Global health leadership; heart transplant technology; lessons in innovation – Morning Medical Update

Global health security

President Joe Biden announced a new Global Health Security Strategy with actions the nation will take over the next five years to prevent, detect and respond to biological threats wherever they emerge. Read the president’s statement here and a fact sheet on the strategy here.

Hearts in time

Heart transplants are limited by the number of donors. Even when a healthy heart can be donated to someone who needs it, there is just a limited time to transplant it, usually six hours or less. Researchers say they have found a way to keep pig hearts alive outside the body for 24 hours. If this technology can be used for humans, it “would be a major improvement” in clinical practice. Here is the study and an accompanying news release.

Inviting innovation

Because innovation happens everywhere, health care leaders may find lessons in other areas of endeavor. Consider aviation and how the Allies battled Nazis in the sky during World War II. An expert explains how developing the famed P-51 Mustang fighter plane that protected bombers required vision, creativity and challenging existing assumptions.