March 19, 2025 • 27 mins
Sarah Hoit radiates urgency and hope as she shares her moonshot mission to transform brain health and longevity worldwide. After losing her grandmother and husband to 10-year battles with dementia, Hoit has funneled her personal grief into a global movement through Social Impact Partners, a nonprofit bringing together corporations, youth innovators, and policymakers to tackle what she calls "the largest global health crisis the world has ever known."
The conversation reveals how Hoit's diverse background—from launching AmeriCorps at the White House to founding tech companies—shaped her collaborative approach to solving complex problems. "One plus one is eleven if we try to do it together," she explains, emphasizing how breaking down silos accelerates progress. This philosophy drives the Brain Health Innovation Olympics, where students from 14 countries partner with global corporations to develop actionable solutions for neurodegenerative diseases and mental health challenges.
Most compelling is Hoit's focus on food as medicine. Through partnerships like one with Sodexo (reaching 100 million people daily across 40 countries), she's helping implement a groundbreaking neuroprotective diet developed with Harvard researchers. The revelation that 80% of health outcomes are determined by lifestyle choices—food, exercise, sleep, socialization—offers profound hope. "In families like mine with a familial trail of disease, to understand that literally from in utero through what we do every day completely impacts our outcome... we have far more control than not."
Hoit's work extends beyond nutrition into technology and policy. Her company Vitality IP has developed an AI "digital dietician" personalizing nutrition recommendations, while her advocacy work focuses on bipartisan support for food security and research funding. Whether you're concerned about your own brain health, caring for a loved one with dementia, or interested in joining a movement changing how we approach aging, Hoit's message is clear: through collaboration, innovation, and everyday choices, we have unprecedented power to protect our most vital organ—our brain.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome to the IdeaGen Catalyze Impact podcast.
Today we have with us SarahHoyt.
Sarah, welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thank you so much for having me today.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Thank you so much for having me today.
You know, sarah, you're doingso much.
You're moving at.
You know the only way todescribe it is warp speed, and
I'd like for you, for our globalaudience, to describe three key
areas that you're working onthat culminate in the gigantic
impact that you're making acrossthe world.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
I am so thrilled to be part ofyour program and the work that
you're doing.
So I am completely focused onhealth brain health and
longevity and I'm doing so in acouple of different ways.
I have founded a globalnonprofit, social Impact
Partners.
That is a global brain, healthand longevity initiative where
(01:08):
we bring corporations,nonprofits, youth leaders,
legislators from all over theworld to innovate, collaborate
and invest in change, and so,from a philanthropic standpoint,
I'm incredibly invested there.
There I am also running aseries, a retail health and
(01:29):
longevity series, together withDan O'Connor from Managing the
Future Work at Harvard BusinessSchool, where we bring together
major corporations twice a yearto focus on their impact on
health and longevity, with themillions of consumers they serve
and employees that they employ,serve and employees that they
employ.
And as a tech CEO, I have alsobuilt a company called Vitality
(01:49):
IP, where we're working at thecross section of science and AI
and food and health topersonalize health for people
all over the world.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, as I mentioned, there's no shortage of impact
that you're having on humanity,and specifically on brain health
and longevity, and so, on thatnote, sarah, you've dedicated
your career, your career, tosocial impact and innovation.
What exactly inspired you tofocus on brain health and
(02:21):
longevity?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Well, you know, I think this is a topic that, like
most businesses and most thingsthat people choose to focus on,
people are personally affected,and I don't know a family out
there right now who is notsomehow profoundly affected
either by neurodegenerativediseases or by the mental health
crisis.
And one of the things thatCOVID actually did for the world
(02:47):
was shine a light on the factthat we are all in a similar
boat when it comes to brainhealth and to the catastrophic
nature of the combination ofthese diseases.
Personally, my family and Ifaced a number of battles.
My grandmother faced a 10-yearbattle.
She was a complete role modelto me in my life and I actually
(03:10):
founded my first tech company,connected Living, to help people
like her and others who hadAlzheimer's be able to connect
with their families andcommunicate and stay present to
the extent that they could asthey were facing the battle, and
stay present to the extent thatthey could as they were facing
the battle.
And while I was running thattech company, my husband was
diagnosed with early onsetAlzheimer's, and my children and
(03:34):
I just faced also a 10-yearbattle where we lost him two
years ago, what turned out to beLewy body and frontal temporal
dementia.
So my family, like many, hasbeen profoundly impacted.
We lost my husband at quite ayoung age and one of the things
(03:55):
you will learn as we talk todaythat we all know is this journey
to health is actually birth todeath, and there's so much we
can do to impact it, and we'retrying to make sure that no
other families are in thesituation that we have found
ourselves in.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Thank you for sharing that.
I know it's, to say the least,challenging what you've been
through and certainly that, I'msure, informs and affects all of
the work that you're doingtoday, forms and affects all of
the work that you're doing today.
And so, sarah, from the WhiteHouse to the private sector,
you've worked in a diverse setof leadership roles.
How exactly have these rolesand experiences shaped your
(04:36):
approach to driving meaningful,impactful change?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Well, I've been so lucky in my career.
I have chosen all along the wayto do things that meant
something to me and that I hopewould change the course of
either health or service forthis country.
