Protecting Our Planet: The 15th Asian Financial Forum - Michael Milken
February 4, 2022
In this video presentation, philanthropist Michael Milken, widely known as one of the most influential thinkers in US finance, shares some of the positive changes that his philanthropic work has created for communities. In his presentation, he reflects on the last two years focusing on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.
Organized by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the 15th Asian Financial Forum (AFF) opened January 10, 2022, as an online-only event. The two-day forum features 60 sessions including keynote speeches and in-depth discussions along with an array of activities such as exhibitions and the AFF Deal Flow Matchmaking Session.
Biographies:
Michael Milken, Named one of the '75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century' by Esquire magazine, Michael Milken has driven social change with a consistent focus on disrupting - and improving - the status quo. Lifestyles magazine says he has played an "outsized role in American society." He is recognized as an innovator in access to capital, medical research, education, and public health.
In 1972, three years after Milken began a legendary career on Wall Street, his wife's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. That marked the beginning of his search for medical solutions, which has played as large a role in his life as his well-known innovations in finance. Decades after he began parallel careers in philanthropy and finance, Fortune magazine wrote, "No one had ever really pulled together the full picture of how - and how much - (Milken) has shaken up the medical establishment and saved lives." Fortune corrected that with a 2004 cover story under the headline The Man Who Changed Medicine. Fortune stressed the changes he wrought, not just the checks he wrote. "Now thousands are living longer - and leaders everywhere are taking notice."
At the peak of his financial career in 1976, Milken was devastated to learn that his father's previous diagnosis of melanoma was considered terminal. He immediately started making plans to move from the East Coast to Los Angeles so that his two young sons could get to know their grandfather in the time he had left. After many months of bi-coastal commuting, he moved his business to new offices in Los Angeles.
LEADERSHIP
In 1982, Milken formalized his previous philanthropy by co-founding the Milken Family Foundation, which was to be endowed with several hundred million dollars. The Foundation has worked closely with more than 1,000 organizations around the world. It has supported extensive programs to help address difficult inner-city issues, assist families of children with life-threatening diseases and build youth programs. It has also supported worldwide research on pediatric neurology, nutrition, leukemia, brain cancer, and breast cancer. The MFF's most acclaimed program, the Milken Educator Awards, was established in 1985 and is the preeminent teacher-recognition program in the U.S., operating in partnership with state departments of education across America. Dubbed the "Oscars of Teaching" by Teacher Magazine, it has awarded tens of millions of dollars to honor thousands of K-12 teachers and principals. Each educator receives an unrestricted $25,000 prize and participates in an annual professional development conference.
The Milken Scholars program, which was established by Mike and Lori Milken, has provided support and lifetime mentoring for more than 500 outstanding college-bound students who have excelled academically, served their communities, and triumphed over obstacles.
In recognition of this leadership, Forbes magazine showed Mike on a 2014 cover along with other education philanthropists, calling them "Best in Class - The Visionaries Reimagining our Children's Future." Noting Mike's four decades of working on education, Forbes highlighted the Milken Scholars program, the Milken Educator Awards, Mike's Math Club and the National Institute of Excellence in Teaching.
In 2016, Mike and Lori Milken became Founding Donors of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the newest Smithsonian Institution museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC. This follows more than four decades of Milken's support of minority entrepreneurship.
MEDICAL RESEARCH
In the mid-1980s, Milken endowed a chair at the Harvard Medical School/Dana Farber Cancer Center, was the primary benefactor of the Venice (Calif.) Family Clinic, and gave his time and resources to a wide range of medical causes. The Milken Family Foundation provided grants to many young researchers in their labs when they were tempted to pursue more-lucrative clinical practices. Milken has said, "Of all the programs we've supported over the last generation, the biggest payoff in terms of social benefit has come from the awards to young investigators."
Among those who received awards in the 1980s were Dr. Dennis Slamon, who later discovered Herceptin, a revolutionary breakthrough in the treatment of one type of breast cancer; Dr. Steven Rosenberg, who reported a major breakthrough in the development of successful gene therapy that for the first time in history harnesses the body's own immune system to shrink tumors; Dr. Bert Vogelstein, who did pioneering work on the incalculably important p53 gene whose mutant form is believed to be involved in more than half of human cancers; Dr. Owen Witte, whose subsequent work provided the basis for the development of the breakthrough drug Gleevec, now used as a frontline therapy for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia; Dr. Lawrence Einhorn, the developer of a highly successful chemotherapy regimen for testicular cancer; Dr. Philip Leder, a pioneer in molecular biology who contributed to the deciphering of the genetic code; and many more.
In the early 1990s, Milken began urging pharmaceutical companies to devote more resources to cancer, a disease that kills more than two million people annually. Traditionally, these companies had little incentive to research cancer cures precisely because so many people die from the disease. Chronic diseases like diabetes, atherosclerosis and arthritis are much more lucrative because people often live with them for decades. But eventually, Big Pharma came around. In 1998, only one of the top 30 prescription drugs treated cancer; a decade later, that had increased to five.
