William Li heads the Angiogenesis Foundation, a nonprofit that is re-conceptualizing global disease fighting.

Why you should listen

Many of society’s most devastating diseases -- cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s, to name a few -- share a common denominator: faulty angiogenesis, the body’s growth of new capillary blood vessels. Given excessive or insufficient blood vessel growth, serious health issues arise. While researching under Harvard surgeon Judah Folkman, who pioneered the study of angiogenesis, Li learned how angiogenesis-based medicine helps patients overcome numerous diseases by restoring the balance of blood-vessel growth.
 
Li co-founded the Angiogenesis Foundation in 1994. The foundation’s Project ENABLE -- a global system that integrates patients, medical experts and healthcare professionals -- democratizes the spread and implementation of knowledge about angiogenesis-based medicines, diet and lifestyle. Some 40,000 physicians have been educated on new treatments, ranging from cancer care to wound care, by the foundation’s faculty of medical experts, and they are bringing new, lifesaving and disease-preventing techniques to people around the world.

What others say

“Imagine that one medical advancement held the promise to conquer cancer, perhaps within your lifetime … the potential to also end more than 70 of life's most threatening conditions, affecting one billion people worldwide. This is the promise of angiogenesis, the first medical revolution of the 21st century.” — William Li

William Li’s TED talk

More news and ideas from William Li

Can we eat to starve cancer? William Li on TED.com

May 17, 2010

William Li presents a new way to think about cancer treatment: angiogenesis, targeting the blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that beat cancer at its own game. (Recorded at TED2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 20:02) Get the list of cancer-fighting foods >> Watch […]

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