Come to think of it.

Actually that was a movie one time
travelling magic they were travelling in

their De Lorean into the future
with passengers that they picked

up from their brief encounter with
the past and then they all sat down for

dinner or a casual dinner at
a restaurant say anybody.

Right right here in the in Atlanta.

So imagine if Benjamin Franklin and
Harriet Tubman were

sitting across the table from so I the
mother of the environmental movement which

was Rachel Carson as well as possibly
be father of free enterprise.

Who was Adam Smith.

And they were joined together by educate.

The and and colleague Horace Mann
who is an educator as we know and

also by the a steamed position
of yesteryear civilian mostly.

So what would they order from the menu.

What with their palette savor.

Or perhaps Franklin would order innovation
and Smith would order perseverance and

whether Harriet Tubman ordered
global freedom from oppression.

Oppression or man's a selection menu was
pragmatism we would know one thing and

that would be that what would be true is
that they all identified complex problems

and they wish to solve them.

And these legendary leaders in energy and
education.

In medicine human rights
environmental movement and in.

And in in the issues of economics
may have individual tastes but

they all recognize that the universal
ingredient for a better world.

It can be none other than
the issue of inspiration.

So the entree to achieving a life
of sustenance necessitates

a diet of diversity and less meat not
forget that the this is not complete

without one thing that's
crystal clear which is the wine

live in NJ Windermere which is the wine
the spirit of life and what's out there.

So today is that this afternoon.

What I'd like to do is to
look at some of the questions

that our visitors from the past might have
pondered and discuss ways to tackle them.

If we were to break them down to their
simpler substrates that we have and

all these complex puzzles that are out
there is there a way to address them and

we just go through a handful of questions.

In the end.

Then I'll take some
questions from from you.

So the first question I had is
is there a common thread for

many diseases that a floating about
in a cell's cytoplasm So for me here.

I would say we should take a lesson from
Einstein and I've always wondered how

the passion of one individual one mind
can embrace rather than shy away from.

A scientific problems of the Unknowns and
become emboldened and

look for a quest to figure out an answer
to an intentional such as the photo

electric effect relationship
between energy mass and

light the interdependence different
issues and the time space relationships.

So how equals MC Square would
have historical ramifications

beyond science and how it would be shaped
geo politics from the Manhattan Project

all the way as much as it would
redefine quantum mechanics.

So I raise this issue because I believe
that the story of something called

mitochondrial medicine is has
many similarities to the story of

relativity requiring imagine of spirits
and when the story is written and

finally solved at the end we will have
cured not only mitochondrial disease but

probably many other diseases as well.

Now innovation in medicine share is in
many ways the same elements as innovation

in other areas and other branches
of science which is the belief

that the elusive answer to
a protection problem is attainable

by first looking at the problem from
the vantage point of Mother Nature's eyes.

And then if we seem to understand
the conventional wisdom.

Then we can question it and
come up with solutions and

solve problems very much the way.

Albert Einstein did.

So while challenging self-evident truth.

We can cast light upon the principle that
at the core of all naturally occurring

substances and processes are quite simple
repetitive processes that exist and

that in many ways is very much.

The beauty of nature.

If we were to wind back the evolutionary
clock and look at the scenery

from when Father Time was let's say
four point five billion years younger.

We would see that Earth was
forming at that time and

that the core of our whole planet was
coalescing into an iron base right and

the foundation upon which all of
the life is built on what gravity and

the earth takes hold is
really on this iron core.

But iron is also one of the more stable
elements or most stable elements

out there and even unstable nickel
isotopes actually decay into iron.

So isn't it coincidental that iron is
at the core of life shuttle system as

well for oxygen and
that being hemoglobin and mitochondria

contain the rate limiting step or that
rate limiting enzymes for him synthesis.

So we have the core of life of
the core of the earth right and

the core of life both at
the same same way with with iron.

So maybe it isn't so coincidental.

After all.

Maybe it's simple simply that the
conception of marrying Mother Nature with

Father Time will end up with
offspring that all share some common

character traits and some qualities
that that we can then start to try to

tackle problems with so let's return back
from the cosmos of equals MC squared and

the energy of the universe and
back into the cell and

back into the energy systems of life and
that of the mitochondria.

So mitochondria possessing their own
D.N.A. is a remnant of the evolutionary

past where some one point
five billion years ago.

Mitochondria in the words of
wells he said this is a quote.

The mitochondria took up residence inside
the end of a big ancestor of the modern

you carry out Excel.

And with mitochondria involved in your
real cycles and neuro transmitters and

cholesterol.

I have to believe that mitochondria
is truly the common thread in life.

And the failure of the organelles
powerhouse trips the cellular fuse box and

basically results in
a cascading loss of energy and

a figure of black out for
newborns children adolescents and

even adults who suffer from mitochondrial
disease so understanding mitochondrial

problems has the potential to
transform medicine into and

use the knowledge that's garnered from
that and kind of course all disciplines

because mitochondrial disease we realize
is also tied to the issues of Alzheimer's.

And it's tied to the issues
of Parkinson's disease and

to diabetes and hypertension and
to heart disease and to cancer and

to many other diseases as well as it's
tied to the whole aging process itself

is the other pictures were so
sad I thought a little schematic of aging.

I was looking for a nice aging picture but
as one ages they don't want to.

You don't want to look at
those pictures as much so

understanding mitochondrial disease
also affects the understanding of

auto immune diseases because multiple
sclerosis lupus rheumatoid arthritis

also appear to have
a mitochondrial basis to it.

