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The event is presented by MedCity News, the authoritative and leading source for what’s next in the business of healthcare, and MHIN (Mid-America Healthcare Investors Network), a nonprofit organization composed of more than 50 venture capital firms.
INVEST 2025 will unite active investors with corporate business development executives to facilitate investment opportunities as it has done for well over a decade. Startups represent a wide swath of the healthcare industry—biopharma, diagnostics,medical devices and health tech. Along with novel startups, attendees will learn from executives of health systems, insurance companies and leading life sciences firms about the challenges and opportunities in our post-pandemic world as the industry tries to navigate the winds of change—a greater need for consumer convenience, the shift to value-based care, the desire for greater access and equity, and the quest to make practicing medicine joyful again.
Join us to hear from innovative investors, prominent industry players, contrarians and entrepreneurs offering novel approaches to try and solve some of healthcare’s greatest challenges.
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Did you know the U.S. Government is a great source of both financial and expertise support for small businesses?
In this session, Chris Sasiela, Director, Innovator SEED Innovator Support Services, from the National Institutes of Health SEED Office will share information about the non-dilutive NIH Small Business award programs, and the resources and programs available to enhance a portfolio startup’s success. Topics will include access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, subject matter experts in regulatory and reimbursement, gap analyses, entrepreneurial training and more.
333 N Green Street
Chicago, IL 60607
MedCity has a block of rooms at the Ritz-Carlton, Chicago available at a special group rate:
Last Day to Book: Monday, April 29, 2024
For reservations and questions contact: Jennifer A. Bastion, Group Rooms Coordinator 312-573-4172
If you are traveling by car to the conference, parking in the 900 North Michigan Avenue self-park garage using the “Click and Park” option is recommended, as spots are not guaranteed.
“Click and Park” allows you to purchase and download a parking permit in advance. Access “Click and Park” here. When you reach the site, choose Hotel Parking.
There are two entrances to the 900 North Michigan Avenue Self Parking Garage. You can enter either on Walton Street heading west, or on Rush Street heading north.
Phone: (312) 915-3940
Reserve your seat to have breakfast with an investor who will share their investment thesis and answer your questions.
Pre-registration for Ask The Investor is required. This program will be available for in-person conference registrants only. Seating is limited, only one company representative per table.
Pitch Perfect offers an opportunity for healthcare startups to pitch their solutions to a panel of healthcare investor judges. The winner from each track will receive a $20,000 branding advertising package from MedCity News.
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Editor-in-Chief, MedCity News
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.
Reporter, MedCity News
Marissa Plescia is a reporter for MedCity News covering payers, employers and health tech. She previously worked at Becker’s Hospital Review as a finance reporter. Before that, she was a data journalism intern at Kansas City PBS for the Dow Jones News Fund. She received her Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Board Certified Ob/Gyn, Associate Professor of Ob/Gyn, Texas A&M COM
Dr. Lyndsey Harper is a Board Certified Ob/Gyn, Associate Professor of Ob/Gyn for Texas A&M COM, a Fellow of The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and a Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health. Dr. Harper is the founder and CEO of Rosy, an award-winning women’s health technology company that connects women who have sexual health concerns with hope, community, and research-backed solutions. She has been named Forbes Top 53 Women Disrupting Healthcare, People Newspapers’ 20 Under 40, a Top Innovator in North Texas for 2020 and a DBJ Top Woman in Tech.
Senior Principal at Distributed Ventures
Janet is a Senior Principal at Distributed Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm located in Chicago, IL that invests in the Insurtech, Fintech and Employer Solutions (including Health & Benefits) spaces. Active investments include Posterity Health, Tuned, Rx Save Card, Cylinder Health and Kindbody. Recently, her focus has been on employee benefit cost containment solutions.
Prior to this, Janet spent seven years in early-stage companies, including 3 years as the COO of a bootstrapped startup, and was a management consultant for Fortune 100 corporations at Bain & Company. She specializes in strategy and analytics, process optimization, people & talent operations, and negotiations. Janet has a BA in Political Science from Yale University and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.
