The Personal and Personalized Journey through LIFE ITSELF
What is the meaning of life itself? This is a very personal question with varied responses depending on age, experience, and overall health of an individual. For some, life itself is about spending quality time with family and friends; and for others, it might be taking on new challenges and a quest for knowledge. If you are of a certain age, you may be an unpaid caregiver who is looking after aging parents while attending to younger children – sometimes under the same roof. These are individuals that Alexandra Drane refers to as Archangels, and her mission is to help and support this critical group.
Alexandra and others like her shared these stories at LIFE ITSELF, a new, in-person event celebrating extraordinary minds and ideas intersecting health and medicine and sponsored by Rightpoint. Founded by Marc Hodosh and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, LIFE ITSELF brought together leaders, innovators, policy makers and investors from healthcare, technology, and entertainment to discuss key issues. The gathering took place over three days in San Diego and consisted of 10–20-minute TED-style talks and fire side conversations from the likes of Marc Cuban, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Goldie Hawn and Norman Lear.
The Founders and Co-hosts of the Event
Our co-hosts for the event, and founders of LIFE ITSELF, are Marc and Sanjay. Marc Hodosh co-created and hosted the TEDMED Conferences previously, and this event feels like the next iteration. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a neurosurgeon and Emmy-award winning chief medical correspondent for CNN, another partner for the event. The concept for the gathering was born out of a simple idea: that those individuals working to advance science and medicine should be celebrated and cheered – just like we do athletes and entertainers. So often, their hard work, determination, and results are drowned out by other news in the media.
When asked by Sanjay about what motivates him for Life Itself, Marc replied: “All medical issues and disease and suffering is stuff that should be solved. The world should focus on it.” (See video here at 2:05) The mix of attendees for the event and their viewpoints and ideas is an amazing way to, as Marc puts it “…be with others from outside their box, in order to think outside their box.” As the event progressed, it was emotional and inspirational to see these new ideas presented in an engaging and accessible way.