How effective is the institution? We throw a lot of money at problems. Are there more effective institutions or methods? Perhaps a series of X-Prizes for medicine would help? The tricolor prize, for example: http://tricorder.xprize.org/about/overview
“Yes, we did it, we killed the dragon today. But damn, why did we start so late?
http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html
If you are in a position to fund things, consider the SENS Research Foundation, instead of the next Yo app.
http://www.sens.org