Chief Revenue Officer, Color Health
Josh Sturm joined Color Health as Chief Revenue Officer in 2024, where he will focus on expanding Color’s partnerships with employers, unions, health plans, and the public sector to provide equitable, accessible healthcare services. An accomplished leader in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, Josh previously was a Vice President at Hinge Health, where he focused on new markets and business development, and played a pivotal role in expanding the company’s reach into new territories and complex healthcare ecosystems. Josh’s career includes tenure as a Vice President at Surescripts and at Express Scripts, where he provided strategic oversight and managed significant national accounts. He began his career in sales roles with Allergan and Medicine Shoppe International. Josh earned a B.S. and B.B.A. from Viterbo University, and an M.B.A from Webster University.
Partner, Sandbox Clinical Ventures and Blue Venture Funds
Dr. Tom Hawes joined Sandbox in 2008 and is a Partner of Sandbox Clinical Ventures and the Blue Venture Funds. He currently serves on the board of directors of Humata Health, First Dollar, Octave Bioscience, and Upward Health. Dr. Hawes previously served as a board member of AbleTo (acquired by Optum), Healthify (acquired by Wellsky), HeartFlow, InVivoLink (acquired by HCA), PatientCo (acquired by WayStar), Nexidia (acquired by NICE), OncoHealth (acquired by Arsenal Capital Partners and McKesson), Phreesia (NYSE: PHR), and Verata Health (acquired by Olive.Ai), and as a board observer of Thrive Earlier Detection (NASDAQ: EXAS).
Prior to Sandbox, Dr. Hawes matched at Yale School of Medicine for residency. During his medical training, he worked on clinical studies at the ISK Institute for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and on outcomes research at the National Cancer Institute and New York Medical College’s Cardiothoracic Surgery Department.
Dr. Hawes holds an MD from New York Medical College, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA from Brigham Young University. He is also a Kauffman Fellow.
Co-founder and COO of Function Health
Pranitha Patil is the co-founder and COO of Function Health on a mission to help people live 100 healthy years. Pranitha left Harvard University Graduate school early to build Function Health in 2021. Drawing from her experience as a former manager at Accenture Health Strategy, where she collaborated with both US-based hospital systems and health insurance providers, and global health systems, Patil recognized the need for scalable technology to empower everyone to own their health. Pranitha’s personal health journey helped shape her mission. As a first generation Indian American woman managing her own chronic conditions, including PCOS, pre-diabetes, and genetically high cholesterol, Patil has transformed. She’s improved her insulin and HbA1c levels, gotten a deeper understanding of her lipid particle sizes, and realized she needed to actively manage stress to lower cortisol levels. Determined to empower others, Pranitha believes in giving everyone, especially women, minorities, and BIPOC communities, the power to take control of their health.
CEO, Ash Wellness
David Stein is the CEO of Ash Wellness, a B2B at-home diagnostic company launching remote care services for healthcare organizations and D2C businesses. Ash Wellness offers white-lable operations management, testing via a CLIA/CAP certified lab network, kitting and fulfillment, and modern technology infrastructure. In his role, David is responsible for mission vision, strategy oversight, fundraising, and corporate development. He is a graduate of the Cornell Tech MBA program. David lives in New York City and is passionate about healthcare access.
CEO, NOW Diagnostics
Robert Weigle has been CEO of NOW Diagnostics since April 2023. From October 2020 to March 2023, he was the CEO of AeenaDX, a saliva-based diagnostics company utilizing Genomics.
Mr. Weigle is also currently an executive in residence with DigitalDX, a venture capital firm. Mr. Weigle was CEO and a director of Benvenue Medical from May 2009 until August 2020. Benvenue was a Silicon Valley based medical device company, which raised over $200 million in funding. At Benvenue Mr. Weigle led the growth from pre-clinical to successful clinical trials to the commercial launch of first-generation devices in two distinct markets, one for the treatment of compression fractures in the spine and the second for the treatment of degenerative disc disease, resulting in the first full year run rate exceeding $1 million per month. Mr. Weigle oversaw all early aspects of corporate strategy, including defining, communicating, and executing the company’s overall business model;and represented Benvenue to the investment community.
