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2008 Global Conference
The Fast Track to Faster Cures
Monday, April 28 - Session summaries now posted
Tuesday, April 29 - Session summaries now posted
Wednesday, April 30
Monday, April 28, 2008
Forum on the Future: How the 21st Century Will Change Your Health?
8:00 – 9:25 am (Breakout Session)
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What forces will affect your health in the 21st Century? Will pandemics and infectious diseases sweep the planet? How will our understanding of evolution affect the war on cancer? How will technology enable individuals to take charge of their health future? Listen in as leading minds in health, technology and science clue us in to trends that are already happening at the speed of life.
Moderator:
- Greg Simon, President, FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions
Panelists:
- Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- Peter Neupert, Corporate Vice President, Health Solutions Group, Microsoft Corporation
- Eva Vertes, Cancer Researcher, Department of Genetics Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College
An Unhealthy America: Obesity and the Economic Implications of Chronic Disease
11:00 – 12:15 pm (Breakout Session)
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Since 1980, U.S. obesity rates have increased by a whopping 250 percent; they now stand at double the average among developed countries. It's a problem that cuts across all racial, ethnic, gender and age groups. Unless we bring obesity rates under control, America will see a staggering increase in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other chronic ailments over the next few decades, and we can expect to be hit with soaring treatment costs. How can employers, insurers, healthcare providers, governments, communities, and patients work together to meet this national challenge?
Moderator:
- Richard H. Carmona, 17th Surgeon General of the United States (2002-2006); President, Canyon Ranch Institute
Panelists:
- Steven Burd, Chairman, President and CEO, Safeway Inc.
- Ross DeVol, Director of Regional Economics, Milken Institute
- Francine Kaufman, Professor of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California; Head of the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
- Mark Mastrov, CEO, 24 Hour Fitness
- Tomas Philipson, Professor, Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago; Senior Fellow, Milken Institute
Is the Pharmaceutical Well Drying Out? How to Keep New Drug Discoveries Coming
2:30 – 3:45 pm (Breakout Session)
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Pharmaceutical firms have produced a string of blockbuster drugs that can save lives and alleviate suffering. But lately their discovery model appears to be drilling dry holes. Despite rising research and development budgets, fewer therapies are receiving FDA approval. With many high-profile drugs about to come off-patent, the industry's current business model appears to need an overhaul. Researchers are trying to tackle more complex diseases, but why haven't new drug-discovery tools (such as high-throughput screening) improved productivity? What can be done to foster innovation that saves lives?
- Moderator: Frank Douglas, Senior Fellow, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
- David Agus, Director, Spielberg Family Center for Applied Proteomics; Research Director, Louis Warschaw Prostate Cancer Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
- Murray Aitken, Senior Vice President, Healthcare Insight, IMS Health Inc.
- Andrew von Eschenbach, Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Jonathan White, Chief Innovation Officer, Pfizer Inc.
Global Health: In an Interconnected World, Failure Is Not an Option
2:30 – 3:45 pm (Breakout Session)
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Working to improve the health and well-being of the poorest populations was once viewed as a calling best left to idealists and missionaries. But in today's interconnected world, disease in the developing countries, and other consequences of extreme poverty are significant threats to everyone's health, as well as to global security and prosperity. Hear from innovative social entrepreneurs about the barriers to solving these challenges and why failing to address them is not an option.
- Moderator: Greg Simon, President, FasterCures / The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions
- Seth Berkley, President and CEO, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
- Christopher Elias, President, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health
- Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO, Acumen Fund
Innovator: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Human Brain With Jeff Hawkins
2:30 – 3:45 pm (Breakout Session)
As the inventor of the Palm Pilot and the Treo, Jeff Hawkins has already had a major impact on the way we communicate and do business. But his real passion lies in understanding how humans think. Hawkins first laid out his theory in a 2004 book, which argued that the brain recognizes patterns and uses them to process information about the world. His new company, Numenta, is setting out to create a next-generation computer memory system based on this theory of the neocortex. In a one-on-one interview, Hawkins will discuss the new frontiers of human and artificial intelligence.