So researchers have found in addition to
the just the the diseases out there that

mitochondria also have some effects
in muscle strength and may be

related to the issues of the side effects
that statens have had because we have

found that the statens are related in some
ways to work and in my country as well.

So maybe those side effects of pain and

muscle weakness of the stands
are somehow related by the country.

Now life and
life is too precious a commodity.

In even the on a half uninhabited galactic
real estate that we have out there

even within our own planetary system.

That the cells may not have
a capacity to repair themselves.

So I have to believe that there is some
kind of molecular Home Depot system for

maintenance work after
the weathering of seasons.

Otherwise we would not go on.

So we speak of mitochondria
as having their own D.N.A.

and possessing this and being on the press
and since the beginning of life itself so

surely the engineering for
a cellular energy systems out there.

Even at the most primitive levels.

Wired In some failsafe mechanism so
that life would not short circuit but

actually go on.

And now even if I'm sitting
here with a mac book here.

Even so this is Microsoft and Apple
recognize the need for backup systems.

And put in repair functions in place but

surely evolution if Microsoft Napal
to this evolution hard wired us.

So that this would work as well and truly
with all due respect to Bill Gates and

Steve Jobs their brain power will still
be dwarfed by that of Mother Nature and

you know what I have it here
book picture and I'm only a bit.

So with mitochondrial disease
tapping into the biological well.

Inside the cell may answer some
unfathomable questions and

take us down paths that are presently
inevitable to be invisible to the eye

now Einstein recognized that energy is
the common denominator to all aspects of

the galaxies and to all of our planets and
the energy sources are the trigger.

Out there on our planet for

many international conflicts and
we as individuals are trapped

inside a body whose cellular energy
systems are fueled by necessary nutrients.

Yet our society our society is struggling
to find alternative energy sources.

So here is an image of energy
consumption by country and

you can see that the United States pretty
much has twenty five percent of that and

all the countries that fall behind that

in our society is trying to figure out
how to solve some of these problems but

then there is the world oil reserves and
you can see where it's coming from.

I think these two slides are very apropos
given the events in the world right now

you can see the Middle East.

Fifty six percent of the oil
is coming from there.

But our society and
we are now as a society turning

to issues of biofuels and seeing if we
can use that as a way to find energy.

So how poignant that I our G. may play
a role in seeking the solutions to

a global planetary problem and
perhaps there is an alternative source

of cellular energy to Janetta tinkering or
perhaps further.

Discovery into the mitochondrial
energy systems.

Well I'm Mark energy solutions on
a grander scale then just on a cellular

level there and this may sound whimsical
but Einstein began by questioning what

light was really made of and its journey
took a much further than one imagined.

And it reshaped science from
the issues inside the atom

to the edges of the universe and
he changed history.

Actually by a letter which is a copy
of a letter which he wrote to

Franklin Delano Roosevelt about uranium
fission which ultimately caused

the movement of Manhattan project and
many things in history from there.

But in the evolutionary time clock human
explorations only travelled a mere

one point three seconds which is to
the moon which we are aware of but

we can see out there some thirteen point
four billion light years to within that

three hundred eighty thousand years
of the beginning of the universe.

Now it makes you wonder.

But I'd started theories that are
applicable to the one point three seconds

journey is also applicable to the thirteen
point four billion light years

even if we've not travelled anywhere
near there at least that yet.

But he was seeking for a universal
theory trying to tie this all together.

So maybe mad a kind of D.N.A. and cosmic
does share some common distant home and

maybe there is a universal biological
theory for cellular dysfunction

that rests within the mitochondrion
after all this all dates back to life.

Our age on the planet and perhaps still
the answer to the cellular energy dilemma.

Well and answer the larger energy problems
that have their own geo political

significance and
challenges that we're dealing with today.

Now that's on my to Country question too.

I want to address is Can brain
death criteria become a model for

stem cell research.

Now the restrictions have lightened since
the beginning of the Obama administration

there is still much controversy
on the issue of human using

human embryonic stem cells for research.

And yet we recognize that this is
an area that pits the value of

a potentially therapeutic
tool against that of an early

human life and this polarizing debate is
going on in the Collects to recognize

that a common ground does
exist if one breaks this.

Complex ethical issues down and

asks the question really what is
death rather than what is life.

Now independent of whether one can for as
the right of personhood to an embryo and

develop and it is possible to look
at death as a common ground for

solving this ethical dilemma.

My colleague Don Lemon Tree
at Columbia University and

I published a paper on this issue in
the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Several years back.

I'd like to share with you
some of the work and and

how it's analogy can be applied.

As we know that life of an organism
involves more than this simply

an additive process of all the cells.

The concept of brain death is based on the
presumption that organism can be dead but

many of the cell cells still alive.

Hence we can donate hearts lungs liver
kidneys and and other organs from a person

is dead even though their individual
organs are still functioning well.

Now the eight cell more yellow is
a complex organism in the cell with cell

cell interactions.

But I was fifty percent of my view of
embryos in vitro fertilization embryos

that are thawed are considered
non-viable now non viability

being defined by the inability to
continue to divide non-viable does

not mean dead except from a functional
perspective it would currently with death.

So we proposed that through
observation of non-viable I.V.'s

embryos it would be possible to
define a time beyond which an embryo

having failed to divide never
divides again and will then necros.

So much time would be an irreversible
arrest of growth and also at that point

a loss of integrate organic functions and
therefore the definition of death.

So just as in a developed human being
brain death marks irreversible loss of

capacity of all the Org ongoing
integrate organic functioning and embryo

that has irreversibly lost the capacity to
divide to grow to differentiate as well.

