THE DISAPPEARANCE

Does a hospital have to be a concrete building? Can we not use modern digital technologies way more than we currently do for our most important asset, our health? What if we interpret good and accessible healthcare in a broader sense and include a healthy diet and a healthy environment? From her personal experience as an internist and a leader in hospital management Dr Fenna Heyning describes how the hospital has developed from a 'guesthouse' in which patients are staying long term into a modern technical stronghold, these days often a large shiny building with glass and steel. Yet, there are still waiting rooms, patients who are feeble still have to travel long distances back and forth from their home to the hospital and digital techniques are not used to their full potential. THE DISAPPEARANCE highlights the importance of high complex healthcare, public health, environmental sciences and food: all are strongly related. Unfortunately, since Virchow's time, we have become even more fragmented whereas it is so important to take a holistic perspective on society's issues and solutions. Dr Fenna Heyning has put her career in service of securing high quality accessible care for future generations. As a specialist in Internal Medicine, PhD/MD, she realized two things: such care is key, but it risks becoming unaffordable. Hence she accepted the CEO role at STZ (reluctantly taking off her white coat) in 2014 as this allowed her to implement innovation and healthcare transformation. In 2022 she switched roles, starting as lead Clinical Expertise at NLC, a healthcare venture builder with the mission to bring innovative science to the patient. In this role she is the linking pin between the clinical world and the entrepreneurial world. Writing and enjoying art give her the inspiration and courage to develop her vision for the future, spending time in nature helps to find the peace of mind to pursue her commitment.