My first big rollout wasactually national service, was
AmeriCorps, and I think one ofthe biggest lessons that I have
(05:05):
learned is the incredible powerof collaboration, the saying
that you know, one plus one isthree, one plus one is 11.
If we try to do it together, ifwe find all of the resources
and we bring people together, wecan get so much more done.
So one of the greatest joys ofmy life was actually rolling out
national service, and I dobelieve in serving the country,
(05:27):
and when you have a chance to bea part of it, you're never the
same again.
But I think that lesson hasmultiplied through everything I
have tried to do.
Instead of working in silos, ifpeople can actually come
together for the problem they'retrying to solve, we'll get
there much faster, and so eventhat principle has led forward
(05:48):
to the entire structure of ourglobal nonprofit, which is
focused on global collaboration,innovation and then investing
and taking action together tocombat neurodegenerative
diseases and to embrace thescience of a brain, healthy life
.
So I think those are my.
The ability to work togetherwith others and that we get
(06:09):
there faster is probably one ofmy biggest lessons in all of the
work I've been privileged to bea part of.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
What an incredible journey, and so Social Impact
Partners launched the GlobalBrain Health Initiative as a
moonshot effort to tackle braindisorders.
Can you share exactly whatmakes this initiative unique and
why right now, at this moment,is the time for such an
(06:38):
incredibly bold movement?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, thank you.
Well, we are in an incrediblyunique moment in time, I believe
.
Sometimes the world comestogether around a topic.
Under the surface beforesurfaced the crisis of our aging
(07:06):
population, the catastrophicnumbers that no country can
support in terms of dementia andall of the dementias and
neurodegenerative diseases.
But another disease was exposedto and the whole mental health
crisis really also became very,very visible, and the two
(07:27):
diseases combined have asignificant it is the largest
global health crisis the worldhas ever known, and so this is a
time that people are willing totalk about it and they are
willing to come together, and Ithink that, rather than just
talk, what we very much wantedto do is take action, and I took
(07:47):
a playbook out of nationalservice, which is why don't we
start asking a youngergeneration to help us?
So we created these globalinnovation Olympics.
We've had 14 countries involved, hundreds of youth leaders,
business schools, med schools,engineering schools, and we put
the questions out there in termsof helping us design, from
(08:08):
technologies to food,interventions to science.
What are the things we can doto most directly combat
neurodegenerative diseases andthe mental health crisis and
then to embrace a brain, healthylife, and in that exercise,
we've had over 250 corporate andnonprofit leaders also come
together who are never in theconversation right, and they are
(08:32):
the judges in this competitionas these young leaders come
together with all these ideas.
We've had over 300 right now,idea fragments that have turned
into over 30 actionable plansthat we are moving forward, both
as early stage organizationsand changing strategy for major
(08:52):
global corporations.
And there's some real leadersout there where the changes
they're making are going toaffect millions of people
already of people alreadyIncredible, absolutely
incredible.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And so the Brain Health Innovation Olympics is
engaging young minds in solvingbrain health challenges.
What are some of the?
Just a few of the, becausethere's so many most exciting
ideas and or solutions you'veseen emerge from this incredibly
exciting program.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, there's so many , but I will give you one in
particular.
In the first year ofcompetition, the two winning
plans from Dartmouth College andHarvard Business School were
food as medicine plans, andCanada won this last year also
with an early intervention fooda plan and a re-imagining of the
(09:50):
pharmacy.
Out of this plan, one of thejudges, one of the major
corporations at the table, isSodexo, who serve 40 countries
100 million people a day food 40countries, 100 million people a
day food.
And as a result of the workdone, we have now sponsored a
(10:10):
white paper on nutrition in thebrain which people can download.
They can come to our site andplease download it.
It actually has a newneuroprotective diet.
In the white paper we workedtogether with Dr Bowman, who's
renowned from McCant Center forBrain Health, mass General and
Harvard.
We looked at all the existingdiets, saw opportunities in new
science and ways that, as wereally look at nutrients,
(10:32):
crossing the blood-brain barrier.
How can we do this best?
And we are now.
Sodexo, as a major globalsocial impact company, is now
releasing a vibrant mindsprogram that will begin to
impact not only all of thepeople they serve food to all
over the world.
But the white paper is public.
(10:55):
This is for everyone to be ableto now take this information and
try to live their livesdifferently.
It's an incredible example ofyouth and science and corporate
and nonprofit coming togetheraround this, around an idea, and
then taking our superpowers andour areas of influence to
really get it out to anextraordinary number of people.
(11:16):
We actually released it in ourbig meeting in DC, this white
paper, and are trying to make itas accessible to everybody to
be able to eat in aneuroprotective way.
So that's one of many examples.
Others include early startupsthat Arizona State University
this year and Calgary also hadsome fabulous ideas around
(11:42):
bringing arts and music programsinto senior living and engaging
in an intergenerationalintervention, and those projects
are already launching.
So, from smaller projects juststarting up, where the students
take it and run, to theinnovations that are being
brought to the judges and thelarger corporations who are part
(12:03):
of our mission, change ishappening everywhere and it's
collaborative.