Should be considered organismic Lee dead.

So much as the nerve.

If a system of a person integrates
the activities of different organs.

So too does the communication
between cells of an embryo occur but

at this point in developing this really
through chemical chemical interactions.

Now analogous to a brain that is no
longer functioning when there is

when the communication the cell
signalling stops the arrest or

cleavage occurs and we believe that at
that moment it signifies embryonic death.

In fact just as one can use E.G. to
determine whether someone is brain dead.

There are genetic there are specific
markets that are being elucidate

that suggest the irreversibility
of cell division

as well as the inverse ability
of cell differentiation.

One of those are four.

But there are many other
markers out there as well.

So once embryonic death exist then you
could donate the cells much like one

donate organs after brain death.

Are met and studies of I.V.'s embryos
have shown irreversibility and

irreversibly arrested embryos
could contain cells in there

that would have normal
developmental potential.

Don Landry and I presented this idea to
the President's Council on Bioethics and

he and I also spoke to the members of
Congress and also we went to Italy and

spoke to the Vatican about this is well
and all were impressed by the concept and.

And our paper or one of the more
elaborate compose of this paper

was considered one of the alterna stem
cell proposals that are out there.

That was presented to Congress.

We believe that this is a way to solve a
sceptical dilemma of using I.V.'s embryos

for those who view it as
a Marley unacceptable.

Issue and it will show that the embryos
that no longer defied can actually

be organismic Lee dead.

And therefore available for

sale donation now though President Obama
has removed the ban on federal funding.

I do think that the solution helps address
those who remain opposed to this issue

on religious grounds.

Question three can a child's
toy help women in Afghanistan.

So now we left the cell in the my.

At a country and and things like that.

I want to take a little bigger picture
here look though the United States is

fortunate that we have a literacy rate
here of ninety nine percent as you can see

in the blue it is disturbing to note that
this is not universal around the globe.

In fact according to an escrow
the two thousand and

eight report Bertino Faso in Western
Africa has a literacy rate of twelve point

eight percent Nigeria has fourteen
point four percent literacy rate and

Mali has a literacy rate
of one thousand percent.

So with such a high illiteracy
rate you got some problems.

The connection between illiteracy and

severe poverty has been
clearly established and

the connection between severe poverty and
poor health has also been established.

So hence it behooves us all to
improve the health literacy in

order to achieve a better
quality of life for

individuals in developing nations but
it seems that this is and there is no one.

This is one of the many complex problems
that people are having a hard time.

Grappling with.

To work towards this goal is possible
to utilize an educational strategy

presently in place to teach preschoolers
as well as kindergarteners information as

basic as the alphabet and is a little
bit more complex as historical facts.

So utilizing a talking book it is feasible
to provide critical information about

broad aspects of health for
children and adults.

And centered basically on a micro a micro
chip with a magic pen we can provide for

interactions between the user and
the device and now though this is

an unconventional approach I was convinced
that educational technology coupled with

health development could actually
generate some interesting by products.

So within the continent
of Africa Asia there.

RESSA country where life expectancy
is about thirty five years.

We're four out of five
women are literate and

we're one in fifty women one in that
one fifty to one in sixty women die

in childbirth where one out
of every four children die.

I.

Infancy and

one out of every five after that will
die by the time they reach kindergarten.

And these are among the worst
worst numbers in the world but

this is the real life and
the true situation in Afghanistan.

And the sad part of the most troubling
part of all this is that most of this

if not all of this is preventable and
part of it comes down to education.

So to troubleshoot some of these problems.

I point together a truly
dedicated team of experts and

we create something called
the Afghan family health.

And this talking about
breaks down the social

barriers to knowledge
enhances health literacy.

And it was begin really
began as a simple idea about

four people gathered around the old
broken down table in my office.

And we went into an extensive
project plan and

it grew into a public private partnership
and we created this forty two page Afghan

family health book that looked
at innovative technologies and

dressed about three hundred fifty
different health messages on so

many topics and it covered everything
all the aspects of public health and

I'll show you a list of
the things that are out there.

And from its inception this book and
I have it here and afterwards I can show.

I can show some of you exactly
how it works and everything but

from its inception it was clear that
the technology allows a person to learn

who through visual auditory and
tactile cues and

such multisensory input is
extremely effective way and

very beneficial in teaching public
health to large populations.

So there's a picture of the book
obviously and I can show you.

Afterwards if you want to see.

I'll turn on I'll show you exactly
how the whole thing works but

you know is the little button.

To.

It.

And you won't be able to
touch anything you want and

I'll show you I want to finish it.

But afterwards I'd be really happy
to show you exactly how this whole

the whole book works and and
exactly what we've done with it.

The it's interactive it's entertaining.

It's culturally appropriate portable and
we had twenty thousand of these books.

In the native languages of Dari and Pashto
going across the country of Afghanistan

with the help of the Ministry of
Health and Community Health workers.

This is a list of all the different topics
that were involved from immunizations

micronutrients.

Infectious diseases first aid prenatal
care postnatal care childbirth.

Everything we could think of that would be
important to have in there we put in there

and I remember saying to myself.

Also that the whole country
of Afghanistan is G.P.S.

mapped because it's been mapped for
the bombs.

So why can't we take the same technology
that we used to map the country for

for that purpose and use it for
some public health purpose.

So what we did is we put this
into a Palm Pilot at pre and

post test to evaluate how people were
doing with learning this information and

they were able to actually get these
messages targeted to different regions and

the use of this virtual network really
demonstrate the capability of applying

a technology available in a developed
world to the developing world.

