How Breakthrough East is coming together

March 19, 2026

BREAKTHROUGH EAST | NYC + ONLINE

Dear readers,

How do the biggest companies in biotech and pharma pick winning research projects? How does the biggest drug company in history think about oncology? What does the head of Medicare have up his sleeve?

Those are among the questions we'll explore at the annual STAT Breakthrough Summit East on March 19 in New York City. And add to those an existential quandary: How do we communicate about science in a polarized world?

Breakthrough East will be a practical, high-level summit with top speakers who we think will help anyone in the science business make better decisions — and make great contacts, too.

This year's event will begin in the late morning. Ticket prices have been adjusted for a slightly abbreviated day.

Who's speaking?

STAT's Damian Garde will sit down with a host of big name research chiefs, including Alnylam's Pushkal Garg, Biogen's Jane Grogan, and a yet-to-be announced R&D head at a major pharmaceutical maker. I'll sit down with Jacob Van Naarden, who joined Eli Lilly through the $8 billion acquisition of Loxo Oncology and is now the president of Lilly Oncology and the head of corporate business development at Lilly. We'll talk about his journey at the hottest company in the drug business.

Chris Klomp, the director of Medicare and deputy administrator of CMS, will sit down with STAT's Mario Aguilar. Learn how a former CEO with an eye for saving money plans to use tech to change the government's insurance programs.

We've also assembled a panel of social media influencers who have built up giant audiences by talking about good science on everything from nutrition to vaccines. Jessica Knurick, Morgan McSweeney (known online as Dr. Noc), Jessica Malaty Rivera, and Darien Sutton will talk about how to communicate important information to a wide audience.

And, of course, we have a couple more surprises up our sleeves. I hope to see you there.