Brainstorm Health: Most Powerful Women, Physics Nobel Laureate, Juul Crackdown

My colleagues Kristen Bellstrom and Andrew Nusca each wrote about the keynote dinner conversation legendary Fortune scribe Pattie Sellers had with Google and Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat. (No doubt you already subscribe to The Broadsheet, Kristen’s and Claire Zillman’s essential-daily-read, but just in case it has slipped past your inbox, click here to sign up.)

But in a conversation replete with sage life and career advice, I want to make sure that this important nugget gets another airing. Porat, who in the early 2000s was CFO at Morgan Stanley, faced not one, but two battles with cancer. Here’s what she said:

“Cancer was not fun, but it also taught me to really appreciate everything I had. And when I was first diagnosed, my children were very young—our children were very young—four, six, and eight. And I had that scary moment, when you hear that word, which sadly I fear that a number of women here will at some point.

But I didn’t have regrets.

I looked at my career and I was really proud of what I had done. I was married to a fantastic man—still am. I have three wonderful children. And so I hadn’t put anything on hold.

And I really worry when I meet people who say, ‘Well, I just need to get to this level or accomplish this.’

Life does not wait for you. There is no schedule. And so embrace it when you have it. So I didn’t have regrets.”

Enjoy the day, friends. Sy has the news below.

DIGITAL HEALTH

Exclusive: Blink Health expands into home delivery. This morning, digital health startup Blink Health announced that it would be expanding its e-commerce fueled service to score lower prescription drug prices to provide home delivery. I got a chance to speak with CEO Geoff Chaiken and several other company executives (including Susan Lang, a veteran of pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts, who jumped ship to a company that essentially has made an enemy of PBMs) ahead of the announcement, which was first reported in Fortune. Here's what I learned. (Fortune)

INDICATIONS

The FDA continues its crackdown on Juul with surprise raid. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already issued some stern warnings to e-cigarette and vape product manufacturers over their marketing practices (especially when it comes to potentially aiming the products toward kids and teens). The agency went one step further Tuesday, conducting a surprise inspection of Juul Labs (one of the most popular flavored vaping nicotine companies on the market) and collecting documents related to those very practices. (Fortune)

THE BIG PICTURE

The first physics Nobel laureate in 55 years. As Fortune's Most Powerful Women summit goes on in Laguna Niguel, CA, Canada's Donna Strickland has become the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 55 years. Strickland and her fellow winners were awarded the prize for developing lasers that can "capture superfast processes and to manipulate tiny objects," according to Nature. (Nature)

REQUIRED READING

Fortune Most Powerful Women 2018 Summit Livestream, by Kristen Bellstrom

Netflix Consumes 15% of the World's Internet Bandwidth, by Chris Morris

Google and Facebook Are Teaming Up on Artificial Intelligence Tech, by Jonathan Vanian

Authentic Leaders Aren't Afraid of Being Vulnerable, by Grace Donnelly