Mens sana in corpore sano is a line from a Roman poet even we non-Latinists know the translation of: a sound mind in a healthy body. The Romans understood the importance of promoting good health – even for those devoted to the life of the mind.

At the Milken Institute, so do we. Since 1991, we've advanced medical research and public health in hundreds of reports, op-eds, books, Global Conference panels, Capitol Hill briefings, the Lake Tahoe Retreat on Bioscience Innovation, the Celebration of Science in Washington DC, the Summit on Public Health at the CDC and other events in North America, Europe and Asia.

One track of our annual Global Conference convenes prominent scientists, investors, policymakers and philanthropists to focus on health solutions. They've addressed such areas as research funding; eliminating malaria, polio and AIDS from the developing world; meeting the challenges of an aging society; fighting the global obesity epidemic; preventing flu pandemics; corporate wellness programs; the role of nutrition in a healthy society and strategies to overcome antibiotic resistance.

The transformative 2007 publication, "An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease," is still widely cited, especially for its shocking conclusions that obesity costs the United States more than $1 trillion a year. Other Institute reports have explored innovative financing for global health R&D, feeding the world's hungry, the economic return from bioscience funding and the value of U.S. life sciences.

In March, George Washington University announced that its School of Public Health and Health Services would now be the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Washington DC is the center of global health policy, and the Milken Institute School is the leading academic public health institution in Washington. We're proud that, thanks to the Institute's support, GW will have new resources for their vital work.

In 2003, we launched FasterCures to speed removal of barriers to research. Now we're expanding our focus with the Center for Public Health, which will collaborate not only with the Milken Institute School at GW, but also with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and a host of for-profit and nonprofit organizations including other schools of public health. The new Center will engage leaders from industry, government, foundations, universities and philanthropy to help develop effective public health programs. We recognize that such programs are a bulwark against potential health disasters, and their devastating economic effects. Like all of our work, the Center is non-partisan and independent of interest groups.

In coming issues, I'll update you as this work expands. From smoking to obesity to infectious disease, there are plenty of urgent targets where the solutions we help devise will improve lives around the world.

Michael Klowden

CEO and President

Michael Klowden, CEO and President