Sue Desmond-Hellmann on Health, Networks, Social Media | Big Think.

Sue Desmond-Hellmann on Health, Networks, Social Media

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Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, sees Twitter and Facebook as tremendous tools for encouraging communities to make healthier choices. "As a physician, so often an impediment to getting things done is human behavior. We're trying to change human behavior all the time. Stop smoking. Exercise more. Get your children vaccinated. Human behavior is a powerful positive, and some human behaviors can be a powerful negative in really advancing health worldwide and accomplish the things that we're trying to accomplish here." But when communities are connected, either through the web or just in a neighborhood, the flaws of human behavior can be overcome.

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SUE DESMOND-HELLMANN:

Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann is the Chief Executive Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a position she has held since May 2014. Dr. Desmond-Hellmann leads the foundation's efforts to promote equity for all people around the world. She sets strategic priorities, monitors results, and facilitates relationships with key partners while drawing on her past experience in health and medicine.

Prior to joining the foundation in 2014, she was Chancellor of the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), responsible for all aspects of the professional and graduate schools, medical center, and research programs. She oversaw an in-depth review of the University’s business model, developed a comprehensive strategic plan, supported the creation of research partnerships with industry leaders such as Pfizer and Bayer, and appointed UCSF’s first Vice Chancellor of Diversity and Outreach. She remains a full tenured professor at UCSF.

Prior to UCSF, she spent 14 years at Genentech, where she served in a number of roles, ending as President, Product Development (2004 – 2009). In March 2013, she was appointed to the board of directors at Facebook Inc., and since 2010 she has served on the board of directors of the Procter & Gamble Company.

Dr. Desmond-Hellmann completed her undergraduate education and medical studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, followed by clinical training at UCSF, where she served as associate adjunct professor of epidemiology and biostatistics. She is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology and holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley. During her training at UCSF, she spent two years as a visiting faculty member at the Uganda Cancer Institute studying HIV/AIDS and cancer. She later worked for two years in private practice as a medical oncologist before returning to clinical research.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Sue Desmond-Hellmann: My first year at The Gates Foundation has been terrific. I feel like every day is a gift. I have enormous respect and pride in my colleagues and every day I meet somebody who amazes me. I think my self-awareness as a leader comes from the energy I get from colleagues. One of my favorite things to do is to ask for feedback or to learn from colleagues. And the self-awareness I have it really comes from a place of deep respect for what other people know and contribute.

As a leader in 2015, I've grown to be fond of social media. And so I'm one of those people who's on Twitter and on Facebook. And I think that the social network has enormous power to bring people together and to connect people in meaningful ways. As a physician, so often an impediment to getting things done is human behavior. We're trying to change human behavior all the time. Stop smoking. Exercise more. Get your children vaccinated. Human behavior is a powerful positive, and some human behaviors can be a powerful negative in really advancing health worldwide and accomplishing the things that we're trying to accomplish here. So I'm intrigued by the power of connecting people, of some of the facts that are well-known in medicine about if your neighborhood is healthy, you tend to be healthy. If your social circle, whether it's real or virtual is unhealthy and has unhealthy habits, so do you. So I think in the causes we care about in advancing both education in the U.S. and global health and global development worldwide, I feel like we've only scratched the surface of how we use human connection. Whatever technology allows for that human connection in meaningful ways to help us with what we're trying to do.

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