Why are we doing this?

Innovation is vital to progress. It has brought us extraordinary inventions and remarkable changes to the human condition. But these innovations require trust in order to be widely adopted. This is especially true in health and medicine. 

Never before has the world experienced such profound and rapid advances in medicine and healthcare. New technologies and treatments—precision medicine, digital therapeutics, 3D printing, immunotherapy, gene and stem cell therapies, and artificial intelligence—have arrived or are on their way. As we prepare for the likely result of dramatic breakthroughs, we must work to ensure trust and quality remain at the cornerstone of these advances.

Today, trust is in a precarious position across sectors, even in science and medicine. Consider headlines about the U.S.’s largest outbreak of measles in 25 years and patient concerns about increasing drug costs.

According to the Deloitte 2019 Global Healthcare Outlook, patients and caregivers appear to be demanding change. Dissatisfied with poor service and lack of transparency around price, quality, and safety, today’s healthcare consumers are expecting solutions that are coordinated, convenient, customized, and accessible.

If we want people to embrace discovery and ensure the next miracle drug or therapy comes to fruition, we must work collectively to build trust in the future of medicine. 

That’s why the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) and the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence (CCI) are joining together to convene the nation’s foremost leaders in science, healthcare and academia in an online discussion around the developments that will shape peoples’ health between now and 2040. Trust CoLab will increase understanding of the role trust will play in ensuring people everywhere live longer, better lives.