- Speaker: Jeff Hawkins, Founder, Numenta Inc.; Inventor of the PalmPilot and the Treo Smartphone
- Interviewer: Michael Merzenich, Co-Director, Coleman Memorial Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of California, San Francisco
Revolutionizing Healthcare and Research in the Developing World
4:00 – 5:15 pm (Breakout Session)
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If providing healthcare to the poor is challenging in the industrialized world, it seems nearly impossible in developing countries. Populations are large, disease spreads quickly, low incomes block patients' access to medication and care, and low-profit margins limit activity by providers. But today new business models are revolutionizing the delivery of healthcare to the poor and the supply of data to heath-care researchers. Microfinance has proven that the poor can and will pay for services, and it is increasingly recognized that the so-called "bottom of the pyramid" constitutes a market. The panel will discuss how medical care is reaching the poor as we combine the interests of researchers seeking large numbers of users with providers who will offer basic health insurance, modest customer payments, telemedicine technology, and nurse practitioners at the point of delivery.
- Moderator: Carol Lin, CEO and Founder, Cancer Social Networking; Founder, Carol Lin Reporting
- Tomas Philipson, Professor, Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago; Senior Fellow, Milken Institute
- Eugene Williams, Chairman, Translational Medicine India
- Anne Wojcicki, Co-Founder, 23andMe Inc.
- Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 2006; Managing Director, Grameen Bank
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Seizing the Opportunity to Eliminate Malaria as a Global Health Threat
9:30 – 10:40 am (Breakout Session)
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Each year, malaria claims the lives of more than one million people around the world. It takes a particularly devastating toll on the children of sub-Saharan Africa, and costs the continent an estimated $12 billion in health expenditures, production losses and other direct and indirect expenses. Today there are proven, cost-effective treatments and prevention strategies being deployed in the fight against malaria. This panel will discuss the latest developments from the front lines of this battle, focusing on how an effective public-private partnership can provide all the resources we need to end the needless deaths caused by malaria by 2015.
- Moderator: John Tedstrom, Executive Director, Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
- Peter Chernin, President and COO, News Corporation; Chairman, Malaria No More
- Sir Richard Feachem, Professor of Global Health, University of California, San Francisco; Professor of Global Health, University of California, Berkeley
- Blaise Karibushi, Country Director, Access Project in Rwanda
- Belinda Stronach, Member of Parliament, Newmarket-Aurora, Ontario
Mind If We Get Personal? The Role of Genomics in Your Life
10:55 – 12:05 pm (Breakout Session)
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Medicine is getting personal with the advent of genetics-based diagnostics, treatments and prognoses. But some ethicists and clinicians think it is getting too personal too soon. They question whether even the best of the current genetic tests are ready for use on patients — and whether the patients are ready for the information they might learn. The debate is moving beyond the newspapers’ health and style sections and into the business pages, as companies begin to offer a host of new tests to the public, bypassing the usual medical and ethical intermediaries. Join both advocates and skeptics of the new world of personalized genetics for a lively conversation.
- Moderator: Margaret Anderson, COO, FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions
- Mari Baker, President and CEO, Navigenics Inc.
- Ryan Dow, Portfolio Manager, Stark Investments
- Joan Scott, Deputy Director, Genetics and Public Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University
- Craig Venter, Founder and President, J. Craig Venter Institute; Co-Founder and CEO, Synthetic Genomics Inc.
The Future of Healthcare: What Kind of Reform Makes Sense
2:15 – 3:30 pm (Breakout Session)
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Here we go again . . . the White House is about to experience a changing of the guard, and voters are clamoring for healthcare reform. We’ve been down this road before, but this time the end result might be different. Why? Because the business community is leading the charge. Reform is coming in some way, shape or form. What might a new healthcare system look like? What’s different now from the reform battles of 15 years ago, and does that help or hurt the chances of significant change? Who will emerge as winners and losers?