In 1995, Milken hosted the first Cancer Summit, an event that led to a 1998 March on Washington in support of increased funding of biomedical research. Over the five years following the March, Congress increased the resources of the National Institutes of Health from $14 billion per year to $27 billion. That incremental increase represents hundreds of billions of dollars in additional public funding above the 1998 baseline. The yield on that investment is accelerated scientific discovery that has saved, enhanced and extended millions of lives around the world. When funding increases slowed in 2003, Milken founded FasterCures, which works to remove bureaucratic and regulatory barriers to progress against all life-threatening diseases. Based in Washington, D.C., FasterCures evaluates the entire research process, identifies roadblocks, engages people and organizations, and proposes economic incentives and regulatory efficiencies to accelerate scientific discovery. Through Congressional testimony, conferences, reports, and research, it is helping shape public policy on a broad range of health issues.
Because federal budget pressures threaten continued life-saving investments, Milken has called for a renewed national commitment to biomedical research and public health. In 2012, FasterCures hosted A Celebration of Science in Washington to honor scientific achievement and draw attention to its profound human, social and economic benefits. Senior members of Congress, from both parties, joined more than 1,000 leaders in medical research, bioscience, patient advocacy, industry, philanthropy, and public policy. In 2014, he testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in support of the 21st Century Cures Act.
On November 29, 2016, the lead op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal was written by Milken under the headline "Three Ways to Find More Disease Cures." Among other recommendations, the article urged Congress to pass the Cures Act, legislation he had discussed with a bipartisan coalition on Capitol Hill for more than two years. The next day, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of the Act by the overwhelmingly positive margin of 392-26. The Senate then passed the bill 94-5 and sent it to President Obama, who signed it into law.
Following the passage of the Cures Act, the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative Fred Upton, wrote to Milken: "Michael - From day #1, you have been a true inspiration; we listened and took many of your great ideas and had this bill enacted into law."
Milken's 2016 op-ed article also advocated the expanded digitization of health data held by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) so researchers can develop more effective therapies faster for those who have served the nation in the military. On the same day the article appeared, Milken joined VA Secretary Robert McDonald in Washington to announce a $50 million partnership between the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the VA that will speed the development of cures and provide better access to the most advanced treatments for all veterans.
Milken also founded the Prostate Cancer Foundation, whose competitive research grants to more than 2,000 programs at 200 research centers in 22 cou
Organized by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the 15th Asian Financial Forum (AFF) opened January 10, 2022, as an online-only event. The two-day forum features 60 sessions including keynote speeches and in-depth discussions along with an array of activities such as exhibitions and the AFF Deal Flow Matchmaking Session.
Biographies:
Michael Milken, Named one of the '75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century' by Esquire magazine, Michael Milken has driven social change with a consistent focus on disrupting - and improving - the status quo. Lifestyles magazine says he has played an "outsized role in American society." He is recognized as an innovator in access to capital, medical research, education, and public health.
In 1972, three years after Milken began a legendary career on Wall Street, his wife's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. That marked the beginning of his search for medical solutions, which has played as large a role in his life as his well-known innovations in finance. Decades after he began parallel careers in philanthropy and finance, Fortune magazine wrote, "No one had ever really pulled together the full picture of how - and how much - (Milken) has shaken up the medical establishment and saved lives." Fortune corrected that with a 2004 cover story under the headline The Man Who Changed Medicine. Fortune stressed the changes he wrought, not just the checks he wrote. "Now thousands are living longer - and leaders everywhere are taking notice."
At the peak of his financial career in 1976, Milken was devastated to learn that his father's previous diagnosis of melanoma was considered terminal. He immediately started making plans to move from the East Coast to Los Angeles so that his two young sons could get to know their grandfather in the time he had left. After many months of bi-coastal commuting, he moved his business to new offices in Los Angeles.
LEADERSHIP
In 1982, Milken formalized his previous philanthropy by co-founding the Milken Family Foundation, which was to be endowed with several hundred million dollars. The Foundation has worked closely with more than 1,000 organizations around the world. It has supported extensive programs to help address difficult inner-city issues, assist families of children with life-threatening diseases and build youth programs. It has also supported worldwide research on pediatric neurology, nutrition, leukemia, brain cancer, and breast cancer. The MFF's most acclaimed program, the Milken Educator Awards, was established in 1985 and is the preeminent teacher-recognition program in the U.S., operating in partnership with state departments of education across America. Dubbed the "Oscars of Teaching" by Teacher Magazine, it has awarded tens of millions of dollars to honor thousands of K-12 teachers and principals. Each educator receives an unrestricted $25,000 prize and participates in an annual professional development conference.
