MedCity CONVERGE begins Tuesday morning in Philadelphia. A collection of nearly 300 attendees from hospitals, payers, medical device, pharma, digital health and beyond will combine to outline a complete and accurate overview of the state of healthcare innovation anywhere in the country. If you haven’t signed up already, here’s why you should buy your CONVERGE ticket now.
The speakers
It’s a lineup of executives, investors and entrepreneurs from every sector of healthcare including:
- Craig Lipset, head of Clinical Innovation, Worldwide Research and Development, Pfizer
- Brandon Rowberry, vice president of innovation development, UnitedHealth Group
- Kim Park, partner, Janssen Healthcare Innovation
- Wil Yu, director, Innovations, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Health and Human Services
- Dr. Ken Riff, vice president of Strategy & Patient Data Management CRDM, Medtronic
- Naomi Fried, chief innovation officer, Boston Children’s Hospital
- James Burns, president and CEO, AssureRx Health
- Steven Krein, Startup Health
- Dr. Brad Weinberg, founding partner, Blueprint Health
- Dr. Jennifer Lowry, Children’s Mercy Hospital Center for Personalized Medicine and Therapeutic Innovation
- Dr. David Nash, dean, Jefferson School of Population Health, Thomas Jefferson University
- Kem Hawkins, president, Cook Group
- Matt Herper, senior editor, Forbes
- Brian Wells, associate chief information officer of Health Technology and Academic Computing, Corporate Information Services, Penn Medicine
The startups and demos
A 10-member Startup Showcase is augmented by product demos and additional entrepreneurs speaking throughout the program. Startups in the showcase get one-on-one meetings with the showcase sponsor, Sanofi, while attendees will gather for main stage demonstrations from Janssen Healthcare Innovation, Pilljogger and StoneArch Creative.
Networking
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
We’ve scheduled more than three of hours of dedicated networking so participants can take the conversations they’re hearing in the panels and connect with speakers and other attendees. The day ends with a reception on the 12th floor lounge in the Hyatt at the Bellevue.
Real discourse
Join town-hall type discussions that include whiteboarding with the speakers the big issues in innovation. Main-stage moderators will monitor the #convergeconf Twitter stream and use it during the discussions. It’s a no-talking-heads environment where audience participation is expected. Every panel mixes in entrepreneurs or industry leaders who are innovating right now.
Your voice — amplified
Your participation and the actions of the day will be broadcast out to the audience of MedCityNews.com, one of the largest sites focused on innovation across healthcare.
I want you to be a part of this conversion. So I hope I see you Tuesday in Philadelphia at CONVERGE.
[Photo courtesy of Flickr user Alan Cleaver]
