Leana Wen
Dr. Leana Wen on Addiction as a Disease
Leana Wen
Keynote Speaker
Washington Post Columnist, Author, and Public Health Expert
Dr. Leana Wen is an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University. She is a CNN medical analyst and contributing columnist for The Washington Post, where she writes a weekly column and anchors the new Post newsletter, "The Checkup with Dr. Wen". Previously, she served as Baltimore's Health Commissioner. Her new book is Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.
Request Availability
Contact WSB for Leana Wen's speaking fee
Dr. Leana Wen is a practicing physician, healthcare executive, and one of America’s leading public health experts. She is a columnist for The Washington Post, where she writes a twice-weekly column on medicine and public health and anchors the Post newsletter, “The Checkup with Dr. Wen”. She is also a clinical associate professor at George Washington University, where she is a distinguished fellow of the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity; a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; the host of HLTH’s The Beat Executive Video Series; and a frequently featured on-air commentator, including as a medical analyst for CNN and guest contributor for NPR, PBS and BBC.
Previously, she served as Baltimore’s Health Commissioner, where she led the nation’s oldest continuously operating health department in the U.S. to fight the opioid epidemic, address disparities and mental health access, and improve maternal and child health. She is author of two critically acclaimed books, When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests and Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.
Dr. Wen obtained her medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine and studied health policy at the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She completed her residency training in emergency medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital & Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was a clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School.
A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Wen has received recognition as one of Governing’s Public Officials of the Year, Modern Healthcare’s Top 50 Physician-Executives, World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders, and TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.
Featured Videos
Leana Wen
Discussion with Nick Kristof on the launch of Dr. Wen’s new book, Lifelines
Leana Wen
U.S. News Live interview with Dr. Wen on her memoir
Leana Wen
Interview with the Harvard School of Public Health’s Dean
Leana Wen
Dr. Wen – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health commencement
Leana Wen
Dr. Wen’s TEDx talk about innovations in urban public health
Leana Wen
Dr. Leana Wen on Keeping Compassion in Healthcare
Leana Wen
Dr. Leana Wen on Addiction as a Disease
Leana Wen’s Speech Topics
-
The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
Hear the perspective of a practicing physician and Washington Post columnist who is an expert on the digital transformation of healthcare. She will delve into the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence in medicine, going through use cases of predictive and generative AI to explain how AI can improve diagnosis, personalize treatment and reduce inefficiencies. She will also present pitfalls, the need for regulatory guardrails, and why digital fluency is so crucial for the healthcare sector. Depending on interest, she can also into other aspects of tech and health, such as applications of telemedicine and digital health strategies that have enabled remote patient monitoring and at-home diagnostics and “hospital at home” treatment.
-
Navigating the Health Policy Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
One of the foremost experts on public health and health policy, Washington Post columnist Dr. Leana Wen, can speak on major policy issues in today’s ever-changing landscape. From prescription drug reform to the promises of new technology such as artificial intelligence to the threats to vaccine access and renewed focus on mental health, population health, and integrated care, Dr. Wen presents a compelling picture of the current landscape. She then guides the audience to consider opportunities for how to proceed in light of these trends.
-
Post-Pandemic Lessons, Trends, and Implications for the Future of Healthcare
Dr. Leana Wen has been one of the nation’s most prominent experts during the COVID-19 pandemic, called upon for her expertise by Congress, state, and local governments, and featured daily on CNN, NPR, and PBS. She can speak to what the pandemic revealed about social determinants of health, mental health access, and health preparedness, then cover what major trends are ahead. What does the future look like for digital health and telemedicine? What innovations has the pandemic spurred, from AI to payment reform to behavioral health treatment? And what can be done to address rampant burnout among health professionals?
-
A Practical Playbook to Focus on Population Health
Dr. Wen is a leading national expert on population health. During the COVID-19 crisis, she was asked to testify four times to the U.S. House of Representatives on the unequal impact of the pandemic on communities of color. While she served as Baltimore’s health commissioner, she reconfigured the agency to specifically focus on population health and health equity. She upon these lessons, outlined in her book Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health, and gives specific examples of successful innovations that reduce disparities and improve health for all.
-
Mental Health and Well-Being
Dr. Wen brings audiences insights from her work as a practicing physician and expert in addressing mental health and addiction policy. She shares personal experiences, strategies to combat isolation and reestablish connection, and best practices for employee health from around the world. She describes the often-hidden epidemic of addiction, including to alcohol and opioids, and the growing need for education and regulation of marijuana and psychedelic usage. Finally, she talks about the future of work, and outlines for audiences a framework for incorporating mental and physical wellness and resiliency practices into the office, home and everyday life.
-
Women in Leadership
Women, and women leaders, face distinctive challenges in the workplace. Trained in trauma/ER medicine and having been one of many “firsts” as a woman of color, Dr. Wen speaks from first-hand experience and from her professional research about the challenges and opportunities for women in leadership. These include advice for women about the “double bind” and “glass cliff,” such as owning one’s authentic identity and negotiating societal expectations. Dr. Wen also gives talks in crisis leadership and overcoming adversity. These include lessons from innovative leadership locally and nationally, drawing upon her background convening unlikely stakeholders around shared goals; leading collective impact, public-private collaborations in public health; and getting to points of agreement in turbulent and polarizing environments.
Featured News
-
MedPage Today -
Wall Street Journal Physician Leana Wen Is a Public-Health Pragmatist
-
Washington Post CNN’s Leana Wen: ‘Public health is now under attack in a way that it has not been before’
Works by Leana Wen
Leana Wen Topics & Types
- AAPI Speakers
- Authors
- Business Speakers
- Business Executive Speakers
- CEO Speakers
- Cancer Speakers
- Cancer Survivor Speakers
- Change Management Speakers
- Communication Speakers
- Coronavirus Speakers
- Crisis Management Speakers
- Current Events Speakers
- Diversity & Inclusion Speakers
- Employee Engagement Speakers
- Gender Equality Speakers
- Generational Speakers
- Global & Public Health Speakers
- Health & Healthcare Speakers
- Healthcare Economics Speakers
- Healthcare Leader Speakers
- Healthcare Policy Speakers
- Speakers on Healthcare Sciences
- Journalists & Broadcasters
- Leadership Speakers
- Mental Health Speakers
- Mindfulness Speakers
- Motivational Speakers
- Overcoming Adversity Speakers
- Productivity Speakers
- Resilience Speakers
- STEM Speakers
- Science Speakers
- Substance Abuse Speakers
- TED Speakers
- Thought-Provoking Speakers
- Virtual Speakers
- Women Leadership Speakers
- Work Life Balance Speakers
REQUEST AVAILABILITY
Tell us about your event and the speaker you are interested in booking and we will be in touch right away.