My initial reaction was to move when I heard that the US comes in 50th in life expectancy. Dr. Stephen Bezruchka had a different response – “we need to change it”. His research has identified the cause and cure for our life being cut short.
Who holds the magic bullet for longevity? Japan.
“After 18,000 deaths in Japan’s tragic disaster last year, they are still the winners in the ‘Global Health Olympics’ and live 5 years longer than us.”
What is the magic bullet? Equity. America’s growing inequality is killing us.
“The top wage earner in America made 300,000 times more a minute than Washington’s minimum wage earner. The gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger and it has a direct impact on our health outcome.”
Dr. Stephen Bezruchka’s mountain of empirical evidence uncovers an undeniable and shocking truth about what makes populations healthy. Bezruchka studied math at Harvard, then received his M.D. from Stanford. After over 30 years in Emergency Medicine and years of work in rural Nepal, he wanted to better understand the societal causes of illness so he earned a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins. As a senior lecturer at UW, Bezruchka “teaches, writes and talks” to share his research outcomes indicating the cause and cure of our health problems.
You can catch Dr. Bezruchka speaking on Saturday morning at the Western Regional International Health Conference. You can also see him on TEDxTalks, or learn more at the Population Health Forum where the community works to increase societal health and to close the gap of inequality.
