Ep. 105: Leana Wen

Talking Beats with Daniel Lelchuk

"Public health is not just about the care people receive in the hospital. It's about the air they breathe, the water they drink, the food they have access to, the environment in which they live-- that all can determine if they are healthy."

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Renowned public health official Leana Wen is here, discussing her path from Chinese immigrant to admired physician. In her new book Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health, she speaks about her upbringing in Shanghai, her dreams since childhood to become a doctor, and her great mentors in the USA, including former Representative Elijah Cummings. Leana and Daniel of course also journey into the world of music, about with they share a passion. Dr. Wen also offers some candid advice for the public as they try to navigate the complex, changing landscape of COVID-19.

Dr. Leana Wen is an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. A nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, she is also a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, writing on health policy and public health, and an on-air commentator for CNN as a medical analyst. The author of the critically-acclaimed book on patient advocacy, When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests (St. Martin’s Press, 2013), she has a forthcoming memoir to be published July 27th, Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health (Metropolitan Books, 2021).

Previously, she served as health commissioner for the city of Baltimore, where she led the nation’s oldest continuously operating health department to combat the opioid epidemic and improve maternal and child health. She has also worked as director of patient-centered care research in the department of emergency medicine at George Washington University; president of Planned Parenthood; global health fellow at the World Health Organization; consultant to the China Medical Board; and distinguished fellow at the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity.Currently, Dr. Wen serves on the board of directors of Glaukos Corporation and as the chair of the advisory board of the Behavioral Health Group. She is also a member of the board of directors of the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Baltimore Community Foundation. Her previous board experience includes being board chair of Behavioral Health System Baltimore for four years and serving on boards and advisory of boards to more than ten nonprofit and venture-backed health innovation companies.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Wen has received recognition as one of Governing's Public Officials of the Year, Modern Healthcare's Top 50 Physician-Executives, World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders, and TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People.

Dr. Wen lives with her husband and their two young children in Baltimore.