It's action oriented and meantto have everybody walk out of
the experience taking whatthey've learned to influence
those around them out of theexperience, taking what they've
learned to influence thosearound them.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
You know, sarah, so inspiring, and so you mentioned
food.
What role exactly does foodplay as medicine in brain health
, and how is everyday mattersaddressing this absolutely vital
component?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
this absolutely vital component.
So you know food, what we putin our body and how we live our
lives.
So food and exercise and sleepand socialization, and all of
these pillars of brain healthactually determine 80% of our
health outcomes.
And when you know that it's,it's stunning.
It's stunning informationbecause in families like mine,
where there's a familial trailright and numerous people are
(13:04):
affected by a disease, tounderstand that literally from
in utero through to what we doevery single day, completely
impacts our outcome, that wehave far more control than not,
and that's profound.
And so and so much of it alsocomes back to inflammation in
(13:25):
the body and how differentdisease states are are linked.
So, from obesity to diabetes tobrain health, um, when, when,
when the body is is consumingfood that is not healthy or
creating inflammation, it causesa number of different illnesses
, and so food is a major impactto our overall health and
(13:47):
certainly to our brain health.
And when you read the VibrantMinds paper we've just put out,
you'll see in detail kind ofwhich foods and the
neuroprotective diet and evenhow we eat.
You know the difference of ofactually sitting down and
appreciating the meal, all thesethings that you know your
mother told you to do right, orthe importance of a of a meal
(14:10):
together really make adifference.
There's actually science behindyou know how we eat and the
experience of it actuallyabsorbing more of the nutrients
when we eat in that way, versusjust rushing in, not even
looking at what we're eating andracing off.
So it's not only what we eat,but kind of how we go about it
(14:31):
that produces the healthiestoutcome.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And so your work with Connected Living helped bridge
the digital divide for seniors.
Sarah, what lessons did youlearn about technology's role in
aging and community connectionduring this process?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You know, as a tech entrepreneur, my whole career.
The interesting thing is,technology actually allows you.
It's high tech, high touch,right In the senior market.
Everyone told us back in 2007that the seniors wouldn't
connect.
Knock yourselves out.
The big guys didn't do it.
It's not going to work.
So well, you know what?
We've got?
An isolation crisis.
(15:12):
We have an entire agingpopulation, many of whom are
living alone and isolated, andso we tried, and the end of the
story you actually know the endof the story is the seniors are
connected and they do want toconnect and they want to connect
around life and love andstories and lifelong learning,
and so often, with an agingpopulation, we treat them as if
(15:35):
they're sick or dying or ineptor well.
Of course, they didn't connect,if that's the way that we're
speaking to them.
This is a generation with suchincredible wisdom and when you
bring them life and family andfun and community with the
technology, it works.
It's why we called it connectedliving, and so, and clearly
(15:56):
then, through the pandemic,anybody who wasn't at that point
connected found a way to beconnected, because it was our
only way and, sadly, in ourfamily in the end, too and my
husband in the end had to be infull memory care.
Sometimes, with COVID, the onlyway that we were able to
connect was via that technologywhen we were not allowed to go
(16:17):
visit us and so many families.
And so in the end, after thepandemic, this tech wave with an
older population really reallytook hold, and you know so I
have seen, and that technologyinnovation has continued to
emerge not as the bad guy but asa way for us to pull the pieces
(16:38):
together faster and actuallybring personalization and
community to others.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And so AI and emerging technologies are moving
so incredibly fast and they'retransforming literally
transforming healthcare.
Sarah, how do you see theseadvancements shaping the future
of brain health and senior care?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
I am incredibly excited about it and, like any
new technology, there can befear.
There's the fear of what youcan do with it if unregulated.
In all of those pieces we cantake on board and say we need to
have guardrails.
I am incredibly excited aboutthe opportunity and, in fact, my
(17:24):
newest project is a companycalled Vitality IP.
It's personal and we havedeveloped an engine, an AI
engine, a digital dietician thatreally integrates your personal
data, cutting edge medicalresearch with the AI to
(17:45):
revolutionize nutrition andhealth decision making.
So, for instance, this newneuroprotective diet.
In the engine we can actuallyspit out the recipes, the
ingredients, the shopping list,how you could actually take into
account maybe other medicationsthat you're taking, additional
supplementation you might needand all these things that are
really difficult for people tofigure out, and so the
technology really empowers theindividual to achieve their
(18:08):
health goals and have personalrecommendations.
I think the other thing that thetechnology can do is free up
the people to actually have morepersonal interactions.
So where in the past, adietician might have been
spending hours creating menusand interventions that can be
created very easily through theAI, now they can actually free
(18:30):
up their time to have individualmeetings and conversations with
family members, with people whowant to talk to them, and less
of the behind the scenes work.
I do also believe, as we'relooking at solutions, as we're
looking at science breakthroughs, that the AI is also going to
allow us to have earlierdetection and prevention.
(18:52):
Putting the clues together in away that we can have a pattern
and a path.
Putting the clues together in away that we can have a pattern
and a path.
So I like anything new this iswe are sitting in a moment that
is almost the same as thebeginning of the internet.
So much is going to happen inthe next 12 months.
