I first met Juan Enriquez in 1997. Our kids went to kindergarten together. We’ve been friends ever since. We’ve started working together on a book project. More on that next year. In the meantime…..
Juan’s bio reads like this:
Juan Enriquez is a leading authority on the economic impact of life sciences and brain research on business and society as well as an entrepreneur. He was the founding Director of the Harvard Business School’s Life Sciences Project and was a research affiliate at MIT’s synthetic neurobiology lab. He then co-founded Excel Venture Management and helped build the world’s first synthetic life form, programable cells, RNA desktop printer, stapled peptides, and portable MRI reader, . As a business leader and renowned speaker, Juan builds companies and works with the CEOs of a number of Fortune 50 companies, as well as various heads of state, on how to adapt to a world where the dominant language is shifting from the digital towards the language of life. Author and co-author of multiple bestsellers including As the Future Catches You: How Genomics Will Change Your Life, Work, Health, and Wealth (1999), The Untied States of America: Polarization, Fracturing and Our Future (2005), Evolving Ourselves: Redesigning Humanity One Gene at a Time (2015). Right/ Wrong: How Technology Transforms Our Ethics (2020).
On Tuesday, Juan and I got together and discussed his first two books; meaning we talked about the life sciences revolution, the AI revolution, the impact of advanced technologies on nation-states and the perils of brain drain. There was more to it than that, but that’s the gist.
It’s a fascinating conversation because of Juan’s extraordinary grasp of complex topics and issues and his ability to discuss them in ways all of us can understand. I urge you to listen to the whole thing. You’ll learn a lot. You’ll want to know more.
(The News Items Podcast. John Ellis and Juan Enriquez. Recorded 9 December 2025. Produced by Dale Eisinger.)
You can find this podcast, and previous News Items podcasts, on most of the major platforms, including Apple, Amazon and Spotify. There will be a follow-up podcast with Juan, probably in March or April of next year. We’ll discuss his 3rd and 4th books, among other things.