It has taken the pandemic to show that the healthcare systems of the 20th Century are no longer fit for purpose. Covid has been the defining health crisis of the decade, but, if nothing else, it has proved that there must be a global rethink of public health policy and preventive medicine. Nothing should be off the table.

It will take investment, ingenuity and humility – not to mention global cooperation between governments, business, scientists, practitioners and people – to imagine, and quickly deliver, new innovations in health that are sorely needed.

Tortoise will convene a one-day virtual summit looking at immediate challenges facing our health. We’ll be talking with health professionals, scientists and patients to address the challenges that we face in the next decade. We’ll be asking and answering urgent questions such as: Are we ready for the next pandemic? Do we need to change the funding model for the NHS? And how can the transformative potential of health tech deliver real change in our lifetime?

Sessions include:

• Do we need to change the funding model of the NHS?
• Can we cure Alzheimer’s?
• Are we ready for the next pandemic?
• Health inequalities: how can everyone access the help they need?
• Can we defuse the mental health timebomb?
• Can we learn to live with Covid?

Speakers include:

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind.

Dr Clare Gerada, Chair of Doctors in Distress and former chairperson of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Bryony Gordon, podcaster and journalist.

Professor Bart de Strooper, Director of the UK-Dementia Research Institute.

Dr Philippa Whitford, Shadow SNP Spokesperson on Health and Social Care and breast surgeon.

Stuart McDonald, Head of Demographic Assumptions and Methodology, Lloyds Banking Group.

The format

The Global Health Summit is a one day programme of virtual conversations hosted by Tortoise. The summit will bring together 20-30 leading thinkers and commentators along with 2,000+ individuals from around the world.

Sessions will be hosted using Tortoise’s award-winning ThinkIn format, encouraging open dialogue between experts and attendees. Sessions will be moderated by senior Tortoise Editors, including James Harding, Editor and Co-Founder, Matt d'Ancona, Editor and Partner, and Ceri Thomas, Editor.

About Tortoise

Tortoise is a new media organisation focused on slow news and opening up journalism. At the heart of Tortoise is the ThinkIn – our live journalism event that is modelled on an editorial conference. We host ThinkIns every day for our members and we are delighted to have hosted recent ThinkIns with Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister; Ana Botin, Executive Chair, Banco Santander; Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England and Dave Lewis, former CEO, Tesco; and Pascal Soriot, CEO, AstraZeneca.

Tortoise was founded by James Harding, former Editor of The Times and Director of News at the BBC; Katie Vanneck-Smith, former President of Dow Jones, and Matthew Barzun, President Obama’s Ambassador to the UK and Sweden.