Nothing will be the same andour ability to now take this
(19:13):
wave and really do somethinggood with it and create for the
first time, I believe, truepersonalization and health and
have some of these breakthroughsis really upon us, and I'm
excited to be very much a partof it.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You know, sarah, how much inspiration can you provide
.
On one podcast episode, we'llneed to bring you back,
obviously.
On one podcast episode, we'llneed to bring you back,
obviously.
But at the 2025 Brain HealthInnovation Olympics, what are
some of the focus areas?
You know subsets, really of AIand early detection and
cognition that relate tolifespan, and what breakthroughs
(19:53):
or innovations are you hopingto see come out of this
competition?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You know, I think, what's so exciting about the
competition and thank you forcoming back to this, because if
people do one thing from thispodcast is to please come join
our Global Brain HealthInitiative.
It's such an exciting way toget involved, which everybody
can.
Whether it's such an excitingway to get involved, which
everybody can, whether it'spurely getting the information
(20:21):
and donating and becoming amember or participating as a
judge or an organization in theOlympics, or joining us in our
DC strategy meetings, or beingone of the corporations who
partners with us and comes toour meetings at the Harvard
Faculty Club to talk about howwe can change our businesses and
serve our customers differently.
I hope everyone gets involved.
The topics are everything fromthe science to the technology,
(20:46):
to epigenetics, how we live ourlife, all these interventions
from sleep and food and exercisewearables.
Also, there's a major emphasison workforce intervention.
Our workforce has completelychanged and the numbers are out
there that over 9% of global GDPis impacted by workforce issues
(21:13):
right now, both the mentalhealth crisis and people having
to care for family membersbecause of the dementia crisis.
So this is something thataffects all of us and we're
trying to keep the Olympics openenough that the students who
are coming into the competitioncan pick the areas of their
superpowers and interests, drivethose ideas forward with the
(21:34):
judges' recommendations and thenwe can come up with our winning
10 concepts each year thatreally get driven forward.
So we hope everybody joins us,and that website is
wwwsocialimpactpartners.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
You got it.
As you heard Sarah say, pleasevisit that website and get
engaged wherever you can andwhenever you can.
And that leads us, Sarah, topolicy advocacy, which is a
major pillar of the Global BrainHealth Initiative, including
the Brain Health and LongevityStrategy, which includes a
meeting in DC.
(22:13):
What are some of the mostcritical policy challenges and
changes needed to drive trueprogress in this space?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
You know, I think we can always focus on the things
that don't work and that wecan't agree on, but I do believe
this is an area that we can allagree on, we thinking about the
fact that there are so manypeople in our country who do not
have access to healthy food, toany food, let alone healthy
(22:47):
food, because that costs morehealthy food, to any food, let
alone healthy food, because thatcosts more access to fresh
fruits and vegetables, access tofood without lots of pesticides
.
So something we can all agreeupon is that healthier food and
better food and access to foodis super, super important, as
(23:07):
are so many of our vitalprograms that we have through
the government, like SNAP andWIC and others that need to be
supported so that you knowplaces where there's poverty,
the disease states are farhigher because they have not had
access to the healthy food thatother people have.
Also, we have to continue tofund our research.
We have so many people on bothsides of the aisle who have
(23:29):
supported for so long fundingbrain health research,
alzheimer's research,neurodegenerative disease
research, and we can't.
We have to be the nation thatcontinues to support our
scientists and moves forward thework that everyone has done for
so long.
This has been a very underfundedpiece of work in health, and
(23:51):
you know, some of us like to saythe rest of our body is here to
keep our brain warm, it is ourmost vital organ, and it has not
had the same degree ofinvestment, and so we had made
major strides and we need tokeep those going.
We all need to fight for thefact that this is something that
affects every single one of ourfamilies on both sides of the
(24:13):
aisle, and so I'm hoping that,even in a world in which there
isn't agreement that these twotopics of understanding that we
have to fight for brain healthand fight for funds to combat
neurodegenerative diseases, andthat we also have to make sure
we support healthy food foreveryone is is something that we
(24:34):
can continue to to getagreement on sarah, completely
agree with you, and so, as weconclude this interview, I had
one last question.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Again, we'll have to continue um.
You've been involved inArgentum's Women in Leadership
Committee.
Why, sarah, is mentorship socrucial in leadership
development, especially inhealthcare and innovation?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
You know I have always felt that you know you
flip the chart right.
The strongest piece of any teamis the new blood coming in and
to being willing to listen toeveryone at all stages, the
place in their career that theywould like to be.
We all know the numbers and forso long in boardrooms, in the
(25:40):
CEO suite, in any facet inpolitics, that women have not
occupied the same percentage asmen in those positions.
And there's a long way to go,and so many of us have worked
hard to not only be leadersourselves but show the path for
(26:00):
others and to have a voice forthat mission.
And so within the senior livingindustry and an industry I
worked in in healthcare, we havea group that really has been
fostering that and it's made amajor impact.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Sarah Hoyt, co-founder of Social Impact
Partners and co-founder ofVitality IP and so many other
things.
I can't keep up with you, Sarah, but you're changing the world,
You're having an impact andyou're working on literally the
world's most vexing issues.
