Listening Tour

The National Academy of Medicine is committed to learning and drawing inspiration from its diverse membership, as well as community leaders, policy makers, and health, science, and industry leaders nationwide. Between September 2014 and May 2015, NAM president Victor J. Dzau and other members of the NAM’s leadership completed a cross-country Listening Tour, meeting with a range of stakeholders to gather insights that may inform the strategic agendas of the NAM and other groups within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (“the National Academies”).

The Listening Tour made 18 stops in 9 cities, ranging from Google’s headquarters in San Francisco to the Texas Medical Center in Houston to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Participants spoke candidly about the most urgent health challenges facing their communities and constituencies — including health inequity and deficits in health literacy, the spread of chronic illness, and behavioral risk factors for youth — and suggested how the NAM and the Academies might best facilitate solutions. The diverse priorities and innovative ideas that emerged from these conversations will be summarized in a forthcoming series of publications from the NAM.

• Images from the Listening Tour

  

  NAM president Victor Dzau, right, with University of Chicago College of Medicine dean Dimitri Azar, left, Medicine’s Patricia Finn and UI Health’s Robert Winn (center). Photo: Diane M. Smutny

  

  Andy Conrad, Google[x], and Sergey Brin, Google, chat during the Listening Tour event at Google’s headquarters

For more information, contact Morgan Kanarek, Program Manager, at mkanarek@nas.edu.