Mr. Weigle was also a senior executive at numerous healthcare/medical device companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Baxter Healthcare, TherOx, Inc., (Zoll), Cardiac Pathways (Boston Scientific), and Camino Labs (Integra) Corp. Mr. Weigle was a member of the Board at Zyga (acquired by RTI) and currently is a Board member at Tenon, TNON NASDAQ. Mr. Weigle holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley.
CEO and Co-founder, Atropos Health
Dr. Brigham Hyde is CEO and co-founder of Atropos Health since August 2022. He provided funding and support for Atropos Health’s official launch in late 2020. Hyde has a significant track record of building businesses in the health tech and real-world data (RWD) space and most recently served as President of Data & Analytics at Eversana. Prior to that role, Mr. Hyde served as a healthcare partner at the AI venture fund Symphony AI, where he led the investment in, co-founded, and operated Concert AI, an oncology RWD company – most recently valued at $1.9B. Hyde held previous roles as Chief Data Officer at Decision Resources Group, which was acquired by Clarivate for $900M in 2020. He has also served on the Global Data Science Advisory Board for Janssen, as a research faculty at MIT Media Lab, and served as adjunct faculty at Tufts Medical School.
Chief Cybersecurity Evangelist, LevelBlue
Theresa Lanowitz is the Chief Cybersecurity Evangelist at LevelBlue, a strategic alliance between AT&T and WillJam Ventures focused on simplifying cybersecurity for businesses that fuel our global economy.
With a distinguished career in the technology industry, she has held influential roles at companies including Gartner, Borland, Taligent, and Sun Microsystems, significantly impacting application security and emerging technologies.
Theresa is a globally respected leader known for her deep and diverse experience in cybersecurity. She frequently speaks at major industry conferences, including RSA, sharing her insights on high tech trends, AI integration, and the evolving threat landscape.
Theresa holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
Chief Innovation Officer, DexCare
Chris Carruthers is the Chief Innovation Officer at DexCare, where he spearheads the creation of cutting-edge products that drive the company’s mission and elevate its service to customers. With deep expertise in leveraging technology to develop scalable, innovative solutions that address complex challenges, Chris is committed to improving patient access and delivering exceptional experiences for both patients and providers.
Before DexCare’s successful spin-out from the Providence Digital Innovation Group (DIG), Chris led technology teams and drove DexCare’s commercialization efforts at DIG. His contributions laid the foundation for what DexCare is today, accelerating its adoption by leading health systems such as Kaiser Permanente, SSM Health, Texas Health Resources, Community Health Network, and Piedmont Health, among many others. His career also includes leadership roles at Slalom Consulting and his own firm, Carhea Technologies, where he delivered IT solutions across healthcare and various other industries.
Outside of his professional endeavors, Chris is a devoted father to his two daughters. He enjoys coaching youth sports, sharing meals with family and friends, and recharging in the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest’s mountains, waterways, and sea.
MD, MBA, is CEO & Co-founder of Health Wildcatters
Hubert Zajicek, MD, MBA, is CEO & Co-founder of Health Wildcatters, a top ranked healthcare accelerator and fund in Dallas, TX. Health Wildcatters provides mentorship, capital and guidance to up to 12 healthcare related startups during an intensive 3 month program, annually. The fund has invested in 109 healthcare startups, which have attracted over $320M in capital in 11 years. Dr. Zajicek has extensive experience with startups and is an active speaker, panelist and thought leader on healthcare startups, entrepreneurship, financing & healthcare. He serves as advisor, mentor and board member on various organizations and startup companies.