For that we want to send a noteof thanks and again ask you to
(26:40):
share.
If folks from our networkacross the world would like to
get more information or get moreinvolved with your work, how
can they do that?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Well, I hope.
I hope everybody gets involvedwith your work.
How can they do that?
Well, I hope everybody getsinvolved with Social Impact
Partners.
Our website iswwwsocialimpactpartners.
It is a global initiative.
It's about innovation, it'sabout collaboration, it's about
dreaming bigger and solving aworld problem together, and
there's a place for everyone init, whether you're a student who
(27:11):
wants to have a career inchange, whether you are somebody
who runs a corporation or anonprofit that's interested in
health and longevity.
We are all working together tochange things rapidly, and it's
happening, so we invite you tojoin us.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Thank you so much for your inspiration today, sarah,
thank you for all you're doingand, most importantly, thank you
for your leadership.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing thistopic.
Welcome to the IdeaGen Catalyze Impact podcast.
Today we have with us SarahHoyt.
Sarah, welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thank you so much for having me today.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Thank you so much for having me today.
You know, sarah, you're doingso much.
You're moving at.
You know the only way todescribe it is warp speed, and
I'd like for you, for our globalaudience, to describe three key
areas that you're working onthat culminate in the gigantic
impact that you're making acrossthe world.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
I am so thrilled to be part ofyour program and the work that
you're doing.
So I am completely focused onhealth brain health and
longevity and I'm doing so in acouple of different ways.
I have founded a globalnonprofit, social Impact
Partners.
That is a global brain, healthand longevity initiative where
(01:08):
we bring corporations,nonprofits, youth leaders,
legislators from all over theworld to innovate, collaborate
and invest in change, and so,from a philanthropic standpoint,
I'm incredibly invested there.
There I am also running aseries, a retail health and
(01:29):
longevity series, together withDan O'Connor from Managing the
Future Work at Harvard BusinessSchool, where we bring together
major corporations twice a yearto focus on their impact on
health and longevity, with themillions of consumers they serve
and employees that they employ,serve and employees that they
employ.
And as a tech CEO, I have alsobuilt a company called Vitality
(01:49):
IP, where we're working at thecross section of science and AI
and food and health topersonalize health for people
all over the world.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, as I mentioned, there's no shortage of impact
that you're having on humanity,and specifically on brain health
and longevity, and so, on thatnote, sarah, you've dedicated
your career, your career, tosocial impact and innovation.
What exactly inspired you tofocus on brain health and
(02:21):
longevity?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Well, you know, I think this is a topic that, like
most businesses and most thingsthat people choose to focus on,
people are personally affected,and I don't know a family out
there right now who is notsomehow profoundly affected
either by neurodegenerativediseases or by the mental health
crisis.
And one of the things thatCOVID actually did for the world
(02:47):
was shine a light on the factthat we are all in a similar
boat when it comes to brainhealth and to the catastrophic
nature of the combination ofthese diseases.
Personally, my family and Ifaced a number of battles.
My grandmother faced a 10-yearbattle.
She was a complete role modelto me in my life and I actually
(03:10):
founded my first tech company,connected Living, to help people
like her and others who hadAlzheimer's be able to connect
with their families andcommunicate and stay present to
the extent that they could asthey were facing the battle, and
stay present to the extent thatthey could as they were facing
the battle.
And while I was running thattech company, my husband was
diagnosed with early onsetAlzheimer's, and my children and
(03:34):
I just faced also a 10-yearbattle where we lost him two
years ago, what turned out to beLewy body and frontal temporal
dementia.
So my family, like many, hasbeen profoundly impacted.
We lost my husband at quite ayoung age and one of the things
(03:55):
you will learn as we talk todaythat we all know is this journey
to health is actually birth todeath, and there's so much we
can do to impact it, and we'retrying to make sure that no
other families are in thesituation that we have found
ourselves in.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Thank you for sharing that.
I know it's, to say the least,challenging what you've been
through and certainly that, I'msure, informs and affects all of
the work that you're doingtoday, forms and affects all of
the work that you're doing today.
And so, sarah, from the WhiteHouse to the private sector,
you've worked in a diverse setof leadership roles.
How exactly have these rolesand experiences shaped your
(04:36):
approach to driving meaningful,impactful change?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Well, I've been so lucky in my career.
I have chosen all along the wayto do things that meant
something to me and that I hopewould change the course of
either health or service forthis country.
My first big rollout wasactually national service, was
AmeriCorps, and I think one ofthe biggest lessons that I have
(05:05):
learned is the incredible powerof collaboration, the saying
that you know, one plus one isthree, one plus one is 11.
If we try to do it together, ifwe find all of the resources
and we bring people together, wecan get so much more done.
So one of the greatest joys ofmy life was actually rolling out
national service, and I dobelieve in serving the country,
(05:27):
and when you have a chance to bea part of it, you're never the
same again.
But I think that lesson hasmultiplied through everything I
have tried to do.
Instead of working in silos, ifpeople can actually come
together for the problem they'retrying to solve, we'll get
there much faster, and so eventhat principle has led forward
(05:48):
to the entire structure of ourglobal nonprofit, which is
focused on global collaboration,innovation and then investing
and taking action together tocombat neurodegenerative
diseases and to embrace thescience of a brain, healthy life
.