And despite the turmoil
of an ongoing war there.

The government after Afghanistan
recognizes this health health tool in this

health education project and
with only with.

Only one public health tool like this and

a lot of to me health workers were able
to get out to many different regions.

There are close to about twenty five
million people in Afghanistan and

the book has reached an estimate
about six million people to date.

And it's really in that
primarily languages of Dari and

Pashto which you can see here the green
is Dari and the brownish is Pashto and

it covers about eighty five ninety ninety
five percent of the of the population.

Is considered one of the best U.S.
Public Health projects introduced into

Afghanistan and by the way
the whole project cost a total wow.

Point one million dollars and
I went back two nights ago

to figure out how much that is and
I realized you can find this on the web.

That we spend one point one million
dollars in Afghanistan right now

every four point five minutes.

So one point five and
it is one one hundredth

of a percent of a percent of what
we've spent in the war today.

That's all.

And it's a public health.

Project and I'm a little biased and
I think it's a good thing to do

the chance to take this technology and
aspects and implemented and

a value into other nations is sure to help
improve the health literacy there as well

and I've initiated spearheaded this major
public health health literacy project for

women in Afghanistan but I believe that it
could be used elsewhere in the world and

I'm now looking at taking into other parts
of Africa the Middle East Central America

and working with the with others to figure
out how we can get some funding for

this further and
to move it to the next level.

I think if we target this we can actually
answer some of the questions of HIV AIDS

or measure the effectiveness
of some of these programs and

also apply culturally
appropriate messages for

everything from public health to
advance the issues of literacy as well.

These books can be applied
to teach other subjects.

So we are looking and talking to
people right now about using this for

agriculture for
economic stability issues and

also for human rights issues and I think
that this can be moved forward as well.

So I started a small foundation
the Terra Birthday Foundation the green

Earth Foundation which focuses
on moving this forward with

other parts of the world and
working with leaders to try to figure out

how we can get this to help in other
parts particularly for example Haiti in.

In this hemisphere.

But also in sub-Saharan Africa and
elsewhere.

The next question is can a simple
test measure peace in the world.

So history has shown us
that creative thought has

generated ways to measure
truly complex concepts right.

So this is Alfred Benet and
in one thousand and

four he came up with the intelligence
questions the I.Q. test and now.

Except in the lexicon of education.

Granted there are some questions of you
know whether it's ideal or not but but

it is accepted.

So really this is Virginia after her and
she came up in one nine hundred fifty two

with a proposed scoring system to
measure the robustness of a newborn.

And in one thousand nine hundred seventy
one the McGill Pain questionnaire was put

forth and that was a way to measure
an assessment tool to measure pain and

a questionnaire that was put out there
to sort of figure out how much pain.

Someone has so in the words of
Lord Kelvin if you cannot measure it.

You cannot improve it.

So why not establish a mechanism to
measure the amorphous concept of peace and

the Community Peace Index does just that.

So working at Mass General Hospital as
part of the Division of Global Health and

Human Rights and on the leadership of
Thomas parent who runs the division there.

We've moved forward in
developing a psychometric and

scientifically valid measurement
tool to look at peace.

Now peace is obviously something
that we all strive to achieve and

in the regions like Gaza
the West Bank Libya Egypt and

everywhere right now in that part of
the world not to mention many other parts

of the world peace is desperately
sought by so many people.

So think about this fact for
a moment billions and billions of

dollars are spent every single year
waging war and quote securing the peace.

But there is no true measurement here that
peace that we're trying to achieve has

been able to be measured.

So the Community Peace Index or the C.P.I.

as I like to call it is grounded in
the rigorous cutting edge survey

measurement techniques and it will provide
a metric a way to evaluate programs

that have been designed to
bring peace to a community.

On top of that it could be given to
people in the community before and

after a program has been
implemented to look at peace.

So we'll look at this probably better
by looking at some examples and

matching whether the improvement in
community peace could occur simply by

starting a clinic a health
clinic in southern Sudan.

Or perhaps even if you wanted to.

Build a school system for
young girls in Afghanistan.

Does that improve peace out there or
even right here.

That's the developing world.

But what about right here.

What if you put an arts and
culture center of Arts and

Culture program into a juvenile detention
center in the United States would that

improve the peace within
that community community.

One could define as large or small.

So the question is why do this.

Well the topic of peace has
received incredible attention

internationally Bell been experts
economists international affairs people

everyone asks this question but
we do not have right now a reliable

scientifically valid metric
to answer the key question.

Can we demonstrate that the peace
building intervention that we put into

place actually created peace among
the individuals and the communities.

So the C.P.I. hopes to solve this problem.

So how do we do this.

So after reviewing
the academic literature and

bringing together
psychologist psychiatrist.

Researches social scientists everyone.

We sat down had multiple meetings to
discuss what is the definition what is

the provisional definition of peace and
as you know you're an academic community.

Bring academics together there's
always a lot of dialogue here.

So we finally came up with
a feeling of come and

our freedom from struggles within self and

others in a nonviolent environment
where hope outweighs resignation.

Now we realize that the spectrum
is quite expensive and

that the definition is truly dynamic and

there's not a static definition
will grow as the process expands.

So next we developed seven
specific categories to look at and

they include emotional tone and
sense of calm hope and optimism for

the future personal agency and
locus of control tolerance of others

access to basic necessities personal
safety an absence of violence and

group and social connectedness and
from these seven areas.

