Podcast: Judith Rodin and Ariel Pablos-Méndez of the Rockefeller Foundation

As regular readers know, I was fortunate enough to be invited by the Rockefeller Foundation to Bellagio, Italy, last week for the third of four weeks in a series of conferences called Making the eHealth Connection. The goal was for a small group of technology and healthcare informatics leaders to come up with actionable ideas to use IT to improve the health of people in the developing world.

The week I was there focused on electronic health records and mobile health.

While I was in Bellagio, I interviewed Judith Rodin, Ph.D., president of the Rockefeller Foundation (and former president of the University of Pennsylvania), and Ariel Pablos-Méndez, M.D., managing director of the Rockefeller Foundation and the head of health programs. Unfortunately, there was an echo in the room that found its way onto the recording. And unfortunately the battery ran out of my recorder before I got done chatting with Dr. Pablos.

We also take a while getting into the discussion about IT, but I still think it’s an interesting interview.

Podcast details: Interview with Judith Rodin, Ph.D., and Ariel Pablos-Méndez, M.D., of the Rockefeller Foundation. Recorded July 29, 2008, in Bellagio, Italy. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 14.5 MB, running time 31:41.

1:05 Rationale behind the conferences
1:55 Harnessing the beneficial aspects of globalization to fix the negative effects
2:50 Why e-health in the developing world?
5:00 Affordability, accessibility and quality of care
5:28 “Leapfrog” strategy for bringing technology to underserved areas
6:50 Market opportunities from public-private partnerships, even in poor countries
8:02 E-health as a remedy to globalization of diseases
10:30 Bold, actionable ideas
12:22 “Game-changing ideas” from previous Bellagio conferences
13:15 Welcome to Dr. Ariel Pablos-Méndez
14:05 The foundation’s current attempt to strengthen health systems and long history of creating global programs
15:15 Breaking down the silos of health programs in developing countries
16:05 Worldwide concerns go beyond HIV/AIDS
16:40 Problems with access to care, and the role of telemedicine
17:10 Problems with affordability and efficiency
18:20 Good health at low cost
19:15 Theory that the future will be about more health for the money rather than more money for health
19:45 Current Rockefeller Foundation health programs: access
20:35 Role of the private sector in health systems in developing countries
22:45 E-health in the developing world
23:50 Challenges and opportunities in e-health
24:55 Interoperability issues with legacy systems
26:20 Technology transfer from U.S. institutions to Africa before legacy systems become a problem
27:34 Why the timing is right for IT and for these conferences
28:10 Needs: collaboration, agenda setting, capacity building, evidence, applications
30:00 Bold ideas: British NHS and a system in Sao Paolo, Brazil, sharing code with South Africa and developing a framework strategy for e-health