Dems Should Promote US Medical Leadership
This is a golden age of scientific and medical research that holds tremendous promise for the future.
Remote medical visits and at-home monitoring have expedited diagnoses. We are on the cusp of breakthroughs in treatment for cancer, dementia and other brain diseases,
But most Americans don’t know about the science or take it for granted. Or worse, treat modern medicine with contempt.
It’s no surprise. Improvements tend to be incremental. Medical costs keep rising. Treatment is often inconsistent or in some regions virtually nonexistent. Patients don’t see a “health care system.” Rather, they experience administrative nightmares that make them victims of middle-men that delay or deny treatment. Mis- or disinformation has engendered widespread cynicism about health care options and opportunities.
Joe Biden can make Americans feel better about themselves - and him - if the White House identified with and publicized cutting-edge medical research and technology.
A national forum - a science fair of sorts - could promote:
* The promise of artificial Intelligence to revolutionize medical research, technology, and patient treatment.
* Elon Musk’s Neuralink and other brain implant technologies that offer new approaches to treating a vast array of neurological disorders.
* The work of neuroscientists in West Virginia who’ve pioneered ground-breaking techniques to treat dementia.
* Genetic engineering to treat a wide variety of diseases, including sickle-cell anemia.
Big Pharma is despised by the left, and political figures on the right have made vaccines controversial, but American companies quickly and efficiently developed the technology to end the Covid epidemic and showed the way to protecting against emerging viruses. They should be recognized.
Vaccine research, much of it funded by the federal government - that is, by American taxpayers - shows what we can do when we unite in common cause. NASA, working with partners in the corporate world, made space travel a reality. Now, the private sector is commercializing that effort. The same thing is happening in medical technologies.
A forum in Washington under a non-partisan rubric would be one way for Biden to recognize the scientific and medical community. Inviting Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to participate would, of course, be a smart move.
To maximize visibility, the administration could consider creating a pre-event competition or open it to get a wide-range of participation from the medical establishment, academia, the corporate world, and even alternative medicine progams.
The program doesn’t have to be comprehensive. In fact, it doesn’t have to be held in one day or in one place.
The important thing is to improve morale if country and remind it of one thing: America Works.