These were the domains we realized we'd
have to get questions we generate seventy

one questions from that along
a scale the long term metric and

they looked at personal social the.

Cicle and psychological enforcements.

And.

Psychological relationships I should say.

And where can we use the C.P.I.
Well this past month the C.P.I.

has been evaluating Boston to look at
the internal consistency of the test and

now that we realize that that's working.

We're working on the next part.

Translating this into different languages
and the objective is to move forward and

bring innocent to large and
small communities across the globe.

We also excessive assessing and
evaluating which organizations

could serve as suitable partners for
specific interventions.

So you might be wondering what's
our timeline on this whole thing.

Well our objective right now is
within the next six months or

so to get this out there.

Hopefully in Africa and
in the Middle East in the coming months

with the objective to have it
on the ground and operational.

And it might actually also be possible.

Not only in some of the regions in
Northern Africa Africa and the Middle East

but it might be possible to measure
programs that are in place right now.

So for example the presence of
an urgency fund for AIDS Relief PEPFAR

that plan that program has touched about
sixty million people in the world.

So when it be beneficial to measure
the effectiveness of this program and

some aspects of peace or

it may be beneficial to look at
something called micro financing.

Bank.

This is the work of the Nobel Laureate
who put together the concept of

micro financing and this is now been able
to help one hundred thirty million people.

So would be interesting if
someone has Michael FINA has been

in a program through the green
green bank and has set up.

A better.

Business or whatever through
a micro financing program whether

that's brought peace to that community.

So we've looked at that or or

even possibly the International
Rescue Committee has worked in

the Republic Democratic Republic of Congo
where they have been forty thousand or

they've worked with forty thousand
survivors of sexual abuse.

So be very interesting to see the effect.

That as well.

The C.P.I. could be used to effectively
measure these interventions that are out

there and we also think that it would be
used useful for the United Nations or

state departments for Defense Departments
to measure things and the knowledge

that we gain from this we think will
be able to have relevance of course

many different organizations that are
working in these social social sectors.

Out there.

Now some of the ass who can administer
the test if you're going to try

to bring it into different
areas of the world.

Well the beauty of this is that it is very
easy to use and anyone can administer

from any region so it can be
effectively used across the globe.

We can see using this in Haiti in the
Middle East in as I mentioned the Congo or

right here in the United States or
any other region that's out there.

And the development of a valid and

reliable Community Peace Index could
generate insights into how peace is

measured how is accounted for how it's
taken away and even how it's created.

And the C.P.I. could be adjusted
to virtually any setting large or

small as I said juvenile detention centers
or a larger area a country in conflict

measuring peace through a definitive
scale can lay the groundwork for

an entire new field of study
a scientific approach to capturing

the essence of what fosters peace and
what retards and among communities.

Now.
In conclusion on this subject all new

fields do require require and start with
someone pondering a complex question but

we believe that this question is probably
one of the best ones to address and

we think that the C.P.I.

will translate subjective assessments
into an objective measurement and provide

a paradigm shift in how we view our
efforts in improving the human condition.

Question five Care and

five billion devices protect four
billion people from fake medicines.

So there is a silent killer out there

on the streets of every major city
from Shanghai to New York and

it threatens people in villages and
towns and cities all across.

It's the globe and that killer is really
the issue of counterfeit medicines

and in fact is a human rights violation
in my view as much as any other

risk to citizens of any country
on this planet that there are so

many people who are exposed to
medicines that are not safe.

In fact there are some parts of the world
that the medicines counter medicines

can be.

Or the number of medicines that
are counterfeit can be up to fifty sixty

seventy percent but there are regions
definitely where it's twenty percent

thirty percent out there had
a hard thing to capture.

But at the W.H.O. we've looked at this and
these are the numbers that are out there.

The issue of counterfeit medicines
was brought to my attention

within days of my arriving at the W.H.O.
and from the initial discussions we had

we decided that we need to
do something about this.

So we started something called

the International Medical Products
anti-counterfeiting task force or impact.

And we all believe that we could tackle
this problem by addressing five areas in

the five were the issues
in Forstmann legislation

regulation technology and communication.

But I could go into all these areas and

discuss them all because
they all had incredible.

Advancements over the last
handful of years but

I really want to put one idea forward and
how it's taken on global proportions.

Because I think it involves the issue of
something of how you use technology and

particularly institutionally Georgia Tech.

You probably interest in the technology
side of something like this.

Well involves the issue of a low
cost technology solution to finding

fake medicines and
shows that a complex problem

can truly be tackled by looking at health
problems through a communication wins.

So I was in my apartment in Geneva had
been there literally all of maybe two

weeks and I was reading through this
information account that medicines at

the same time as multitasking I was opened
my mail and I got a letter from U.B.S.

Bank saying this is your credit card and

then I got a separate letter
saying you know on this.

Said peel back this trip type
this code number in your your

credit card to be active.

I don't want to get up and
go over to my desk to get the phone so

I picked up my cell phone and
I dialed the thing and I do it.

Told me typed in this unique identifier.

And I put the phone back down and

I went back to reading about counterfeit
medicines and within a couple minutes.

I got a text message saying you're your
B.S. your credit card is now active.

And so rather than you know I
thought about this for a second.

Rather than going through some of these
high tech solutions that were out there

for counter this which I was reading
about I said why not do the same thing.

Why not take a cell phone put
on a bottle of medicine or

in pills or unique identifier
number goes back to a database and

people type this in the consumer
the user of obviously the medicine and

then it goes somewhere they
get back on the cell phone.