The Milken Scholars program, which was established by Mike and Lori Milken, has provided support and lifetime mentoring for more than 500 outstanding college-bound students who have excelled academically, served their communities, and triumphed over obstacles.
In recognition of this leadership, Forbes magazine showed Mike on a 2014 cover along with other education philanthropists, calling them "Best in Class - The Visionaries Reimagining our Children's Future." Noting Mike's four decades of working on education, Forbes highlighted the Milken Scholars program, the Milken Educator Awards, Mike's Math Club and the National Institute of Excellence in Teaching.
In 2016, Mike and Lori Milken became Founding Donors of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the newest Smithsonian Institution museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC. This follows more than four decades of Milken's support of minority entrepreneurship.
MEDICAL RESEARCH
In the mid-1980s, Milken endowed a chair at the Harvard Medical School/Dana Farber Cancer Center, was the primary benefactor of the Venice (Calif.) Family Clinic, and gave his time and resources to a wide range of medical causes. The Milken Family Foundation provided grants to many young researchers in their labs when they were tempted to pursue more-lucrative clinical practices. Milken has said, "Of all the programs we've supported over the last generation, the biggest payoff in terms of social benefit has come from the awards to young investigators."
Among those who received awards in the 1980s were Dr. Dennis Slamon, who later discovered Herceptin, a revolutionary breakthrough in the treatment of one type of breast cancer; Dr. Steven Rosenberg, who reported a major breakthrough in the development of successful gene therapy that for the first time in history harnesses the body's own immune system to shrink tumors; Dr. Bert Vogelstein, who did pioneering work on the incalculably important p53 gene whose mutant form is believed to be involved in more than half of human cancers; Dr. Owen Witte, whose subsequent work provided the basis for the development of the breakthrough drug Gleevec, now used as a frontline therapy for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia; Dr. Lawrence Einhorn, the developer of a highly successful chemotherapy regimen for testicular cancer; Dr. Philip Leder, a pioneer in molecular biology who contributed to the deciphering of the genetic code; and many more.
In the early 1990s, Milken began urging pharmaceutical companies to devote more resources to cancer, a disease that kills more than two million people annually. Traditionally, these companies had little incentive to research cancer cures precisely because so many people die from the disease. Chronic diseases like diabetes, atherosclerosis and arthritis are much more lucrative because people often live with them for decades. But eventually, Big Pharma came around. In 1998, only one of the top 30 prescription drugs treated cancer; a decade later, that had increased to five.
In 1995, Milken hosted the first Cancer Summit, an event that led to a 1998 March on Washington in support of increased funding of biomedical research. Over the five years following the March, Congress increased the resources of the National Institutes of Health from $14 billion per year to $27 billion. That incremental increase represents hundreds of billions of dollars in additional public funding above the 1998 baseline. The yield on that investment is accelerated scientific discovery that has saved, enhanced and extended millions of lives around the world. When funding increases slowed in 2003, Milken founded FasterCures, which works to remove bureaucratic and regulatory barriers to progress against all life-threatening diseases. Based in Washington, D.C., FasterCures evaluates the entire research process, identifies roadblocks, engages people and organizations, and proposes economic incentives and regulatory efficiencies to accelerate scientific discovery. Through Congressional testimony, conferences, reports, and research, it is helping shape public policy on a broad range of health issues.
Because federal budget pressures threaten continued life-saving investments, Milken has called for a renewed national commitment to biomedical research and public health. In 2012, FasterCures hosted A Celebration of Science in Washington to honor scientific achievement and draw attention to its profound human, social and economic benefits. Senior members of Congress, from both parties, joined more than 1,000 leaders in medical research, bioscience, patient advocacy, industry, philanthropy, and public policy. In 2014, he testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in support of the 21st Century Cures Act.
On November 29, 2016, the lead op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal was written by Milken under the headline "Three Ways to Find More Disease Cures." Among other recommendations, the article urged Congress to pass the Cures Act, legislation he had discussed with a bipartisan coalition on Capitol Hill for more than two years. The next day, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of the Act by the overwhelmingly positive margin of 392-26. The Senate then passed the bill 94-5 and sent it to President Obama, who signed it into law.
Following the passage of the Cures Act, the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative Fred Upton, wrote to Milken: "Michael - From day #1, you have been a true inspiration; we listened and took many of your great ideas and had this bill enacted into law."
Milken's 2016 op-ed article also advocated the expanded digitization of health data held by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) so researchers can develop more effective therapies faster for those who have served the nation in the military. On the same day the article appeared, Milken joined VA Secretary Robert McDonald in Washington to announce a $50 million partnership between the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the VA that will speed the development of cures and provide better access to the most advanced treatments for all veterans.
Milken also founded the Prostate Cancer Foundation, whose competitive research grants to more than 2,000 programs at 200 research centers in 22 cou