Dr. Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine, delivered a plenary lecture at the at the Nobel conference, “Bio-inspired medicine – unlocking access of nature for opportunities in health,” which was held at the Nobel Forum, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden on September 4-6, 2019. In his keynote “Bio-inspired Innovation in Medical Breakthroughs,” Dr. Dzau spoke about many major medical breakthroughs and lifesaving therapies, such as penicillin to statins and ACE inhibitors, that are the consequences of basic discovery research on nature. He discussed the historical insights and breakthrough therapies derived from research on nature including his and others’ past works on the cardiovascular drug ACE inhibitor, as well as current and emerging research areas of bio-inspired innovation in biomedical investigation including his current research in cardiac regeneration.