So I think those are my.
The ability to work togetherwith others and that we get
(06:09):
there faster is probably one ofmy biggest lessons in all of the
work I've been privileged to bea part of.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
What an incredible journey, and so Social Impact
Partners launched the GlobalBrain Health Initiative as a
moonshot effort to tackle braindisorders.
Can you share exactly whatmakes this initiative unique and
why right now, at this moment,is the time for such an
(06:38):
incredibly bold movement?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, thank you.
Well, we are in an incrediblyunique moment in time, I believe
.
Sometimes the world comestogether around a topic.
Under the surface beforesurfaced the crisis of our aging
(07:06):
population, the catastrophicnumbers that no country can
support in terms of dementia andall of the dementias and
neurodegenerative diseases.
But another disease was exposedto and the whole mental health
crisis really also became very,very visible, and the two
(07:27):
diseases combined have asignificant it is the largest
global health crisis the worldhas ever known, and so this is a
time that people are willing totalk about it and they are
willing to come together, and Ithink that, rather than just
talk, what we very much wantedto do is take action, and I took
(07:47):
a playbook out of nationalservice, which is why don't we
start asking a youngergeneration to help us?
So we created these globalinnovation Olympics.
We've had 14 countries involved, hundreds of youth leaders,
business schools, med schools,engineering schools, and we put
the questions out there in termsof helping us design, from
(08:08):
technologies to food,interventions to science.
What are the things we can doto most directly combat
neurodegenerative diseases andthe mental health crisis and
then to embrace a brain, healthylife, and in that exercise,
we've had over 250 corporate andnonprofit leaders also come
together who are never in theconversation right, and they are
(08:32):
the judges in this competitionas these young leaders come
together with all these ideas.
We've had over 300 right now,idea fragments that have turned
into over 30 actionable plansthat we are moving forward, both
as early stage organizationsand changing strategy for major
(08:52):
global corporations.
And there's some real leadersout there where the changes
they're making are going toaffect millions of people
already of people alreadyIncredible, absolutely
incredible.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And so the Brain Health Innovation Olympics is
engaging young minds in solvingbrain health challenges.
What are some of the?
Just a few of the, becausethere's so many most exciting
ideas and or solutions you'veseen emerge from this incredibly
exciting program.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, there's so many , but I will give you one in
particular.
In the first year ofcompetition, the two winning
plans from Dartmouth College andHarvard Business School were
food as medicine plans, andCanada won this last year also
with an early intervention fooda plan and a re-imagining of the
(09:50):
pharmacy.
Out of this plan, one of thejudges, one of the major
corporations at the table, isSodexo, who serve 40 countries
100 million people a day food 40countries, 100 million people a
day food.
And as a result of the workdone, we have now sponsored a
(10:10):
white paper on nutrition in thebrain which people can download.
They can come to our site andplease download it.
It actually has a newneuroprotective diet.
In the white paper we workedtogether with Dr Bowman, who's
renowned from McCant Center forBrain Health, mass General and
Harvard.
We looked at all the existingdiets, saw opportunities in new
science and ways that, as wereally look at nutrients,
(10:32):
crossing the blood-brain barrier.
How can we do this best?
And we are now.
Sodexo, as a major globalsocial impact company, is now
releasing a vibrant mindsprogram that will begin to
impact not only all of thepeople they serve food to all
over the world.
But the white paper is public.
(10:55):
This is for everyone to be ableto now take this information and
try to live their livesdifferently.
It's an incredible example ofyouth and science and corporate
and nonprofit coming togetheraround this, around an idea, and
then taking our superpowers andour areas of influence to
really get it out to anextraordinary number of people.
(11:16):
We actually released it in ourbig meeting in DC, this white
paper, and are trying to make itas accessible to everybody to
be able to eat in aneuroprotective way.
So that's one of many examples.
Others include early startupsthat Arizona State University
this year and Calgary also hadsome fabulous ideas around
(11:42):
bringing arts and music programsinto senior living and engaging
in an intergenerationalintervention, and those projects
are already launching.
So, from smaller projects juststarting up, where the students
take it and run, to theinnovations that are being
brought to the judges and thelarger corporations who are part
(12:03):
of our mission, change ishappening everywhere and it's
collaborative.
It's action oriented and meantto have everybody walk out of
the experience taking whatthey've learned to influence
those around them out of theexperience, taking what they've
learned to influence thosearound them.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
You know, sarah, so inspiring, and so you mentioned
food.
What role exactly does foodplay as medicine in brain health
, and how is everyday mattersaddressing this absolutely vital
component?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
this absolutely vital component.
So you know food, what we putin our body and how we live our
lives.
So food and exercise and sleepand socialization, and all of
these pillars of brain healthactually determine 80% of our
health outcomes.
And when you know that it's,it's stunning.
It's stunning informationbecause in families like mine,
where there's a familial trailright and numerous people are
(13:04):
affected by a disease, tounderstand that literally from
in utero through to what we doevery single day, completely
impacts our outcome, that wehave far more control than not,
and that's profound.
And so and so much of it alsocomes back to inflammation in
(13:25):
the body and how differentdisease states are are linked.