Prior to Health Wildcatters, he was managing director – medical technology at NTEC (North Texas Enterprise Center), where he ran what eventually became the Southwest’s largest medtech investment conference, showcasing startups that attracted in excess of $300M. Prior, he was on faculty at UT Southwestern, as an NIH funded principal investigator, in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Cell Biology. He has an MD from the University of Vienna and an MBA from SMU. He lives in Dallas with his wife, Beth McNally Zajicek, MD and two daughters.
Principal, Tarsadia Investments
Dr. Jain leads the health-tech investment practice at Tarsadia Investments, an investment firm managing over $2B in assets. With her experience as a Physician and her passion for leveraging technology in healthcare, she loves working with founders building businesses to enable and build a more equitable, affordable and effective healthcare ecosystem.
Dr. Jain is a Primary Care Physician by background. She also has her M.S. in Engineering from Stanford School of Engineering and her MBA from The Wharton School.
Senior Reporter, MedCity News
Katie Adams is a senior reporter at MedCity News. Her area of coverage focuses on the challenges that healthcare providers face today and the technology they’re using to solve those problems. Previously, she worked as a healthcare technology editor at Becker’s Hospital Review. Her journalism degree is from DePaul University in Chicago, where she is still based.
Founder, What If Ventures
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.
Managing Director, Unseen
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.
CEO, FOLX Health
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.
PhD, CEO, PharmStars
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.
CEO and Co-Founder at BioPhy
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.
Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Houston Methodist
John Mowery is Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Houston Methodist, a leading academic medical center in the Texas Medical Center, and six community hospitals serving Greater Houston. As VP/CISO, John oversees cybersecurity for all Houston Methodist entities and functions. Before Houston Methodist, John was CISO for Motiva Enterprises, overseeing all business and manufacturing cybersecurity functions for the operator of the largest refinery in North America. Before joining Motiva, John was CISO at ConocoPhillips, directing all global cybersecurity functions, including governance, risk, privacy, operations, and security architecture. Previously, John led security programs for industry-leading cybersecurity software companies, implementing security capabilities for many Fortune 100 companies, and served as Executive Consultant and Chief Technology Officer for a national consulting firm.
John is also active within the cybersecurity field, having served as Board Director for the Oil & Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center, as conference co-chair for the American Petroleum Institute Cybersecurity Conference, and as Adjunct Professor at Lone Star College, where he instructed for the cybersecurity bachelor program.
John has over 30 years of IT and cybersecurity experience across multiple industries, including high-tech, finance, healthcare, energy, and government, and holds many industry-leading cybersecurity certifications. John has a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity and a Master of Business Administration from Western Governors University and is a US Army veteran.
Dan Easton, Principal, Unorthodox Ventures
Dan Easton is a principal at Unorthodox Ventures, the Austin-based investment firm by Big Ass Fans Founder Carey Smith. Dan has led hiring initiatives for portfolio companies, reading countless resumes (seriously … he stopped counting) and interviewing hundreds of candidates. He also helps develop strategies and, on occasion, even serves as an interim executive for portfolio companies to allow founders to focus on what matters most.
Dan joined Unorthodox Ventures following leadership positions in software development, newspaper publishing, and real estate and marketing communications. He began his career as an engineer, building simulation, optimization and economic modeling software for chemical plants and refineries. Dan also owns Austin’s largest art gallery, home to one of the world’s most extensive collections of “The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss,” works produced primarily for adults by the famed artist.
Chief Strategy Officer for Business Group on Health
As the Chief Strategy Officer for Business Group on Health, Jim leads key initiatives for the Business Group, focused on enhancing member value. Working with the Business Group’s Leadership Team, Jim identifies emerging areas of member need and potential Business Group solutions.
