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Fashionable Health: How to make money helping the poor
Posted on March 13th, 2007 No commentsIt just occurred to me thinking again about my last few meetings with Prof Chu and the idea that instead of preaching behavioral changes for the sake of health, mental sanity, prolonging life or other seemingly far away risks with uncertain consequences, the goal of changing someones health maintenance behavior really ties in very well with culture, social image, fashion. Its amazing how willing we all are to change our behavior, even enduring pain (such as by putting on high heeled shoes) to look fashionable, attractive to the opposite sex etc. Well, why can’t we channel this insatiable urge to look “cool” in front of our peers or “fit in” toward a beneficial health consequence? In my own case, I think to the time I was trying to fit in during high school and ended up learning how to read Chinese characters by singing KTV. Every week, I would buy the latest CDs and bring them home to play them and memorize the characters and every weekend, when my friends and I would go singing, the boys would croon their newest tunes in front of the ladies. It was silly and in any other context, I would not be caught dead trying to sing nor did I have any desire to really learn how to read Chinese at the time, but somehow the incredible need to fit in and be cool and the unquenchable teenage sex drive I had really made “studying” Chinese an imperative part of my life.
So this is really the fundamental idea behind commercializable health interventions, the idea that people don’t change their health behavior for the sake of good health but they might really take to the idea that good health is not just healthy but can be fashionable, sexy or cool too.
Case in point: the explosion of this DMS alum founded website: http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/
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Dartmouth to San Francisco? Sweet
Posted on March 13th, 2007 No commentsJust heard from Dr. N that we might be setting up a deal with a hospital in San Fran to add more clerkship sites for 3rd year! Sweeeet
That is, IF I pass my boards in June