One woman’s company is putting tens of thousands of living cells on a micro-engineered block of polymer the size of a double-A battery—and using these “organ chips” to test new drugs and study human tissue. Another is pushing to redefine what it means to be healthy. (The answer, she says, includes having enough food and safe housing, too—and that’s what she’s helping to deliver to many.) A third is using blockchain technology—the distributed digital ledger behind Bitcoin—to make our insane medical payment system more efficient.
All three women are on Fortune’s list of 34 Leaders Who Are Changing Health Care, which is live online (love to say that) on Fortune.com right spanking now—and which appears in full analog glory in our May 1 issue, speeding to mailboxes and newsstands this moment.
A fourth woman, another fast-rising entrepreneur, is at the forefront of regenerative medicine; a fifth left the globe-circling media empire she founded in order to focus full time on bringing the gospel of wellness to billions. A sixth pushed through one challenge after another to bring genetic testing directly to consumers.
And, yes, our list has a few men on it, too.
Take a moment, if you would, to check out these nearly three dozen change agents—the policy visionaries, the fierce disrupters, the corporate innovators, the courageous patient advocates, the discovers, and the risk-takers who put their acumen, money, and soul into bringing new med-tech businesses into the world.
Along with our leaders list, we’ve also got a deep and thoughtful examination of the progress being made today on five frontiers of digital health—from telemedicine to genomics to modern drug delivery—which includes a close look at 21 companies who are leading the charge.
The package is part of our spectacular FUTURE ISSUE of Fortune—which, take it from a long-term reader like me, is worth subscribing to. Seriously, please sign up for an all-access subscription and support the real-news revolution today. We can’t make this happen without you. And besides, nothing like having the future waiting for you at your front door.
This essay appears in today’s edition of the Fortune Brainstorm Health Daily. Get it delivered straight to your inbox.