There are five billion cell phones out
there on the planet and this is a way to

cheaper way of doing something so
this is I was part of the United Nations.

I cannot violate the U.N.

rules which is you can start
a company can do a lot of things.

So I say I can't I can start a company and
do this even though I was convinced this

would work so
I decided I would talk about this.

Everywhere I went so I kept speaking about
this hoping somebody would grab this and

run with it and
sure enough a couple companies did and

it was one person with a couple months ago
called me and saying thanks for the idea.

This is great.

We're doing this and
it's now being done and

gone and I Gerry in South Africa
some other parts of the world and

they're using this whole concept of using
text messages to fight fake medicines.

It's a simple approach to
a very complex problem but

uses a technology that's not that costly.

Now granted are a five day radio frequency
identification are all great ways to do

it but when you have a country where you
can spend those dollars on something like

that because they could be better used
this is obviously a better way to go.

And just a simple way of just having
a message having the medicine and

sending that message out there so it has
taken off and I'm very pleased about this

because I think this is going to
solve help solve a major problem.

Now the next question is
Can history shed light on

how to improve public health and
technology.

Well in the days.

After September eleventh two thousand and
one many physicians friends and

colleagues in New York City came to me and

they asked me to say how can
we help out and I was in D.C.

at that time all of only a maybe
seven days six days at that point and

I was working for the H.H.S. secretary and
everyone thought since I worked for him.

Maybe as a way to solve this problem and

what I could do well in truth we were
still in the fog as the dust literally and

figuratively was still settling
after September eleventh.

But I started to wonder what did citizens
do in the United States the last time.

America was attacked which was pro Harbor.

So I do as I walk down the block
to the Library of Congress and

start looking through files there and
books and reports and

then I I start what happened what didn't.

Merican do.

And I realize that communities actually
came together to help out after

Pearl Harbor after nine hundred forty one.

And from those meetings I thought maybe
just maybe we should create a voluntary

group of individuals of doctors of nurses
of respiratory therapists of anyone who

works in the health profession as a backup
to the public health service in the event

that there needs to be support and
I was convinced that if you join this

kind of a group people would be interested
in learning about things and how to work

together and it might be possible if
they work together on other projects for

example on projects about obesity or
diabetes or or smoking cessation then they

would know each other very well so that
when a disaster occurs in the community.

If it did it already known
their colleagues and

they'd work closer together and I felt
that long before we had another terrorist

attack on this country we were
going to have a flood of tornado or

hurricane earthquake some natural
disaster was going to occur and

that it would affect a community or
even an epidemic or pandemic.

And that we need a volunteer
group to help out.

So I called it
the Medical Reserve Corps and

I took the idea show to my boss who
at that point was Tommy Thompson.

Secretary of Health and Human Services
he liked the idea but I think although I

never said this I think he believed
it was a little too idealistic but

he is the type of person who would never
he was great he is still great inspire.

Caring individuals to move
things forward so he said to me.

Howard I really like your idea.

I'll show it to the president
I said great to myself.

But sure enough the president of states
did he did show it to him and he loved

the idea and thought that this would work
into his whole vision for volunteer ism

and he presented the whole discussion as
part of the volunteer efforts at the State

of the Union where you can imagine when
something gets mentioned the State of

Union it becomes real so the Medical
Reserve Corps was born and a start.

Is ten programs in ten states with about
a few million dollars in federal funds and

several hundred volunteers
there are out there and yet

today the program is
nine hundred programs.

It's an author fifty states has about two
hundred fifty thousand volunteers and

it has been involved in so
many different things.

There are national seminars there's
credentialing programs we started this

back when I started with the A.M.A.

and it's now run through
the office of the surgeon general.

Back when I left Washington and

right before we moved over to them
memorize the addresses complex community

health problems from obesity from diabetes
and then from screening programs for

hypertension to smoking and
so many other things and

it's been written into the bioterrorism
bill and it's all across the country.

Now and it's been very very
helpful in a lot of things.

Now granted this is not going to solve
every public health problem out there but

it does contribute to the process and

a couple of years back when we had
the whole swine flu thing I was looking at

the New York Times on the front
page there's a whole article about.

Swine flu and it said in Origin
vaccinate everyone in New York City.

For swine flu we're going to have
to bring in eighty seven hundred

Medical Reserve Corps
volunteers to help out.

So I said here's a a problem that
actually a program that we put into

place actually can help help address
that I have found that history can

be a great guide to solving
other problems as well.

And during that same time in D.C.
A letter arrived on the president's desk.

It was written by five leading to
two engineering scientists including

Bob Wright from here.

Georgia Tech and four others and it said
that the United States was falling behind

in the field of regenerative medicine and
the letter was passed from the president's

office down to the H.H.S. secretary and
from him he gave it to me and

he said you know take a look at this and
see what you think.

And it was clear that the federal
government must take a role

in pushing forward this field and
great leaps forward

require that the federal efforts
to overcome the inertia placed.

That are placed in the path are pushed
you know that we overcome these

kind of inertia.

And we as a nation have
been able to do this

we have a nation have moved forward and so

many other areas from the Apollo program
to nanotechnology to the human genome map.

So it is possible to move
this whole field as well.

How and
why not the area of tissue engineering.

And so I brought together the scientists
in the different areas from academics from

research from the private sector as well
as all of the group in the United States

government that work on this and all these
are the agencies that were involved and

we put together a report called twenty
twenty new vision the future of resent

region of medicine and a quick glance
into history showed me that actually

when we put in this report together that
in the late one nine hundred eighty S.

the United States was falling
behind in another area and

that was the field of semiconductors.

