Why does a teenage girl in Sri Lanka have a better chance of reaching age 60 than her American counterpart, despite America spending more on healthcare than any other nation?
Join the Healthcare Reinvention Collaborative for a compelling conversation with Dr. Stephen Bezruchka, physician, public health expert, and author, as he reveals the shocking truth behind America’s health crisis. Although the U.S. accounts for nearly half the world’s healthcare spending, we rank behind more than 40 other countries in life expectancy.
Dr. Bezruchka draws from his extraordinary career – from Harvard mathematician to emergency physician in Seattle to community health pioneer in Nepal – to challenge our fundamental assumptions about what truly creates health.
Discover why:
The first 1,000 days after conception shape half your adult health outcomes
How economic inequality becomes biologically embedded
Why medical care can only prevent about 10% of premature deaths
This provocative talk will challenge your assumptions, spark new ideas, and shift the conversation from “more care” to “what truly makes us healthy.” Whether you work in healthcare, policy, or simply care about the future of our communities, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.
Come curious. Leave transformed.
Guest Bio:
Stephen Bezruchka is a senior lecturer in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health and the Department of Global Health. He worked in clinical medicine for 35 years, including more than a decade in Nepal, where he set up a hospital for training generalist doctors and worked to improve surgical services. Dr. Bezruchka founded the Population Health Forum to promote dialogue about how political, economic, and social inequalities interact to affect the overall health status of society. He despairs the relative and absolute health decline in the United States, despite this nation spending more on health care than the rest of the world combined. Dr. Bezruchka was awarded the School of Public Health’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2002, the Faculty Community Service Award in 2008, and the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award in 2017. He is on the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility board of directors. Dr. Bezruchka earned an MPH from Johns Hopkins University and an M.D. from Stanford University. Dr. Bezruchka’s most recent book, “Inequality Kills Us All” examines how economic and social inequality leads to poorer health and higher mortality, and how living in a society with entrenched hierarchies increases the adverse effects of illnesses for everyone.