Prior to joining Business Group on Health Jim was a senior leader at Aon. Over a 25-year career at Aon, Jim worked with large employers on global and US health and well-being strategies. Most recently, Jim led Aon’s Global Health Solutions Advisory & Specialty team, focused on thought leadership, innovation, and advisory support to address complex health and benefits challenges. Previously, Jim led the firm’s strategy regarding health care reform, testifying before the US Congress on this important issue for employers and their employees. Jim built and led Aon’s health innovation program, bringing together topical experts and experience with the emerging vendor landscape to develop and scale solutions for employers.
Jim held various global, national and regional leadership roles with Aon and its predecessor company, Hewitt Associates. Prior to joining Aon, he spent eight years working for a US-based national healthcare company in underwriting, pricing, marketing and sales positions.
Jim earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Hartford.
CIO and CDHO, UCDH
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.
Chief Information Security Officer, Premier, Inc
As Chief Information Security Officer at Premier Inc, Ben Schwering is responsible for safeguarding the organization’s digital assets and ensuring robust cybersecurity strategies are in place. With over 20 years of experience in IT and Cybersecurity, Ben has established a reputation for driving innovation and resilience in an evolving threat landscape.
Throughout his career, Ben has demonstrated a commitment to advancing cybersecurity practices through innovation and strategic planning. He has successfully implemented robust security frameworks, orchestrated incident response strategies, and led comprehensive risk management programs to effectively mitigate cyber threats.
Prior to joining Premier Inc, Ben held key positions in multiple IT disciplines including security, data analytics, and infrastructure across Financial Services, Insurance, and Healthcare industries.
Head of Strategic Growth and Innovation, Redesign Health
Brenda is the Head of Strategic Growth and Innovation at Redesign Health, where her team drives value for healthcare organizations, investors, and their portfolios through Redesign’s innovation platform capabilities. Previously, she founded and led successful ventures including Viridian Health and Solera Health. Brenda also serves as a Director for several healthcare companies, contributes to Fierce Health as an Editorial Board Advisor, and writes for Entrepreneur Magazine. She has received numerous awards including EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist, Best MedTech CEO, Becker’s 102 Women Healthcare IT Leaders, and Phoenix Top 10 Business Leaders. Brenda holds a B.S. in Microbiology from Indiana University, a M.S. in Immunology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a MBA from Arizona State University.
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Carna Health
Salvatore is a practising physician, professor, researcher, and entrepreneur. He previously led GoodCell’s product line of genetic and biomarker testing, developing a healthcare platform that harnesses the power of blood to both inform and restore health.
Previously, Salvatore spent 14 years as a member of Harvard Medical School’s faculty and concurrently as a clinician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In that capacity, he held various administrative and clinical roles including Community Hospital Chairman and Director of Admissions of a Harvard Residency Program.
As an expert in medical imaging, Salvatore has published and presented nationally and internationally. Salvatore co-founded Brigham NightWatch, the first academic teleradiology network in the world. In addition, Salvatore served as an executive and board member of FreMon Scientific Inc. where he led the development of a next-generation blood product management solution through FDA approval and ultimately to market.
Salvatore began his path towards medicine while at Columbia University, earning a B.A. in Neuropsychology. Salvatore completed his residency and specialization at Harvard Medical School.
He also serves on the Board of Directors of Make-A-Wish Foundation MA/RI. In 2016, Salvatore completed the Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School. Salvatore is a member of the Forbes Technology Council member.
Vice President of Digital Ventures, Bon Secours Mercy Health
Cyril Philip is the Vice President of Digital Ventures at Bon Secours Mercy Health. He joined the health system in 2022, his responsibilities include identification of new digital health focused technologies, accelerating generative AI adoption, and management/diligence of potential minority investments. Prior to joining BSMH, Cyril spent seven years building the investment platform at Providence Ventures (“PV”), the $300M venture fund of Providence. Cyril started his career in middle-market Private Equity and Investment Banking. Cyril graduated from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. He is currently based in Dallas.