And at the time the semiconductor industry
was about eight billion dollars fledgling

U.S. business but the U.S.

government put in about one point
five billion dollars into this and

equasym called Sam a tech a Semiconductor
Manufacturing Technology Consortium.

And this turned this
business that was falling.

It was an eight billion dollar business
the United States which is being taken

over by other parts of the world into
a three hundred plus billion dollar U.S.

predominant industry.

So why not do this with
regenerative medicine as well.

As Americans return from Iraq and
Afghanistan.

It really would be excellent.

If we can achieve the goal of real time
mass customization of tissues on demand

in vivo and all requires is
a federal initiative this type.

And we bring together engine.

And scientists and

all the other individuals mentioned
on this on this list here.

And we said the deliverables are we
figure out what our timetable is and

we move it forward.

America's always dreamed big think about
the innovation of the steam engine

is what caused us to understand the whole
field of thermodynamics even further.

So what will the field of medicine.

Allow us to spawn and
see where we can go from there.

Engineering as is our nation's
greatest asset greatest resource so

let's tap into it at all levels.

Let's have the federal government take on
this as a major scientific initiative and

move this forward.

Now granted this was started under
the Bush administration will put this

report forward.

But Barack Obama has said
we need our Sputnik moment.

So here's our Sputnik moment.

This is a Sputnik moment science and
engineering is at the heart of this nation

and this is now the time for
us to have the visionaries and

many other individuals to move
this whole field forward.

And I think that this is where the
leadership can come from at this point.

This is a quick one.

And then I want to close on a bigger
vision kind of concept here.

This is can the power in
a light bulb change a nation.

And what I want to mention here is
an individual Nancy Brinker she started in

memory of her sister Susan Komen.

She started the race for
the Cure coming foundation and

what she did she felt that this is
a way to get this message out there.

She realized you have to come
up with some creative solutions.

So what she did she convinced when
she was the ambassador to Hungary.

To get the government to
allow her with the help of G.

to change the light the colors of the
lights on the bridge between Buddha and

passed right over the Danube River.

And it were an issue a taboo subject
of breast cancer to the forefront and

got people to talk about this
on a much more regular basis.

She is now doing this.

She's done this over
the pyramids the White House.

George Russian bridge and the.

Old City of Jerusalem and
many other places that are out there.

So you know I feel that we can look at
some of these issues out there in a close

I'm and some thoughts here that Libya and
Egypt that Tunisia Iran.

Maybe we can solve those problems as
well by dialogue and communication.

We must work towards
the betterment of people.

It's lives and never let anything clatter
of judgment wisdom our passion and

I fell a journey in forward
on the planet Earth.

I think this involves all
issues of science medicine

technology engineering human rights and
torture and

injustice is few truly fueled
by ignorance and insecurity and

is the responsibility of tomorrow's
leaders in college or graduate school.

Everywhere in all fields to pull back
the curtain of bias and bigotry and

to let those whose lives are really living
in sheltered worlds of Iranian snares and

hearsay to see the brightness
in the wisdom of fact.

The future belongs to those who dream.

It belongs to those whose heart yearns for
a better tomorrow for

people who are imprisoned by walls for
non-conforming speech or

imprisoned in thought from ignorance and

perhaps I can close on this by waxing
a little bit thought softly for

two minutes about another time in
history when a time place problems

were embraced in novel ways it was
the fifteenth and sixteenth century and

it was the Renaissance and
it was a period when I search for perfect

ones worldly knowledge transcendent
obstacles and bridged intellectual divides

there were students of creative thought
including Davinci as you see here and

Michelangelo Copernicus and Galileo and
they question conventional wisdom.

And at that same moment the earth at that
moment was finally accepted as round and

the concept of human genius was
defined and there is a balance to what

caused the Renaissance Some say
it was the plate of the late

late fourteenth century that made people
start to think about the human condition.

But maybe our global economic
meltdown is today's play or

perhaps our carbon footprint we're.

Pandemic of our own but
whatever Wrinkle in Time

that one attributes our state of
affairs to let's capture that chance.

Let's find out for

two years to shape a better future
just as Leonardo the quintessential

figure in the whole Florentine Renaissance
invented these intricate.

Pieces of engineering and explored
the mysteries of human anatomy so too.

There are visionaries out there tomorrow
who are going to be able to dream and

give us solutions.

So could the modern era
which is comprised of greed.

Famine of disease of war
becoming to a close and

even though the world doesn't
look that way today but

I do believe that we're at the cusp of a
new renaissance an era that I like to call

the rejuvenating Epic a time when
we join join hands together for

a better cause the chance for greatness
exists in maybe in Seattle or Beijing or

maybe in Dubai and maybe in Bangalore.

But it breeds the air of enthusiasm and
who ever it may be he or

she will build a new vehicle of thought
that course is allegorical oceans

where the storms of uncertainty will lead
to a better horizon and a new world order.

So if Marty McFly and
Doc Brown from back to the future can

whisk Leonardo from his artist palette
today and transport him to the present.

What would he be drawing what would he be
crafting on his artist power what would he

be thinking of would he be thinking about
the escalating gap between the rich and

poor countries would he take with
gadgets that could cleanse the.

The atmosphere from
the crumbs of pollution.

Would he think about how to solve some
of these preventable diseases and

deaths in the developing world.

The foundation behind the Renaissance.

Or the rents on skulls I should say was
the belief that anything in the power of

an in human ingenuity and
then anything was possible.