So, from obesity to diabetes tobrain health, um, when, when,
when the body is is consumingfood that is not healthy or
creating inflammation, it causesa number of different illnesses
, and so food is a major impactto our overall health and
(13:47):
certainly to our brain health.
And when you read the VibrantMinds paper we've just put out,
you'll see in detail kind ofwhich foods and the
neuroprotective diet and evenhow we eat.
You know the difference of ofactually sitting down and
appreciating the meal, all thesethings that you know your
mother told you to do right, orthe importance of a of a meal
(14:10):
together really make adifference.
There's actually science behindyou know how we eat and the
experience of it actuallyabsorbing more of the nutrients
when we eat in that way, versusjust rushing in, not even
looking at what we're eating andracing off.
So it's not only what we eat,but kind of how we go about it
(14:31):
that produces the healthiestoutcome.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And so your work with Connected Living helped bridge
the digital divide for seniors.
Sarah, what lessons did youlearn about technology's role in
aging and community connectionduring this process?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You know, as a tech entrepreneur, my whole career.
The interesting thing is,technology actually allows you.
It's high tech, high touch,right In the senior market.
Everyone told us back in 2007that the seniors wouldn't
connect.
Knock yourselves out.
The big guys didn't do it.
It's not going to work.
So well, you know what?
We've got?
An isolation crisis.
(15:12):
We have an entire agingpopulation, many of whom are
living alone and isolated, andso we tried, and the end of the
story you actually know the endof the story is the seniors are
connected and they do want toconnect and they want to connect
around life and love andstories and lifelong learning,
and so often, with an agingpopulation, we treat them as if
(15:35):
they're sick or dying or ineptor well.
Of course, they didn't connect,if that's the way that we're
speaking to them.
This is a generation with suchincredible wisdom and when you
bring them life and family andfun and community with the
technology, it works.
It's why we called it connectedliving, and so, and clearly
(15:56):
then, through the pandemic,anybody who wasn't at that point
connected found a way to beconnected, because it was our
only way and, sadly, in ourfamily in the end, too and my
husband in the end had to be infull memory care.
Sometimes, with COVID, the onlyway that we were able to
connect was via that technologywhen we were not allowed to go
(16:17):
visit us and so many families.
And so in the end, after thepandemic, this tech wave with an
older population really reallytook hold, and you know so I
have seen, and that technologyinnovation has continued to
emerge not as the bad guy but asa way for us to pull the pieces
(16:38):
together faster and actuallybring personalization and
community to others.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And so AI and emerging technologies are moving
so incredibly fast and they'retransforming literally
transforming healthcare.
Sarah, how do you see theseadvancements shaping the future
of brain health and senior care?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
I am incredibly excited about it and, like any
new technology, there can befear.
There's the fear of what youcan do with it if unregulated.
In all of those pieces we cantake on board and say we need to
have guardrails.
I am incredibly excited aboutthe opportunity and, in fact, my
(17:24):
newest project is a companycalled Vitality IP.
It's personal and we havedeveloped an engine, an AI
engine, a digital dietician thatreally integrates your personal
data, cutting edge medicalresearch with the AI to
(17:45):
revolutionize nutrition andhealth decision making.
So, for instance, this newneuroprotective diet.
In the engine we can actuallyspit out the recipes, the
ingredients, the shopping list,how you could actually take into
account maybe other medicationsthat you're taking, additional
supplementation you might needand all these things that are
really difficult for people tofigure out, and so the
technology really empowers theindividual to achieve their
(18:08):
health goals and have personalrecommendations.
I think the other thing that thetechnology can do is free up
the people to actually have morepersonal interactions.
So where in the past, adietician might have been
spending hours creating menusand interventions that can be
created very easily through theAI, now they can actually free
(18:30):
up their time to have individualmeetings and conversations with
family members, with people whowant to talk to them, and less
of the behind the scenes work.
I do also believe, as we'relooking at solutions, as we're
looking at science breakthroughs, that the AI is also going to
allow us to have earlierdetection and prevention.
(18:52):
Putting the clues together in away that we can have a pattern
and a path.
Putting the clues together in away that we can have a pattern
and a path.
So I like anything new this iswe are sitting in a moment that
is almost the same as thebeginning of the internet.
So much is going to happen inthe next 12 months.
Nothing will be the same andour ability to now take this
(19:13):
wave and really do somethinggood with it and create for the
first time, I believe, truepersonalization and health and
have some of these breakthroughsis really upon us, and I'm
excited to be very much a partof it.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You know, sarah, how much inspiration can you provide
.
On one podcast episode, we'llneed to bring you back,
obviously.
On one podcast episode, we'llneed to bring you back,
obviously.
But at the 2025 Brain HealthInnovation Olympics, what are
some of the focus areas?
You know subsets, really of AIand early detection and
cognition that relate tolifespan, and what breakthroughs
(19:53):
or innovations are you hopingto see come out of this
competition?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You know, I think, what's so exciting about the
competition and thank you forcoming back to this, because if
people do one thing from thispodcast is to please come join
our Global Brain HealthInitiative.
It's such an exciting way toget involved, which everybody
can.