- Moderator: Margaret Anderson, COO, FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions
- Jennie Chin Hansen, President-Elect, AARP
- John R. Lumpkin, Senior Vice President, Director of Health Care Group, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Richard Merkin, CEO, Heritage Provider Network
- Peter Orszag, Director, Congressional Budget Office
- Dennis Rivera, Chair, SEIU Healthcare
Eliminating Malaria: A Workshop
2:15 – 3:30 PM (Roundtable Session)
This roundtable will build upon the earlier panel discussion on the fight against malaria. Panelists will discuss the malaria situation in several African countries, Malaria No More's advocacy efforts with the G8 and how you or your organization can help eliminate this global health threat.
- Peter Chernin, President and COO, News Corporation; Chairman, Malaria No More
- Sir Richard Feachem, Professor of Global Health, University of California, San Francisco; Professor of Global Health, University of California, Berkeley
- Blaise Karibushi, Country Director, Access Project in Rwanda
- Laurie Rubiner, Executive Director, Malaria No More Policy Center
- John Tedstrom, Executive Director, Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Financing Medical Innovation
3:45 – 5:00 pm (Roundtable Session)
View Session Summary
Funding for biomedical research and development has fallen off in recent years. Large pharmaceutical companies have watched their stock values drop and their business models crumble, and they're shying away from risky early-stage drug discovery and development. Research and development output, as measured by FDA applications for approval to initiate clinical trials and market new drugs, has plummeted. The shortage of investment capital remains acute; it's being felt from drug and device discovery all the way through clinical trials. Can financial technology help? How can we bridge the gap in medical innovation funding? Which partnerships can be crafted quickly to weave together incentives, ideas and financing to drive the next generation of healthcare breakthroughs?
- Moderator: Martha Amram, CEO, GreenNow USA; Senior Fellow, Milken Institute
- Shlomo Ben-Haim, CEO, Impulse Dynamics
- Jeffrey Feldman, Founder and Chairman, XShares Group LLC
- Yair Green, Attorney at Law, Yeshaya Horowitz Association
- David Watumull, President and CEO, Cardax Pharmaceuticals Inc.
What's the Rate of Return on Your Philanthropy?
3:45 – 5:00 pm (Breakout Session)
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When you invest, you look for the best returns. When you donate money, shouldn’t you look for the best return on your funds? Increasingly, foundations and high net worth individuals are taking an entrepreneurial approach to philanthropy. They use new technology to research and evaluate potential partners. They provide capital to organizations through loans and investments as well as traditional grants. They demand rigorous measurement of impact. With a $40 trillion transfer of wealth expected by mid-century, understanding the range of ways to increase return is essential for current and future philanthropists.
- Moderator: Marcia Stepanek, Editor-in-Chief, Contribute Media
- Joe Cerrell, Director, Global Health Policy and Advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Sherry Lansing, CEO, The Sherry Lansing Foundation
- Perla Ni, Chief Executive Officer, GreatNonprofits
- Greg Simon, President, FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions
- Tracey Pettengill Turner, Founder and General Manager, MicroPlace
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The Coming Entitlement Crunch
9:25 AM - 10:40 AM (Breakout Session)
After decades of denial and delay, the combination of an aging population and rapidly escalating healthcare costs will soon force Washington to confront the issue of cutting the pension and medical benefits promised to retirees or finding new sources of revenue to pay for them. This panel will measure the depth of the fiscal hole and consider the consequences of potential remedies ranging from means-testing retirement benefits and raising taxes to liberalizing immigration restrictions for working-age foreigners.
- Moderator: Peter Passell, Editor, The Milken Institute Review
- Robert Litan, Vice President, Research and Policy, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
- Peter Orszag, Director, Congressional Budget Office
- Sylvester Schieber, Chairman, Social Security Advisory Board
- Eugene Steuerle, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute; Co-Director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