So everything became possible because
they believed it could be and

the world yearns for
inspirational Renaissance gurus and

the pragmatists claim that money money
is paramount to splendid achievements.

The real currency for change requires more
than dollars euros or yen it require.

As a collective will to
guarantee a paradigm shift

a vision to a secure a better world for
future generations.

So let us recognize that the new moment
is rejuvenating epic is happening now

through grand thoughts and grand
accomplishments of great scientists of and

engineers both here at Georgia Tech and
elsewhere across the world is helping by

doctors in unison and
human rights activists all around.

Let this century show that when the world
welcomes the year twenty one hundred that

a new seed was planted by a cross cultural
society at the dawn of the millennium

to cast away the global troubles of
poverty of inequity in human rights and

a pandemic called AIDS and
the climate in upheaval and

just as the Renaissance masters
cast away conventional concepts.

So too.

Shall we discard fiction a cause
as a nation our thoughts and

let us imagine the unimaginable and
think about all the possibilities.

Let's find a new generation in trusting
those who are now in school or

in even elementary school the ambitious
objectives of securing a better planet.

The global populace desires
twenty first century in

Leonardo's who dare to make
the impossible happen.

Let our Renaissance fashion a new day for
history when

the world reached across societal
divides and embraced a better tomorrow.

The morning's light has come and
we are ready to share and

cross the threshold into
our own far into a moment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I can answer questions if we have time or
maybe.

With.

The

device which one the top.

Of the talking book.

Yes yes actually.

The Border.

I've spoken to people at the border
between Mexico and the United States

is the colonias down there area which is
a very poor part of the country as well as

well as an Appalachian and
we tried to move this forward and

I'm trying to go out to some of the
foundations United States to see if I can

get some funding from them to
use the same technology there.

So so.

What what.

Yes As a matter of fact interesting
should bring that up because I

put it to phone calls and the other day
if not maybe when I was down here and

have a chance to meet with because
that's exactly where we're at.

But would be a great place to talk to.

Yes yes.

If you have some specific
contact that would be great.

I spoke to two people who know people
there but I haven't heard back.

Yes yes yes yes and

that's worse than human rights every
culture and many other things I would

say it's always you know it's always
like the finding kind of concept.

So I'm looking for that but
yes I was thinking that this.

Well Ridgeley it was the government
are there for Afghanistan.

But now I've been looking through all
different sources and sending letters to

foundations and groups and
trying to get funding of reached out so

many places but but things are tight
now but I so believe it's good work and

I agree the crisis and
it's exactly like a question.

Yes.

It's.

Yeah I think I think part of it is that
you have to sort of look at this and

figure out is there a common thread and
what is the.

Ten somethings or psychology so the.

Some of the psychology some of
the science the psychology part of it

like with the talking book thing was
the concept that people didn't think so.

Would be willing to let There has been
husbands would let their wives learn

this stuff in certain parts of
the world but I used the principle.

It was a big I like movies.

So as a movie ental long long time ago
which was about Barbra Streisand playing

your Shiva boy.

Dressed up to learn about the Bible but
he the father did not want her around

the village and I said the same thing
people let people learn things so you have

to look at the psychology the common
thread there was what's the psychology of

what people will want to do at that if you
comply that special psychology principles.

That's that's how I thought the book
would work on the science side.

I think that you have to sort of think
about what are some of the common

denominators out there.

So that's what I think with
the mitochondria what is what is how

the evolution evolve take place.

What is the what is
the thread that sits in.

That sort of carry through all
these different principles.

There was a superstar scientist up in
Boston Judah Folkman who recently died

a couple of years ago and he came up
with this concept a cancer doesn't grow.

Unless the blood vessels feed the cancer.

It makes such sense and you know and
in the end if you think about an embryo

that's developing the first thing is
a pediatric cardiologist the heart forms

really quickly within you
know six eight weeks.

A lot of that's done because you can't
see the rest of the embryo without

the the nutrients.

So that you know he had
the concept with cancer but so

you say OK what's the basic premise
here what would work and if that's it.

You know trying to find some common
thread to something like that but

is there some specific thing
that you're thinking about.

So that's so that's how I sort of I
look at what is the common thing here.

What a.
The don't know what is something

that's what I was thinking with
mitochondria you know what's out there.

There must be some science
works if you just sit back and

think about science has had so much time
or evolution had so much time to work out

all the kinks there that you know
somehow we should be drawing from that

to looking at some of those analogies of
how our nature solves a problem with you.

Given the time that we should
be working towards as well.

Yes.

I

agree it would be great.

You know this is where market
forces come into play.

I actually agree we had this
discussion when I was in Washington.

We've brought in.

The fast food companies and sort of try to
figure out all alternatives on this whole

thing but you know you personally can't
bring all the companies in together and

sort of try to do so because of violence
antitrust laws so you can't do that but

you could try to pressurize pressure them
to sort of change their approach now.

You mention something I want to
bring back the mitochondria thing

because Doug Wallace who's a superstar
mitochondrial research has said this that

if you look at those who eat meat versus
fish in different parts of the world he

said that you can actually realize that
how your body breaks down nutrients and

how it creates energy is different
in different parts of the world for

those now every moves around but
you can actually track around the world.

You know how where someone's from based
on how they're mitochondria actually and

utilize the different
regions because of years and

years and centuries of living in a certain
area of what they what they went after.

Well you know all the healthier diet so

it's better that you're better diet
is always always better as one of my

friends said stay lower in the food chain
grains vegetables you know as you go up

the food chain it becomes
a little bit more difficult.

Thanks.