Arundhati Parmar is vice president and editor-in-chief of MedCity News. In this role, she is in charge of all editorial content as well as the live programming at MedCity’s healthcare events. Arundhati enjoys reporting herself and writes on a variety of healthcare topics, in addition to editing contributed content. She welcomes any tips and scoops you may want to send her way.She has a Bachelor’s degree in English Honors, Jadavpur University, a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Sydney and a Master’s degree in Journalism, from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

I have formal training in epidemiology and board certification in gastroenterology, clinical informatics and internal medicine. Over the last twenty years, I have led many informatics and digital health initiatives at Cleveland Clinic, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and UC Davis Health including developing online education modules, leading EHR implementation in an integrated delivery network, developing registries, secondary use of healthcare data and developing patient and provider facing apps (applications). I have been involved in patient centered research through Clinical and Translational Scientific Awards (Cleveland Clinic and Mount Sinai), served on dissemination advisory board of PCORI and supported PRO workgroup in NYC- Chronic Disease Research Network (CDRN). I serve as founder and chair of NODE Health, a 501c3 foundation of 32 health systems that aims to build evidence to digital medicine technologies. I also serve on the Innovation Advisory Board for American College of Cardiology and as executive member of FHIR at Scale committee with Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in HHS, which allows me to collaborate nationally with ongoing efforts in interoperability and unlocking data for real-world evidence. In my prior role as Chief Innovation Officer in the Department of Medicine, I have led a scientific core for digital medicine and directed a full-stack technical team with clinical informaticists, UX designers, programmers, directors, app developers and data scientists. The core developed infrastructure for digital engagement and electronic patient reported outcomes (ePRO) that supported over 25 funded projects and over 100 investigators.In my current role as CIO and Chief Digital Health Officer at UC Davis Health, I lead the “Digital Davis vision” through an IT team of over 600 personnel that oversee Epic, IT and research applications, Data, AI, Security, clinical informatics and chief research information office who support the health system, CTSA and medical school. This proposal will leverage and build upon our prior work in AI, mobile apps, electronic informed consent, decision aids, e-PRO, virtual clinical trials and digital participant engagement.

David Latshaw, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized artificial intelligence and machine learning expert who has spoken publicly on the use of AI in life sciences regularly over the past 10 years. Dave currently serves as the CEO of BioPhy, a venture-backed artificial intelligence company that he founded in 2019. Preceding his role at BioPhy, Dave spent the first six years of his career as a Senior Scientist at Johnson & Johnson, where he worked to find innovative ways for J&J to incorporate AI technology. In this capacity, both National Academy of Engineering and the World Economic Forum highlighted the efforts that Dave conceived of and deployed on a global scale. Dave’s work was eventually utilized by J&J to aid in the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Erica Murdock is the Managing Director of Unseen (powered by Seae Ventures), a pre-seed/early seed stage investment firm specializing in tech-enabled healthcare solutions. Erica began her career at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan before transitioning into digital health, having most recently held the role of Chief Operating Officer with Hurdle Health. A former founder and seasoned digital health operator with over two decades of experience, Erica has excelled at early-stage healthcare start-ups, specializing in culture and leadership development, operations, customer success, relationship management, and GTM strategy. Erica is an alumna of the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology.

Liana Douillet Guzmán is the CEO of FOLX Health, a groundbreaking digital healthcare provider designed by and for the LGBTQIA+ community. Under her leadership, FOLX has brought its affirming and expert healthcare to members of the LGBTQIA+ community across all 50 states and has been recognized for its innovation and impact by TIME and Fast Company, among others. Liana previously served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Skillshare, the leading online learning community for creatives. As CMO, she played a key role in the company’s explosive growth, responsible for brand marketing, acquisition, communications, partnerships, and sales. Prior to joining Skillshare, Liana served as COO of Blockchain, helping grow the company’s usership from 4 million to 40 million within two years. She serves on the Board of Directors at GLAAD, the Elizabeth Park Conservancy, and FOLX. She’s been recognized as one of Fast Company’s Queer 50 for the last three years and as one of NY Observer’s Top 50 Philanthropists. Liana earned her BA in psychology and international studies in 2005 from Connecticut College. She is a member of the 2024 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. When not working, she is often found spending time with her family or playing tennis poorly.

