- Why we can't stop eating unhealthy foods
- My son was a Columbine shooter. This is my story
- Using biophilic design to heal body, mind, and soul
- Why noise is bad for your health — and what you can do about it
- Why it's so hard to make healthy decisions
- How one musician is reimagining hospital sounds
- How health is threatened by hate
In A Nutshell
David Asch explores how we might harness our innate human irrationality to create positive health behavior change.
About David
Behavioral economist David Asch advances individual and population health by improving how physicians and patients make decisions in health care and in everyday life, including the use of medical treatments and personal health behaviors. David is Executive Director of the Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation, which aims to accelerate the transformation of health care for better patient outcomes, and he is a professor at both the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. David also practices internal medicine at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he created, and from 2001 to 2012 directed, the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, a national center that works to support vulnerable populations and reduce health disparities. David is the author of more than 350 published papers and has won numerous awards for training and research.
Learn More
"3 Ways Health Care Leaders Can Encourage Experimentation." Harvard Business Review. 2019.
“Why Wellness Programs Don't Work So Well.” Knowledge@Wharton Podcast. 2018.
“Technology with Behavioral Insight Data can Improve Outcomes for Patients.” Healthcare IT News. 2018.
“Nudge Units to Improve the Delivery of Health Care.” New England Journal of Medicine. 2018.
“Engineering Social Incentives for Health.” New England Journal of Medicine. 2016.
“Innovation as Discipline, not Fad.” New England Journal of Medicine. 2015.
"Insourcing Health Care Innovation." New England Journal of Medicine. 2014.
A Recommended Resources/Reading List
Nudge Thaler, R. and Sunstein, C. Penguin Random House. 2009.
Predictably Irrational Ariely, D. Harper Collins. 2010.
Call to Action
"Once we understand how people are irrational, we are in a much better position to help them.”
What color is happiness? What sound does the color blue make? What does the musical note C feel like?
Our well being is impacted more than we realize, positively and negatively, by many invisible or subtle factors around us. Our environment is very important to our overall well being. The effect, positive or negative, of
- Sound
- Color
- Design
- Aromas
all play a part in our comfort within the spaces we live and work.
Health has expanded to encompass many more non-traditional practices. As we look beyond the physical self to the environment around us, we find there are many elements that influence our well being, such as sights, sounds, aromas and emotions that influence our health. Does baroque music energize us? Do we feel warmer in a green room?
Our Speakers ask us to explore our relationship with sights, sounds, smells and emotions, and how they move us towards or away from improved health.
