Project Unthinkable

What if we could save 95% of the lives lost to tobacco use every year?  What if that meant working with big tobacco instead of against it?Dr. Derek Yach has dedicated his life’s work saving lives.  Now, after years of crusading against big tobacco, Dr. Yach has chosen to work with Philip Morris to drastically cut tobacco deaths. Find out how in his new book, Project Unthinkable: A Global Health Crusader’s Unusual Journey to Save Lives.

This book tells the story of how Dr. Yach emerged from a South Africa ripped apart by apartheid to lead the global war against tobacco at the World Health Organization. He won. Then he stunned his colleagues by accepting a job at Pepsi where he hoped to help the CEO transform it into a healthier organization.  By then, Yach was convinced that he could do more to help save lives from inside a company than from the outside. His last move is the most controversial of all. In 2017, he joined forces with PMI, his former tobacco enemy, to help end combustible cigarettes, and the horrible death toll that goes with them, for good. It’s a dramatic story of a health crusader who sees that his enemy is ready for change, and then crosses the line to make it happen.

Derek Yach of Greenwich, CT

Dr. Derek Yach has dedicated his life’s work to saving lives around the globe. Now, after years of crusading against Big Tobacco, he has stirred up an international controversy for his decision to support the sale of safer, non-combustible cigarettes. Born in South Africa, he is an avid long-distance swimmer and lives in Connecticut.