Title : Why public health must prioritize practitioner wellness: The missing infrastructure for sustainable innovation
Abstract:
Background: Public health systems worldwide face a critical paradox: while innovation accelerates through digital health, artificial intelligence, and new care delivery models, public health professionals themselves experience unprecedented burnout and wellness crises. This disconnect threatens the sustainability of innovation and the equity of global health delivery.
Objective: This presentation examines why practitioner wellness must be recognized as foundational infrastructure—not a supplemental program—for sustainable public health innovation. Drawing from dual expertise as an AI technology leader implementing enterprise-scale innovation at Adobe and a 12-year meditation practitioner who defied medical predictions, I offer frameworks for integrating wellness into high-pressure public health environments.
Key Themes:
1. The Innovation-Wellness Paradox: Public health is deploying cutting-edge solutions (AI diagnostics, digital health platforms, data analytics) while practitioners face escalating burnout. This paradox reveals a structural gap: wellness infrastructure is absent from innovation planning.
2. Practitioner Wellness as Public Health Equity: Health equity for populations cannot be achieved when inequity exists for healthcare professionals. Burned-out practitioners cannot deliver optimal care, exacerbating disparities they aim to reduce.
3. Technology Acceleration & Human Capacity: As AI and digital tools accelerate healthcare delivery, human capacity to implement sustainably is declining. Technology serves public health best when wellness practices are integrated, not ignored.
4. Evidence from Lived Experience: Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at 14 with prognosis of wheelchair by 25, I maintained 12+ years of daily meditation and mind-body practice. Today at 31, I still walk and thrive while leading AI innovation. This demonstrates what conscious choice and consistent wellness practice enable—human agency applicable to all public health professionals.
5. Scalable Frameworks: Building a 400+ member wellness community supporting individuals facing life-limiting circumstances proves wellness frameworks scale from individual to organizational level, directly applicable to public health teams and systems.
Practical Applications: This presentation provides immediately implementable frameworks for:
• Integrating wellness into public health leadership practices
• Building sustainable innovation adoption models
• Reducing professional burnout through systemic wellness infrastructure
• Modeling wellness practices that practitioners can maintain despite high-pressure demands
• Creating organizational cultures valuing both innovation AND practitioner wellbeing
Conclusion: Public health professionals are the frontline of global health transformation. Their wellness is not peripheral—it is foundational infrastructure. As technology accelerates healthcare delivery, human wellness becomes MORE essential, not less. Singapore's leadership in convening this global conversation positions IPHC 2026 to catalyze this critical shift in how public health systems sustain their greatest asset: the professionals themselves.
