Heart disease, cancer, and stroke are the leading causes of death—and premature death at that—in the US. These diseases all have several risk factors in common, like smoking, physical inactivity, and poor diet, which policy often views simply as personal choices. We need to begin looking at disease prevention beyond individual decision-making.

In this podcast, I talk with Dr. Anand Parekh, Senator Bill Frist, and Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian on the need for government policymakers to address disease prevention.

Dr. Anand Parekh is the Bipartisan Policy Center’s chief medical advisor, providing clinical and public health expertise across the organization, particularly in the areas of aging, prevention, and global health. As a US Department of Health and Human Services deputy assistant secretary for health from 2008 to 2015, he developed and implemented national initiatives focused on prevention, wellness, and care management. He is the author of Prevention First: Policymaking for a Healthier America.

Senator Bill Frist is a heart and lung transplant surgeon and former US Senate majority leader. He led passage of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act and the historic PEPFAR HIV/AIDS legislation that has saved millions of lives worldwide. As the founder and director of the Vanderbilt Multi-Organ Transplant Center, he has performed over 150 heart and lung transplants, authored over 100 peer-reviewed medical articles, and published seven books.

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, Dean and Jean Mayer Professor at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and professor of medicine at Tufts Medical School. He has authored more than 400 scientific publications on dietary priorities for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases and on evidence-based policy approaches to reduce these burdens in the US and globally. He has served in numerous advisory roles, including for the US and Canadian governments.⁣⁣ ⁣

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