Newt Gingrich helps launch Dimensions

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich helped Cornell launch Dimensions: The Center for the Science and Culture of Healthcare on May 13, 2005. Mr. Gingrich lectured in King Chapel on “Saving Lives & Saving Money: Transforming Health Care in the 21st Century," the title of his 2003 book about his vision for healthcare in America.

“Saving Lives & Saving Money,” describes Gingrich's vision of a 21st-century system of health and health care that is prevention-focused, knowledge-intense, innovation-rich and centered on the individual. Specific topics covered in the lecture included pharmaceutical drug pricing, healthcare costs, and information technology in healthcare. The lecture was well-attended by the campus and greater communities, and was followed by a question and answer session and book signing.

Earlier in the day, Gingrich met with Cornell students and helped introduce Dimensions to the public. Of the Dimensions Program, Mr. Gingrich said, "I think this is the first genuinely integrated approach to drawing together the human being and the science of technology of health into one unit; I think it is a very important innovation on your part and one which will ultimately have an impact not just on other colleges, but ultimately on how medical schools think of what their assignment is."

Mr. Gingrich continued by saying, "I think the Dimensions Program, by bringing together the scientific knowledge with dramatically better understanding of how to help people change their behavior, hear the information, interact with eachother - could in fact be a truly dramatic breakthrough in capabilities. I really do commend you for having had this breakthrough right here and I look forward very much to staying in close touch with how the program evolves and how you begin to develop it for the future."

Following the lecture, several Cornell faculty, staff, and members of the Board of Trustees joined Gingrich for lunch and participated in a lively question and answer session discussing his views on issues ranging from Operation Iraqi Freedom to immigration policy.