150+ Leaders in Health to Speak during 2016 Aspen Ideas Festival Spotlight Health

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 150 groundbreaking thinkers and leaders will gather at the third annual Spotlight Health to discuss the cutting-edge health issues of our time. Spotlight Health is the opening segment of the annual Aspen Ideas Festival and will take place from June 23-26, 2016, in Aspen, CO. The Festival is a partnership of the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A limited number of press passes remain available. To apply, please fill out the form here: http://www.aspenideas.org/festival/press.

Featured speakers include: Robert Califf, Commissioner, US Food and Drug Administration; Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Tom Frieden, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Sir Andrew Witty, CEO, Glaxo Smith Kline; Nicolas Jammet, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Sweetgreen; Jackie Judd, Special Correspondent, "PBS NewsHour"; Musimbi Kanyoro, President and CEO, Global Fund for Women; Eric Lander, President and Founding Director, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Jonathan LaPook, Chief Medical Correspondent, "CBS News"; Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Patti Miller, Director, Too Small to Fall, The Clinton Foundation; Vivienne Ming, Co-Founder, Socos; Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon General; Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Agriculture; and six former commissioners of the US Food and Drug Administration. Conversations are moderated by journalists from The Atlantic and dozens of other leading news organizations.

The public convocation, which will feature one-on-one interviews, panel conversations, film screenings, and more, is a three-day deep dive into global and domestic health. Spotlight Health 2016 will explore four main thematic areas: breakthroughs, the child, the future of food, and ethics.  Back by popular demand is a series of "Medical School" lectures that will challenge attendees to question commonly held medical assumptions. More about this year's program can be found at aspenideas.org/spotlighthealth. Limited passes remain; to register and purchase your pass, please visit aspenideas.org/festival/register.

Over the course of Spotlight Health, a robust and diverse audience is expected in Aspen, CO, and many more will be able to join the conversation online. The Atlantic will on report and produce video from Spotlight Health in a special report at TheAtlantic.com. All video and audio clips of on-stage conversations will be on aspenideas.org and TheAtlantic.com/live, and on the Aspen Institute's YouTube channel. Regular updates from the Festival in the run-up and during the event will be on Facebook.com/aspenideas and on Twitter at @AspenIdeas, @Atlantic_LIVE, and with #SpotlightHealth. Additionally, discussions can be followed all year on the Aspen Ideas Festival blog. 

Presenting underwriters for the 2016 Aspen Ideas Festival Spotlight Health are Booz Allen Hamilton, Mount Sinai Health System, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, SCAN Foundation, and Welltower. Supporting underwriters are Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Children's National Health System, and Consumer Reports. American Osteopathic Association, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CDC Foundation, Pfizer, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Truth Initiative Foundation are contributing underwriters.

About the Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

About The Atlantic
Founded in 1857 and today one of the fastest growing media platforms in the industry, The Atlantic has throughout its history championed the power of big ideas and continues to shape global debate across print, digital, events, and video platforms. With its award-winning digital presence TheAtlantic.com and CityLab.com on cities around the world, The Atlantic is a multimedia forum on the most critical issues of our times—from politics, business, urban affairs, and the economy, to technology, arts, and culture. The Atlantic is the 2016 National Magazine of the Year.

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SOURCE The Aspen Institute