Whether it's such an excitingway to get involved, which
everybody can, whether it'spurely getting the information
(20:21):
and donating and becoming amember or participating as a
judge or an organization in theOlympics, or joining us in our
DC strategy meetings, or beingone of the corporations who
partners with us and comes toour meetings at the Harvard
Faculty Club to talk about howwe can change our businesses and
serve our customers differently.
I hope everyone gets involved.
The topics are everything fromthe science to the technology,
(20:46):
to epigenetics, how we live ourlife, all these interventions
from sleep and food and exercisewearables.
Also, there's a major emphasison workforce intervention.
Our workforce has completelychanged and the numbers are out
there that over 9% of global GDPis impacted by workforce issues
(21:13):
right now, both the mentalhealth crisis and people having
to care for family membersbecause of the dementia crisis.
So this is something thataffects all of us and we're
trying to keep the Olympics openenough that the students who
are coming into the competitioncan pick the areas of their
superpowers and interests, drivethose ideas forward with the
(21:34):
judges' recommendations and thenwe can come up with our winning
10 concepts each year thatreally get driven forward.
So we hope everybody joins us,and that website is
wwwsocialimpactpartners.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
You got it.
As you heard Sarah say, pleasevisit that website and get
engaged wherever you can andwhenever you can.
And that leads us, Sarah, topolicy advocacy, which is a
major pillar of the Global BrainHealth Initiative, including
the Brain Health and LongevityStrategy, which includes a
meeting in DC.
(22:13):
What are some of the mostcritical policy challenges and
changes needed to drive trueprogress in this space?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
You know, I think we can always focus on the things
that don't work and that wecan't agree on, but I do believe
this is an area that we can allagree on, we thinking about the
fact that there are so manypeople in our country who do not
have access to healthy food, toany food, let alone healthy
(22:47):
food, because that costs morehealthy food, to any food, let
alone healthy food, because thatcosts more access to fresh
fruits and vegetables, access tofood without lots of pesticides
.
So something we can all agreeupon is that healthier food and
better food and access to foodis super, super important, as
(23:07):
are so many of our vitalprograms that we have through
the government, like SNAP andWIC and others that need to be
supported so that you knowplaces where there's poverty,
the disease states are farhigher because they have not had
access to the healthy food thatother people have.
Also, we have to continue tofund our research.
We have so many people on bothsides of the aisle who have
(23:29):
supported for so long fundingbrain health research,
alzheimer's research,neurodegenerative disease
research, and we can't.
We have to be the nation thatcontinues to support our
scientists and moves forward thework that everyone has done for
so long.
This has been a very underfundedpiece of work in health, and
(23:51):
you know, some of us like to saythe rest of our body is here to
keep our brain warm, it is ourmost vital organ, and it has not
had the same degree ofinvestment, and so we had made
major strides and we need tokeep those going.
We all need to fight for thefact that this is something that
affects every single one of ourfamilies on both sides of the
(24:13):
aisle, and so I'm hoping that,even in a world in which there
isn't agreement that these twotopics of understanding that we
have to fight for brain healthand fight for funds to combat
neurodegenerative diseases, andthat we also have to make sure
we support healthy food foreveryone is is something that we
(24:34):
can continue to to getagreement on sarah, completely
agree with you, and so, as weconclude this interview, I had
one last question.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Again, we'll have to continue um.
You've been involved inArgentum's Women in Leadership
Committee.
Why, sarah, is mentorship socrucial in leadership
development, especially inhealthcare and innovation?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
You know I have always felt that you know you
flip the chart right.
The strongest piece of any teamis the new blood coming in and
to being willing to listen toeveryone at all stages, the
place in their career that theywould like to be.
We all know the numbers and forso long in boardrooms, in the
(25:40):
CEO suite, in any facet inpolitics, that women have not
occupied the same percentage asmen in those positions.
And there's a long way to go,and so many of us have worked
hard to not only be leadersourselves but show the path for
(26:00):
others and to have a voice forthat mission.
And so within the senior livingindustry and an industry I
worked in in healthcare, we havea group that really has been
fostering that and it's made amajor impact.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Sarah Hoyt, co-founder of Social Impact
Partners and co-founder ofVitality IP and so many other
things.
I can't keep up with you, Sarah, but you're changing the world,
You're having an impact andyou're working on literally the
world's most vexing issues.
For that we want to send a noteof thanks and again ask you to
(26:40):
share.
If folks from our networkacross the world would like to
get more information or get moreinvolved with your work, how
can they do that?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Well, I hope.
I hope everybody gets involvedwith your work.
How can they do that?
Well, I hope everybody getsinvolved with Social Impact
Partners.
Our website iswwwsocialimpactpartners.
It is a global initiative.
It's about innovation, it'sabout collaboration, it's about
dreaming bigger and solving aworld problem together, and
there's a place for everyone init, whether you're a student who
(27:11):
wants to have a career inchange, whether you are somebody
who runs a corporation or anonprofit that's interested in
health and longevity.
We are all working together tochange things rapidly, and it's
happening, so we invite you tojoin us.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Thank you so much for your inspiration today, sarah,
thank you for all you're doingand, most importantly, thank you
for your leadership.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing thistopic.
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