Advisory Board

Jonathan C. Peck, M.A.

The Complete Lawyer article The Knowledge Revolution Will Make You Healthier said

The health industry of the future will focus less on “fixing” illness and more on avoiding illness.
 
In 2029, an American will wake up in the morning, do Pilates, take a couple of pills, put on his suit, and head to work. The pills will dissolve and be absorbed into his bloodstream, sending nanoparticle probes to various parts of his body. These nanoparticles will collect information about his health and transmit the data to sensors in the man’s jacket; the data will then be recorded on his electronic medical record accessible online. If any irregularities are observed, a computer program will search information from resources all over the web and deliver health recommendations specifically tailored to suit his genome. Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I present to you the Future of Health.
 
Looking ahead, we see both contentious problems and opportunities for hope. We see problems arising in the areas of intellectual property rights, privacy rights, and the regulation of new technologies. But more importantly, we see two broad, empowering trends — a knowledge revolution and a global convergence of East and West approaches to medicine.

Jonathan C. Peck, M.A. was the author of this article and is President of the Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF) and its for-profit subsidiary, Alternative Futures Associates (AFA). Trained as a political scientist and futurist, he provides a wide range of consulting, speaking, and facilitation.
 
Jonathan also designs and directs research programs and projects that help a variety of organizations use futures studies. His work fosters visionary leadership, scenario-based strategic planning, and creative learning opportunities for a diverse clientèle.
 
As a consulting futurist, he develops techniques for transformation that enable IAF to serve as an effective change agent for leaders in business and government. He is a certified practitioner of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and has integrated psychological concepts from the field of organizational development into futures studies.
 
This combination has proven valuable for facilitating vision, mission, and strategic processes that help leaders create change through learning. He regularly consults with boards of directors and senior executives, for clients that include Fortune 500 companies, professional associations, and government agencies.
 
Communications, Health, and Infomatics Intelligence
 
Jonathan has spent years directing projects on health futures for various clients in the public and private sectors. During this time he also consulted and forecast revolutionary developments for the telecommunications and information sectors. This work made clear that the three industries — communications, health, and information — are converging upon exciting opportunities to create wealth and health simultaneously.
 
His many projects looking to the future for healthcare systems — from hospitals, professional groups, and associations to multinational corporations in Asia, Europe, and the United States — prepare clients for new opportunities. He has worked on the future of health systems design, mental health care, molecular sciences, and the health-information infrastructures in multiple countries.
 
Specific studies and projects led by Jonathan have forecast the future of health care professions, markets, and diseases including cancer and AIDS. His expertise has also been applied through consulting contracts with businesses throughout the health care sector.
 
Pharmaceutical Expertise
 
Jonathan designs and directs futures programs in the international pharmaceutical industry that provide vision, scenarios, and environmental scans for what lies ahead. He serves as a consultant to pharmaceutical companies and to organizations important to the pharmaceutical industry — from the FDA to medical societies, from pharmacists to patient groups.
 
Jonathan also consults for companies in the information industry that are increasingly vital to the pharmaceutical business. He has organized programs for senior management, strategic planning teams, and customer groups. His knowledge of the industry has also led him to create training programs for pharmaceutical executives in sales, managed care, human resources, regulatory, and public affairs.
 
His proprietary scenarios describe the changes in reimbursement, regulations, and the scientific underpinning of global pharmaceutical markets. His public projects have looked over the edge of current scientific and regulatory horizons and pointed to an exciting future for pharmaceutical innovation.
 
Public Health Expertise
 
For over a decade Jonathan has worked with public health leaders in federal, state, and local organizations to develop the capacity to use futures research to create healthy communities. He has coauthored two books, developed scenario workshops, and led vision efforts for public health associations and agencies.
 
He is on the faculty of the South Central Public Health Leadership Institute and consults with multiple state public health departments that are working with managed care systems. Public health topics that he addresses include the future of violence, emerging diseases, and new technologies for creating public health.
 
Information Systems Expertise
 
Jonathan has led research projects to forecast the emerging information infrastructure in multiple countries evolving into a global system. Combining forecasts for molecular genetics, supercomputers, and health sciences, he provides vision and scenarios, along with a growing base of trend information.
 
This knowledge of the future is presented through both public presentations and proprietary studies used by global corporations. He has also worked with leading non-profit organizations that are giving shape to health information systems. He has designed and facilitated sessions for the Koop Institute, the ComNet Society, the Medical Records Institute, and other key organizations.
 
Presentations
 
Jonathan is also a popular speaker who gives keynote speeches and entertaining interactive sessions for a wide variety of audiences. He has made over 200 speeches to diverse audiences in the United States and Europe.
 
Comfortable with small or large groups, he can address the wide sweep of topics shaping human history or focus on specific subjects in detail. He has used multimedia, interactive technology, and theatrical props before audiences numbering over 1,000 people. He has also appeared on television and radio programs.
 
Published Works
 
Jonathan is coauthor of the major book The Future of Work and Health that won American Health magazine’s award for being one of the ten best books on health. He coauthored a second book, Regulating Change: The Regulation of Foods, Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics in the 1990s, and produced a popular videotape.
 
He has written numerous articles some of which have been published in Business and Health, Pharmaceutical Executive, Food Drug Cosmetic Law Journal, Journal of Geriatric Drug Therapy, Regulatory Affairs Focus, Futures Research Quarterly, Mobius, The Futurist, Business Briefing — Future Drug Discovery, and Clinical Cancer Research. He has also been widely quoted in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Discover Magazine.
 
Read his publications The 2029 Report: Achieving an Ethical Future for Biomedical R&D, 2029: Pharma’s Future Today, Clinical Development 2005 Report, and Report to AHRQ from the Consumer-led Workshop to Advance Patient Safety.
 
Education
 
Jonathan earned his Masters degree at the Futures Studies Program in the Political Science Department of the University of Hawaii. This program specializes in training professionals in the methods of futures research, and the use of those methods in public or organizational planning. He has also earned his certification for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) psychological preferences and continues his studies of Jungian psychology, chaos and complexity, and systems theory.
 
Read his LinkedIn profile.