What would it look like for us to live longer, better, healthier lives? How could we get there – and what do we need to make it happen? Technology like telemedicine can play a role, and so will our neighbors, our food, our habits, and especially the systems of caregiving and healthcare that surround us.

For this day of fun, learning, and wellness, AIB’s FUTURES blasts into the health ecosystem of our near-future to look at how we all can thrive and flourish into 2050 and beyond. The day is also part of the Smithsonian’s Summer Solstice Festival, when museums all along the National Mall will stay open late to celebrate the year’s longest day.

Join us for a full day of activities, including hands-on activations, meet-and-greet conversations with innovators and inventors featured in FUTURES, and register for an exciting expert-led session of We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Panel to explore health on the horizon.

During the special pop-up “The Doctor is In (Space)!” visit a healthcare provider in the year 2050 with a futuristic distanced healthcare visit. In partnership with MedWand, this one-day-only installation shows you how you and your medical professionals could monitor your key health data from anywhere, anytime, allowing for distanced diagnoses and immediate care.

To end the evening, take over the beautiful Haupt Garden with a late-night glow yoga session, a centering finale to the day, to take your wellness forward into the future.

This wellness exploration is supported by MedWand Solutions. Livestream thanks to NBC Comcast Universal.

Take a look at our festival's schedule:

2pm - 4pm EST | Meet and Greet Conversations

2pm EST | Ashley Molese, Smithsonian Curator | Topic: Art for Health and Healing

2:20pm EST | Jeremy Watson, Orthopedic Surgeon | Topic: Diversity in the Medical Field

2:40pm EST | Beth Ziebarth, Access Smithsonian Director | Topic: Accessibility in Future Communities

3:00PM EST | Anthony Di Franco, Open Insulin Foundation| Topic: Future of Community-based Medicine

3:20PM EST | Winston Frazer, CEO Danae Inc | Topic: The Future of 3D Printing in Medicine

3:40pm EST | Matthew McCurdy, Co-Founder of BLKHLTH |Topic: Addressing Inequities to Build Healthy Communities

4pm - 5pm EST | We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Panel featuring

• Mimi Grant, President of the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization
• Marcia Augsburger, Senior Counsel, Change Healthcare
• Ellen Carlin, Assistant Research Professor, Center for Global Health Science and Security, Georgetown University
• Karen Dorbin, Chief Operating Officer, District of Columbia Office on Aging
• Athena Rae Roesler, Associate Director, Milken Institute Center for Public Health

845pm - 10pm EST | Late Night Glow Yoga with Sihnuu Hetep

Ashley Molese is an independent curator, producer, and festival organizer with over fifteen years of work across the non-profit sector. She specializes in public art, new media, and large-scale design/build projects. Ashley received her MFA in Curatorial Practice from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2014 and her MA in Arts Management from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia in 2010. 

Beth Ziebarth has a personal interest and professional responsibility in diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI).  She is the Deputy Head Diversity Officer of the Smithsonian Institution and the director of Access Smithsonian. Beth is currently serving as the Institution’s Interim Head Diversity Officer.  In her position, she is moving forward organizational DEAI efforts by bringing together DEAI cohorts around the Smithsonian to build a community of practice, serving as a lead advisor and participant in the implementation of institutional strategic initiatives, and developing opportunities to bring DEAI resources into the Institution. Beth develops and implements accessibility policy and guidelines for the Institution’s 21 museums, the National Zoo, and nine research centers, ensuring that Smithsonian visitors equitably experience inclusive physical and digital environments.  Her work includes staff training on accessibility and disability topics, facility and program technical assistance, direct accessibility services, stakeholder engagement, and five signature programs for disabled people. 

Anthony Di Franco works at the intersections of complex adaptive systems and computing and focuses on developing convivial technologies, decentralizing infrastructure, and increasing the agency of individuals and communities. He is founder and president of the Open Insulin Foundation, an effort to develop open technology for insulin production at a microbrewery scale and organize user owned and managed cooperatives to manufacture it. Additionally, he is currently pursuing computer science research to make software more reliable and transparent in its behavior and easier to create and modify, especially for people without technical backgrounds, built on declarative programming techniques together with reinforcement learning and techniques for computing with uncertain information.

Winston Frazer is a CEO who works with founders, engineers, production managers, and online manufacturers to design, develop, and manufacture products. Winston believes the freedom of design in 3D printing will lead to a renaissance and hyper-expansion into a future that generations before could only dream about. Winston holds a BFA in Painting from MICA. Danae, Inc. is a digital design & manufacturing service provider for 3D printing services, SMEs, and engineering companies. Our team prioritizes collaboration and relationship management with clients spanning a variety of industries to provide personalized solutions for companies looking to build out prototypes or produce iterative designs.