President and Chief Executive Officer of Chapters Health System
Andrew Molosky is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Chapters Health System, one of the nation’s premier community-based healthcare delivery systems. Under Andrew’s strategic vision, Chapters Health has redefined its position to become the nation’s largest not-for-profit, end-of-life care organization and a leading community-based population health organization. He’s also the CEO of CareNu, Chapters Health’s value-based subsidiary, which provides predictive analytics, risk modelling, case management and social determinants of health analysis to care delivery. Prior to Chapters Health, Andrew served in executive leadership for more than 20 years spanning an array of geographies and organizations including publicly traded, privately held, and not-for-profit.
Andrew was recognized as one of Modern Healthcare’s top 300 most influential persons, a national distinction. He is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, a Home Care 100 advisory board member and a board of directors for the National Partnership for Hospice and Health Innovation. He is a frequent panellist at healthcare conferences across the country, including the Home Healthcare + Investment (Hi2) conference in Chicago and others.
Outside of work, Andrew is an avid Ironman triathlete and was invited to last year’s Ironman World Championship in France. He’s an active outdoor enthusiast, including boating and scuba diving. Along with many other events, he raced in the Tampa Bay Frogman swim to support the Navy Seal Foundation.
Director of Corporate Venture Capital at Healthworx
Emily Durfee is a Director of Corporate Venture Capital at Healthworx, an organization committed to innovation and healthcare quality, accessibility, affordability, and equity. As a Partner on Healthworx’s Corporate Venture Capital team, Emily leads Seed through Series B deals in verticals including Medicare, Medicaid, women’s health, behavioral health, appropriate sites of care, therapeutics, health equity, etc.
Emily is an experienced problem-solver with a background across the start-up social enterprise spectrum, including impact investing, technology consulting, and direct execution in start-ups in developed and emerging markets. She has a thorough understanding of the overlap between the complex, highly regulated corporate healthcare industry and the startup sphere, with direct experience investing in and fostering the next wave of healthcare innovators.
She holds an MBA from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and a BS in Foreign Service, Culture, and Politics from Georgetown University.
Chief of Virtual Care and Digital Health at Providence
As Providence’s Group VP and Chief of Virtual Care and Digital Health, Dr. Cunningham leads a care transformation portfolio of products and services that includes nine enterprise virtual care service lines, a hospital-at-home, remote patient monitoring, remote therapeutic monitoring, a virtual nursing team, and clinically focused digital products. Her team provides products and services to over 100+ hospitals across 8 states. She is also the co-chair of the Clinical AI governance team at Providence that is charged with identifying, vetting and prioritizing AI use cases for clinical care.
Dr. Cunningham is the founder of MedPearl, a patented clinical intelligence engine, designed to support next best actions and surface relevant patient data at the point of care. The platform is currently scaled at Providence and used regularly by thousands of clinicians.
As a national speaker, Dr. Cunningham is a thought leader and advocate for improvements in telehealth, clinician shortages and workforce burnout, clinical innovation and the application of AI in clinical care. She serves on the HIMSS Physician Executive Committee and was a recent recipient of the HIMSS-AMDIS Changemaker Award (2024) and Becker’s Health IT Up and Comers (2023).
Dr. Cunningham joined Providence St. Joseph Health in 2017, initially serving as the Chief Medical Officer of Providence Medical Group Southwest. She is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and has practiced since 2008 in the South Puget Sound community. Prior to joining Providence, Dr. Cunningham served as Women’s and Children’s Service Line Medical Director, Medical Director of Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology and Division Chief of Women’s, Children’s, Urgent Care and Virtual Care Services at CHI-Franciscan Health (currently, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health).
With over 20 years of clinical practice and 12 years of leading and managing clinical operations, Dr. Cunningham has the advantage of understanding the practical technologies, change management, workflow and care transformation strategies that are needed in clinical settings.
Dr. Cunningham received her medical degree at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and postgraduate residency training at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center. She received her Master’s in Business Administration from University of Massachusetts- Amherst. She is passionate about restoring joy in the practice of medicine and addressing some of our greatest challenges in the industry related to workforce shortages, hospital capacity and care fragmentation.
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