Naomi Fried PhD, a national thought leader on healthcare innovation, is the founder and CEO of PharmStars, the pharma-focused accelerator for digital health startups. She is also a co-founder and Managing Partner of Ambit Health Ventures, an early-stage venture fund focused on digital health investing.Previously, Naomi was founder and CEO of Health Innovation Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in innovation and digital health. She advised pharma companies, providers, and payers on innovation-program design, optimization and activities and on digital health strategy.Naomi was previously Biogen’s first VP of Innovation and External Partnerships. She developed Biogen’s “innovation beyond the molecule” strategy to deliver non-pharmacological value to patients and providers.Prior to Biogen, Naomi was the first Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). At BCH, Naomi built and led the Innovation Acceleration Program, which focused on enhancing the innovation culture, improving care quality, and assisting the hospital in shaping the future of health care. The Innovation Acceleration program supported strategic innovation initiatives, resourced grass roots innovation, and identified unmet innovation opportunities. Naomi oversaw the creation and administration of the Innovestment seed grant program which supported 37 projects and the FastTrack Innovation (FIT) in Technology Program which developed 9 novel clinical software solutions and mobile apps. She also initiated and led the development of BCH’s telehealth strategy.Before moving to the Boston area, Naomi was the VP of Innovation and Advanced Technology at Kaiser Permanente (KP) in Oakland, California, where she led an effort to identify and assess emerging health care technologies and chaired the board of its internal Innovation Fund for Technology. She formed KP’s Telehealth Working Group and was involved in the start-up and governance of KP’s Innovation lab, the Sidney R. Garfield Center for Health Care Innovation. She was the Managing Director of the Archimedes Project.Naomi has served on the advisory boards of the HealthCare Business Women’s Association, MedCity News, Digital Collaboration Solutions, the Journal of Clinical Innovation & Technology, as well as a Director of the American Telemedicine Association. She was also appointed a member of the Governor of Massachusetts’ Innovation Council. Her awards include being named one of WEST’s “Notable Women Entrepreneurs in Science & Technology” in 2013 and one of Healthcare IT News’ “2013 Health Information Technology (HIT) Men and Women of the Year Award, Innovators.” Naomi was named “The Emerging Executive of the Year” in 2014 by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council and was named one of 40 “Healthcare Transformers of 2016” by MM&M. In 2023 she was recognized by the Women’s Edge as one of the “Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare.” Naomi is on the board of directors of WavelyDx and Head Diagnostics. She also has served on the advisory boards of ResApp (aquired by Pfizer) and Remepy. She writes and speaks nationally and internationally on innovation and digital health. Naomi received her Ph.D. in Materials Science from MIT and her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Scott Ogden is the Head of AI at Genmab, a global oncology and rare disease biopharma powerhouse. In this role, he leads the advancement of AI-driven change to how work is done- both in research and operations.Scott has a rich background in leading data science and innovation teams in healthcare, having previously worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Healthfirst, a payor organization in NYC. His expertise lies in leveraging data to drive impactful health outcomes and operational efficiencies.He holds a graduate degree in Applied Mathematics and is pursuing an executive MBA at Wharton. Outside of his professional achievements, Scott is passionate about music and enjoys starting choirs and a cappella groups. He also has the best 5-year-old son.

Sean is a Principal Investor at Rock Health Capital, an early-stage digital health venture fund. He previously led the market research team at Rock Health Advisory. Previously, Sean worked on the ambulatory and population health products at Epic. Sean graduated from Union College with a B.S. in bioengineering and later received his master’s in technology policy from the University of Cambridge. Sean was Watson Fellowship awardee, during which he spent one year researching the intersection of technology and culture through the perceptions of physical disabilities in Ethiopia, India, Japan, and Argentina.

Stephen Hays is the founder of What If Ventures, a venture firm investing in mental health and disruptive healthcare startups.‍After decades struggling with addiction, and a mood disorder, Stephen was able to experience a trans-formative change in his life with the help of his loving wife and children, his father, and close friends. This change inspired Stephen to combine his personal recovery experience, with his investing background to help entrepreneurs bring life changing solutions to market.Since launching What If Ventures in January 2020, Stephen has invested over $85,000,000 in 73 Disruptive Healthcare startups via a syndicate of over 4,100 investors. To date, the firm has seen 3 portfolio companies exit via IPO and 1 company exit via acquisition.Prior to his career in venture capital, Stephen was an investment banker on Wall Street for 6+ years. He primarily focused on helping large companies raise capital, and execute Mergers & Acquisitions with an industry focus on the multi-industrial, aerospace & defense, and healthcare industries.Stephen received his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering at West Point, and received his MBA from Vanderbilt.Stephen lives in Frisco, TX with his loving wife Christine, three beautiful children (ages 9, 8 and 1) and their pet bunny rabbit, named Mr. Snuffleupagus.