Is medicine at last taking systems thinking seriously?

At the 2017 WOSC Congress in Rome there was a great keynote talk by Christian Pristipino who  is an interventional cardiologist living in Rome where he has worked in a public hospital since 2000. He is the Founding President of the Italian Association for Systems Medicine and Healthcare (ASSIMSS) and he is the chairman of several official consensus and position papers from scientific cardiologic societies at the national and European level. He is also the co-editor of a book on systems approaches in ischemic heart disease entitled: “Psychotherapy for ischemic heart disease. An evidence-based clinical approach”. 

Christian has also founded in 2013 the first hospital center for personalized and systems medicine at San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome, Italy.  He has collaborated with the Italian Systems Society (AIRS) in congresses, publications and research since 2013.

 His talk was entitled "From precision medicine to systems medicine: clinical and social implications"

What social purpose do newspapers fulfil?

I have long argued that the institutional arrangements associated with the ownership of the Guardian/Observer is the key mechanism that enables it to publish relatively fearlessly.  It is not the plaything of ruthless rich or ideologically warped individuals or narrow self serving interest groups.  In a world in which there is increasing manipulation of the news, including processes associated with elective democracy, it is time to consider what institutional forms media companies should take?  Are they merely elements of laissez faire capitalism or, in granting them a social licence to operate, should we citizens demand more?  Questions such as these require urgent consideration in the light of recent actions by The New York Times:

"Amidst backlash and subscription cancellations for hiring extreme climate science denier, Bret Stephens, the New York Times offered a stunning defense: There are “millions of people who agree with him.”