Life Science
Sustainable Society is very concerned about the current state of our health-care system. Despite all of our medical advances, debilitating illnesses and diseases still plague the human race.
Continued studies and research into multiple applications in the life sciences must be developed through collaborative efforts. Sustainable Society’s mission is to facilitate these endeavors by serving as a forum for the free flow of ideas and practices between organizations, businesses, and individuals.
The possibilities for achieving a more optimal level of health are endless through collaborative efforts. Our goal is to be a resource to everyone who wishes to create a better world for tomorrow through the life sciences. Our fact-finding research, facilitated by our year-long dialogue through the SVTIC program and video presentations, is designed specifically to meet these goals.
1. Integrative Medicine
Traditional Western medicine has a lot to offer in terms of life-saving medicines and procedures. Medical research has produced an astonishing array of vaccines to treat diseases from tuberculosis to meningitis. The scourge of small pox has been eliminated, and polio, where it still exists, can now be effectively cured 90% of the time. The Foundation for AIDS Research estimates that 34 million people worldwide have HIV/AIDS. Thanks to antiretroviral drugs, significant strides
have been made in the treatment of this once fatal disease. In the developing world, Guinea-worm disease is on the way out and river blindness has been virtually eliminated in 11 African countries. The antibiotic, penicillin, discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, and which we all take for granted, is the result of the Western scientific method. Enormous strides have been made in the treatment of heart and neurodegenerative diseases, head and spinal trauma, and epilepsy. The artificial heart, heart-lung machine, and brain-activated robotic arm are all products of scientific ingenuity in the service of traditional Western medicine.
What traditional Western medicine does not excel at is preventive care. Integrating traditional Western medicine with alternative health-care practices offers the best solution. The strength of alternative health care is that it treats the person as a whole and strives to prevent illness by bringing the body to a state of optimal health.
Sustainable Society is committed to promoting alternative health-care choices and various practices that are currently available throughout the world from chiropractic treatments, traditional Chinese medicine, holistic resources, to healthier lifestyles. These modalities need to be incorporated into health-care studies and research. Individuals who benefit from them can then share their experiences and assist the health-care system to cut costs and enable people around the world to lead healthier and more productive lives.
2. Research
Although the practice of integrative medicine is a good approach to health care, it is still not enough. The medical community still does not know how to cure some of the conditions that afflict so many people, such as depression, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, etc. More emphasis in the life sciences needs to be placed on trying to understand why people get these illnesses, so that preventive measures and cures can be found. For example, there is so much that the medical community does not yet understands about our DNA, brains and neurological systems, and how environmental factors affect our health. To improve the quality of our health, scientists must learn more through research.
Two notable examples of individuals spearheading change through leading-edge research are Dr. Craig Venter and Paul Allen. Dr. Venter and his team did the first sequencing of the entire human genome. Dr. Venter is passionate about the power of genomics to radically transform health care. Characterizing multiple individual genomes holds the key to enabling researchers to unlock the complexities of human variation in cancer and other diseases, and also paves the way for the use of personal genome sequencing in medicine and health care. Launched by Paul Allen's seed money, the Allen Institute for Brain Science is a nonprofit medical research organization dedicated to discovering new relationships between the brain, genes, behavior, disease, and health. One of the projects pioneered by the Institute is the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas. This ambitious online interactive map is a powerful tool that promises to shed light on the mysteries of the spinal cord at the cellular and molecular levels, and how it is impacted by disease or injury.
3. An Alternative Approach to Health Care
In the current state of health care, doctors spend only a brief time with patients. Although providing temporary relief from physical symptoms, one of the most vital components of human wellness is often overlooked, and that is compassion. Patients facing illnesses need emotional support and encouragement. They need to know that their health-care provider truly cares about them as individuals and is willing to do all that is humanly possible to make them well. Our mental well-being is just as important as a well cared-for body. Bringing compassion back to health care will give patients a more positive outlook, which will lead to faster and more complete healing.
Our health is the most important thing we have. Each of us has only one body and one mind. Sustainable Society believes that we must learn to take care of both to improve the quality of our lives. The practice of integrative medicine, research in the life sciences, and compassion in health care are the three-pronged approach to improving the health of people worldwide.