Matthew McCurdy (he/him) is passionate about employing social science theory, health equity frameworks, and design to develop creative solutions that improve health outcomes for marginalized communities. He is a Co-founder of BLKHLTH Inc, a non-profit that engages the public and health professionals on the impact of racism on the health of Black people and then equips them to do something about it. Matthew has had a variety of public health and healthcare experiences across Federal government, academic medical centers, and non-profit organizations. Matthew has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Georgia State University and a Master of Public Health from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

Ellen P. Carlin, DVM, serves as Assistant Research Professor within the Center for Global Health Science and Security, with a primary faculty appointment with the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Ellen is a veterinarian specializing in the epidemiology of zoonotic pathogens and emerging infectious disease. In addition to scientific research into infectious disease dynamics, she also specializes in biodefense policy with a focus on policy-driven opportunities to prevent high-consequence outbreaks. She has worked for the U.S. government, in field settings globally, and in clinical veterinary medicine on efforts to advance animal and human health. Ellen is director of the Global Infectious Disease master’s program at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She received a Bachelor of Science in biology from the College of Mount Saint Vincent and

Athena Rae Roesler is an associate director at the Milken Institute Center for Public Health. Her work champions public health policies, solutions, and partnerships to build a more equitable world. Most recently, she led a partnership with the DC government to better understand how cities can leverage food procurement to support nutrition, the environment, and equitable local economies. Roesler’s experience in public health started literally from the ground up, teaching thousands of students about nutrition as a farm-based educator in Arizona, Washington, DC, and South India. Her graduate research centered on the human right to food, a dignified emergency food system, and strategies to reduce health disparities. She was part of a research team evaluating California sugary drink tax and warning label policies. At Leah’s Pantry, a nonprofit supporting California SNAP-Ed, she furthered behavioral economics-based and trauma-informed nutrition security initiatives. Roesler holds a Master of Public Health in public health nutrition from the University of California-Berkeley and a BA in public health and educational studies from American University.

Mimi Grant is President of the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization, which provides eight monthly Round Table forums for CEOs, Presidents, and Division GMs of Healthcare companies throughout California, and for Technology companies in the southland. For over 30 years, she has facilitated Membership-wide events, as well as Round Tables, where Members hear and discuss high-level, future-focused topics and share best practices, practical ideas, and leveraged connections, to help accelerate the profitable growth of each other’s companies in these two dynamic industries. In addition to shaping ABL’s strategic direction, between Round Tables, Mimi and her team help ABL Members stay on top of the latest industry trends and cutting-edge issues, by publishing monthly editions of ABL Healthcare Online and ABL Technology Online electronic newsletters, and in her blogs and vlogs found at www.abl.org.

Karen Dorbin is the Strategic Advisor and Interim Chief Operating Officer for the DC Department of Aging and Community Living (DACL), the State Unit on Aging and Area Agency on Aging for the District of Columbia. In her role, Karen is charged with supporting the agency director in setting the strategic direction for the agency; establishing annual performance objectives; and directly overseeing the Budget and Performance Management and External Affairs and Communications divisions. Karen would describe her career path as driven by a total and complete obsession with customer experience design. In December 2021, Karen developed the Future of Aging Initiative (FOA) at DACL, a first-of-its-kind internal consultancy using human-centered design principles to center the perspectives of underserved older adults, adults with disabilities, and caregivers in identifying barriers to accessing services that promote aging in place. Through FOA, DACL is engaging the community in designing solutions to create more just and equitable access to programs and services to support community living. Karen holds bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland—College Park and studied public policy as a graduate student at George Mason University. She’s also a member of the 2021-2022 cohort of the University of Pennsylvania Executive Program in Social Innovation Design.

Dr. Watson is a native of Tuscaloosa, AL. His interest in medicine started at an early age given the fact that his mother, a nurse, gave birth to Dr. Watson and his identical twin brother 3-months premature. Also, Dr. Watson’s father is a personal caregiver. Dr. Watson is a first generation college graduate of the University of Alabama, where he successfully balanced being an athlete for the University of Alabama’s football team and obtaining his bachelor’s degree in Biology. Dr. Watson also obtained a master’s degree in Community Health Sciences. Dr. Watson attended medical school at Howard University College of Medicine. Nearing the completion of his medical degree, he and his graduating class were faced with the challenges and limitations of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges, he graduated medical school in May 2021 and is now entering his second year of residency as an Orthopaedic Surgery Resident in New York. As an Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr. Watson is able to merge his interest in sports and medicine (which is exactly what his twin brother, Jared, who is also an Orthopaedic Surgery Resident in California). In his spare time, which is hard to come by as a resident, Dr. Watson enjoys working out, taking his dogs to the park, and spending quality time with his fiancée, Brittni Lucas, who is a lawyer. Dr. Watson is dedicated to his growth as a physician, and looks forward to contributing to the lives of his patients, colleagues, the medical community, and underserved communities.