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Health. A New Story.
Where does health begin?
Does it begin with you? Your environment? The food you eat? The people that surround you?
Does it begin when you are born? When you are old enough to take care of yourself? Or when you get sick and it becomes your priority?
Who should be accountable for your health? You? Your government? The medical establishment? How about food producers, farmers, construction companies, car manufacturers, and others whose outputs impact your health? Should they take some responsibility for your health, too?
As a former geneticist and cancer research scientist, when I think of the word ‘health’, I automatically think about the molecular pathways of disease. I think about what goes wrong: a genetic mutation, a chemical modification, a molecular interaction…
Even when I think of social and environmental determinants of health, I still think of them in terms of their impact on molecular pathways. For example, when I think of pesticides, I think of their carcinogenic potential, or when I think of stress, I think of the hormonal changes it triggers.
In search of a fresh perspective, I invited a group of individuals to help me explore the topic of what health means in today’s world. I selected individuals with diverse backgrounds and professional experience. They all worked in…