Continued studies and research into multiple applications in the life sciences must be developed through collaborative efforts. Sustainable Society’s mission is to facilitate these endeavors by serving as a forum for the free flow of ideas and practices between organizations, businesses, and individuals.
The possibilities for achieving a more optimal level of health are endless through collaborative efforts. Our goal is to be a resource to everyone who wishes to create a better world for tomorrow through the life sciences. Our fact-finding research, facilitated by our year-long dialogue through the SVTIC program and video presentations, is designed specifically to meet these goals.
1. Integrative Medicine
Traditional Western medicine has a lot to offer in terms of life-saving medicines and procedures. Medical research has produced an astonishing array of vaccines to treat diseases from tuberculosis to meningitis. The scourge of small pox has been eliminated, and polio, where it still exists, can now be effectively cured 90% of the time. The Foundation for AIDS Research estimates that 34 million people worldwide have HIV/AIDS. Thanks to antiretroviral drugs, significant strides
have been made in the treatment of this once fatal disease. In the developing world, Guinea-worm disease is on the way out and river blindness has been virtually eliminated in 11 African countries. The antibiotic, penicillin, discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, and which we all take for granted, is the result of the Western scientific method. Enormous strides have been made in the treatment of heart and neurodegenerative diseases, head and spinal trauma, and epilepsy. The artificial heart, heart-lung machine, and brain-activated robotic arm are all products of scientific ingenuity in the service of traditional Western medicine.
What traditional Western medicine does not excel at is preventive care. Integrating traditional Western medicine with alternative health-care practices offers the best solution. The strength of alternative health care is that it treats the person as a whole and strives to prevent illness by bringing the body to a state of optimal health.
Sustainable Society is committed to promoting alternative health-care choices and various practices that are currently available throughout the world from chiropractic treatments, traditional Chinese medicine, holistic resources, to healthier lifestyles. These modalities need to be incorporated into health-care studies and research. Individuals who benefit from them can then share their experiences and assist the health-care system to cut costs and enable people around the world to lead healthier and more productive lives.
2. Research
Although the practice of integrative medicine is a good approach to health care, it is still not enough. The medical community still does not know how to cure some of the conditions that afflict so many people, such as depression, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, etc. More emphasis in the life sciences needs to be placed on trying to understand why people get these illnesses, so that preventive measures and cures can be found. For example, there is so much that the medical community does not yet understands about our DNA, brains and neurological systems, and how environmental factors affect our health. To improve the quality of our health, scientists must learn more through research.
Two notable examples of individuals spearheading change through leading-edge research are Dr. Craig Venter and Paul Allen. Dr. Venter and his team did the first sequencing of the entire human genome. Dr. Venter is passionate about the power of genomics to radically transform health care. Characterizing multiple individual genomes holds the key to enabling researchers to unlock the complexities of human variation in cancer and other diseases, and also paves the way for the use of personal genome sequencing in medicine and health care. Launched by Paul Allen's seed money, the Allen Institute for Brain Science is a nonprofit medical research organization dedicated to discovering new relationships between the brain, genes, behavior, disease, and health. One of the projects pioneered by the Institute is the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas. This ambitious online interactive map is a powerful tool that promises to shed light on the mysteries of the spinal cord at the cellular and molecular levels, and how it is impacted by disease or injury.
3. An Alternative Approach to Health Care
In the current state of health care, doctors spend only a brief time with patients. Although providing temporary relief from physical symptoms, one of the most vital components of human wellness is often overlooked, and that is compassion. Patients facing illnesses need emotional support and encouragement. They need to know that their health-care provider truly cares about them as individuals and is willing to do all that is humanly possible to make them well. Our mental well-being is just as important as a well cared-for body. Bringing compassion back to health care will give patients a more positive outlook, which will lead to faster and more complete healing.
Our health is the most important thing we have. Each of us has only one body and one mind. Sustainable Society believes that we must learn to take care of both to improve the quality of our lives. The practice of integrative medicine, research in the life sciences, and compassion in health care are the three-pronged approach to improving the health of people worldwide.