At next week's Breakthrough West, we’ll make it make sense

BREAKTHROUGH WEST | SF & VIRTUAL

At Breakthrough West, we'll make it make sense

Dear readers:

Our STAT Breakthrough Summit West is now less than a week away, and my team and I have been sitting on prep calls with speakers and preparing for an amazing day.

Here's why I say that: We're going to try to explain two very tough-to-explain things at this event — how artificial intelligence will and won't change medicine, and what is happening to science as the Trump administration makes cuts to the NIH, CDC, and FDA.

Lucky for you, we still have a little space left for you to take part — either in person or virtually.

I want to take a moment to explain why we chose these speakers. My team came off the prep call with VC Reed Jobs gushing. Read this profile by Allison DeAngelis to get a sense of what's in store.

As another speaker told us, "Wow, you've got Aviv Regev!" This former academic running research at Genentech is trying to integrate AI into drug discovery faster than anyone.

I turned to Sue Desmond-Hellmann for wisdom when Covid hit. She's an industry legend from her time at Genentech. Then she ran UCSF and the Gates Foundation. We need her voice now.

Sure, you know Rob Califf, but he has way more to say than you might think based on a quote or two of his. For a taste of what's in store, read the exit interview he gave me when he left FDA, which foresaw a lot of what has happened in the ensuing months.

This series about the misuse of AI in health insurance, from STAT's Casey Ross and Bob Herman, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. I think it should have won. Casey will go deep with sources live on stage in a session I expect will be moving and informative.

And there is a lot more. VCs on AI. Tempus, GSK, and BMS. A public health figure who has called for health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign. And the real reasons that big health systems don't want the latest AI apps.

Join me there. It will be a blast, and I promise our event will help you make sense of what is to come.