Institute News

Last year, some 14,000 people participated in Milken Institute events, ranging from big (nearly 4,000 participants at the Global Conference) to not so big (working sessions on a single issue gathering 20 key stakeholders). Yet Institute researchers and policy specialists also find time to produce a variety of publications. A recent sampling, all available on the Institute’s website.

The Science of Patient Input 

Across biomedical research and care, there’s been an accelerating trend toward patient-centered approaches – and the Institute’s FasterCures group is helping drive the shift. A key component in spurring better outcomes for patients is getting more data in timely fashion; to that end patient registries are playing an increasingly important role.   

These registries are organized systems for collecting uniform data for a population defined by a particular disease or condition, making them useful across broad scientific, clinical and policy endeavors. With federal policy now promoting data collection, and computing advances that make data analysis ever more robust, the need for some rules of the road are greater than ever, however. Hence the purpose of FasterCures’ recently published study, based in part on a survey of scores of patient organizations. The report, “Expanding the Science of Patient Input: Building Smarter Patient Registries” is a timely primer for both patients and policymakers.

Nutrition in Southeast Asia

Malnutrition remains an issue in a dismayingly large number of countries. And it ranks as a true public health disaster across Southeast Asia, which suffers from a dual burden: a rise in both under-nutrition and over-nutrition.  Many families in the region lack access to enough food, leading to high infant mortality, delayed development and impaired cognition. By the same token, rapid urbanization and rising incomes are contributing to an obesity epidemic.   

Overtaxed public health systems are having a hard time responding adequately to this dual burden. The Institute’s Asia Center is seeking ways to engage new forms of capital willing to support effective intervention programs. Last June, the center hosted a Financial Innovations Lab that gathered researchers, academics, philanthropists and policymakers to examine what’s worked in other regions and how those solutions could be applied to Southeast Asia. The summary of that event, “Innovative Finance to Address Nutrition in Southeast Asia,” was published in January. 

Latest and Greatest in FinTech

Innovation in financial technology is tough to keep up with. The Institute’s Center for Financial Markets is working to close the knowledge dissemination gap with FinTech in Focus, a compilation of must-read stories about the role technology is playing in financial services. The newsletter curates a selection of the week’s top domestic and international articles about this innovative, fast-growing sector. Topics include digital and electronic currencies, digital payment systems, online investment and finance platforms, and big data and machine learning.  FinTech in Focus is accessible (at no cost) on the Institute’s blog, Currency of Ideas.