Friday, January 10, 2025
Imagine what medicine will look like in 2050. As Medscape celebrates its 30th anniversary, we’re inviting visionaries to share breakthrough ideas and perspectives on the future of medicine—whether they're optimistic innovations or cautionary scenarios. From AI-driven diagnostics to gene therapies to robot doctors, we want your boldest predictions. Selected finalists will receive a stipend to develop their ideas one step further for a chance to win a cash prize, be published on Medscape, and get recognition as an emerging leader in medicine.
Medical students and researchers: Submit a 150-word pitch outlining your original, most innovative idea about medicine in the year 2050.
Using the form linked below, submit a 150-word pitch, specifying their proposed final format. This could be an essay, a video/film, a series of interviews, an animation, a research proposal, or another format. All submissions are eligible for publication on Medscape.com
From the set of proposals received, a selected number of finalists will be chosen by Medscape to prepare a completed, longer piece of content and receive a stipend to produce a final format of their ideas. Finalists will be notified by email.
Final content from all finalists is due.
Top submissions will be featured on Medscape.com.
This is your chance to help shape what’s next in medicine. Be daring, be imaginative – and join us in envisioning the future.
Submit Your PitchWill we achieve a healthcare utopia where advanced technology empowers aging populations to live longer, healthier lives? Or will population imbalance — more patients and fewer active healthcare professionals — lead to fragmented, inequitable care and a crisis? Explore the most optimistic and pessimistic scenarios for addressing the growing disparity between the aging population and the shrinking healthcare workforce.
Envision the role of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies in healthcare in the future. What does 25 years from now look like? Technology writ large can simultaneously customize and dehumanize medicine. Is the quantified self ideal or a never-ending data abyss from which physician care can’t escape? What happens as diagnosis and treatment are pushed increasingly into patients’ homes?
Is the future of healthcare centered around prevention or reaction? Imagine a future where preventive medicine takes center stage. How might advances in genetics, lifestyle medicine, and early intervention reshape our approach to health? Discuss the possible impact on disease rates, healthcare costs, and quality of life.
Was the Human Genome Project the great unlocker that it promised to be, or has it revealed more questions than answers? Will it lead to ultra-targeted therapies that eradicate diseases and extend lifespans? How might our growing understanding of genomics, epigenetics, and the microbiome lead to more targeted and effective treatments? How will drugs and therapeutics operate in 2050? Examine the potential for personalized medicine and its implications.
As more responsibilities shift to primary care providers (PCPs), how will the role of the PCP change by 2050? How will they manage increasing patient loads, insurance pressures, and the push toward technology-driven care, while simultaneously losing agency to treat? How do these factors shape the future of practice for PCPs?
The economics of US healthcare are unique. Payer-providers, care coordinators, and middleman processors have a firmly established footing in the system that can give them disproportional influence over treatment. How can physicians do their jobs with any agency? Will universal healthcare become a reality, ensuring equitable access to quality care for all, and if so, how will the model change?
Explore the potential long-term impacts of technology on child development and health. How might healthcare adapt to address new challenges or leverage new opportunities in pediatric care? Consider both physical and mental health aspects.
Predict how climate change might reshape healthcare needs and delivery by 2050. How might healthcare systems adapt to new disease patterns, extreme weather events, and changing global health priorities?
Will aging populations live longer, healthier lives thanks to advancements in medicine and technology? Or will we face an unsustainable burden on healthcare systems and a future where chronic diseases dominate? Weigh the potential societal, ethical, and economic impacts.
Envision how medical education might evolve to prepare healthcare professionals for the challenges of 2050. How might curricula, training methods, and the definition of medical competency change? Consider the impact of technology, changing healthcare needs, and evolving medical knowledge.
Explore the potential of synthetic biology and bioengineering in healthcare by 2050. How might lab-grown organs, synthetic microbes, or engineered immune cells transform treatment options?
Have questions about the program? Contact medscape2050@medscape.net.