How Traditional Healthcare Will Expand into Prevention and Wellness


We’re bringing together leaders across healthcare and self-care to discuss what this very different future will look like—a future where wellness takes a much bigger role in medicine and science takes a much bigger role in wellness

The Global Wellness Summit (GWS), the foremost gathering of international leaders in the multitrillion-dollar global wellness economy, today announced its first round of speakers for the 2021 Summit taking place in person in Boston, Massachusetts, and virtually all over the world (November 30 to December 3). The theme for the 15th annual conference is “A New New Era in Health & Wellness.” The agenda will explore the very different future ahead as healthcare and wellness converge in more obvious ways. The key topic announced today is how the pandemic has ushered in a new era in traditional medical care, as it actively pivots to focus on prevention and more holistic wellness.

“Traditional medicine and wellness have long had a siloed, even combative relationship, but COVID has accelerated new conversations and collaborations as healthcare digests the human and economic costs of not focusing on prevention,” said Susie Ellis, chair and CEO of GWS. “Everything is getting a ‘rethink’: Healthcare is shifting in so many ways to a more holistic model of health and wellbeing, just as wellness companies are now forced to embrace hard science and evidence. We’re bringing together leaders across healthcare and self-care to discuss what this very different future will look like—a future where wellness takes a much bigger role in medicine and science takes a much bigger role in wellness.”

The Boston-based 2021 Summit will gather leading doctors and healthcare executives from research organizations such as Harvard, MIT, Cleveland Clinic and Pfizer to tackle this topic. To see a preview of 2021 speakers, click here (check back for updates).

Select speakers on the future of healthcare:

Michael Roizen, MD, is the first Chief Wellness Officer and an internist and anesthesiologist at the Cleveland Clinic and co-chair of this year’s conference. The author of five #1 New York Times best sellers, his career has been focused on motivating behavior change to help people live better and in better health for much longer. His keynote will explore how a new focus on longevity and longevity science will transform medicine.

Jeffrey Rediger, MD, is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and a practicing physician at McLean Hospital. Firmly rooted in traditional medicine, his book Cured is the result of his spending 17 years exhaustively studying individuals who have “spontaneously” recovered from incurable illnesses (whether cancer or arthritis)—research that persuaded him that it’s way past time to embrace holistic health that focuses on an individual’s needs, while not eschewing the proven results modern medicine offers.

Susan Silbermann is a former top executive at Pfizer who, prior to her retirement earlier this year after a 30-year career at the pharmaceutical giant, chaired Pfizer’s Global COVID-19 Task Force. She will lead a provocative panel with leading pharmaceutical executives on some eye-opening new intersections between wellness, healthcare and medicine.

Nicola Finley, MD, a board-certified internal medicine physician and faculty member at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, will lead a panel on how the pandemic exposed inequities in both healthcare and wellness and how that will be tackled in the future.

Registration is now open for the in-person event at the Encore Boston Harbor; space is extremely limited. The 2020 GWS pioneered new ways to keep attendees safe at a conference, and 2021 will be no different. All delegates must provide proof of vaccination.

Virtual delegates from around the world will be hosted by Anna Bjurstam, Six Senses Wellness Pioneer and a GWS Board Member, who provided the dynamic virtual experience during last year’s event. Virtual attendees will have access to the entire on-stage agenda—live and on-demand—as well as special breakout sessions and online networking opportunities. Register to attend virtually here.

Editor’s Note: The GWS will issue speaker and panel announcements weekly in the lead-up to the 2021 event. To apply to attend the Summit in person or virtually as media, please fill out the media accreditation form. Media in-person attendance is limited.

About the Global Wellness Summit —The Global Wellness Summit is the premier organization that brings together leaders and visionaries to positively shape the future of the $4.5 trillion global wellness economy. Its future-focused conference is held at a different global location each year and has traveled to the US, Switzerland, Turkey, Bali, India, Morocco, Mexico, Austria, Italy and Singapore. GWS also hosts regular virtual gatherings, including Wellness Master Classes, Wellness Sector Spotlights and Investor “Reverse Pitch” events. The organization’s annual Global Wellness Trends Report offers expert-based predictions on the future of wellness. The 2021 Summit will be held in Boston from November 30–December 3.

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