Inaugural World Without Disease Summit announces prestigious speaker line-up
The World Without Disease Summit, a new event being held in London on June 21st and 22nd, has announced its speaker line-up, boasting presenters from AstraZeneca, UnitedHealth Group, Johnson & Johnson, and more, as well as noted obesity researcher Professor Giles Yeo.
The two-day event was conceived in partnership between pharmaphorum and Ben Wiegand, founding partner at CWWDA (The Connected World Without Disease Accelerator) and former senior executive at UnitedHealth Group and Janssen.
“Recent FDA approvals in Immunology and Oncology have shown the ability to slow down the progression of disease, transforming standards of care,” Wiegand said. “We now need to build out a supporting healthcare system that predicts and pre-empts disease, rather than just treating the symptoms of disease.”
While day 2 will be an invitation-only closed-door working session, professionals across the healthcare industry are encouraged to register for day 1, which will feature a series of presentations around the potential of disease interception for future health. The output of the Day 2 session, a white paper laying out a framework for next steps in creating a World Without Disease, will be available for all Day 1 attendees.
The day will open with an introduction from pharmaphorum Founder Paul Tunnah and a stage-setting keynote from Wiegand. Then we will transition to the tremendous progress that has been made in living into this reality, with Professor Yeo kicking off the discussion with his groundbreaking research in the field of obesity.
Giles Yeo is a professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology at the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit and scientific director of the Genomics/Transcriptomics Core at the University of Cambridge, but he is also a media personality, having hosted a series of documentaries and a radio programme for the BBC, published two books, and launched his own podcast “Dr Giles Yeo Chews the Fat”.
The morning session, focused on the commercialisation of recent clinical breakthroughs, will feature a discussion with Sir Harpal Kumar on the progress Grail has made in their early cancer detection platform. Additional presentations on intercepting Type 1 diabetes by Provention Bio CSO and cofounder Francisco Leon as well as preventing childhood food allergies from Ready Set Food CEO Daniel Zakowski will share key progress that has been made in these critical disease states.
“Recent clinical data validates the importance of intervening in early childhood to prevent key infant diseases,” Weigand explained. “This transformation from ‘do no harm’ to provide health benefits opens up a new health care paradigm.”
After lunch, afternoon sessions will continue our journey on recent progress, including new microbiome solutions by Mike Johnson, CEO of Infinant Health and from Johnson &Johnson head of paediatric health and wellness, Dr Richard Insel, on their work in paediatric allergy. Finally, Dr Hutan Ashrafian, a well-known academic and surgeon who currently serves as chief scientific officer for Preemptive Medicine and Health Security at venture firm Flagship Pioneering will give an overview of the innovative platforms that are being developed at Flagship.
The final section of day 1 is “Scaling a World Without Disease” and that will see UnitedHealth Group’s former chief scientific officer Ken Ehlert offer a payer perspective and Stefan Vlachos, head of Health Works at Astra Zeneca, speak about the role of pharma.
Additionally, Evidation founder Christine Lemke will discuss the role of real-world evidence and Josh Suskewicz, a partner at Innosight, the strategy firm founded by business legend Clay Christensen, will discuss how the concept of disruptive innovation can help the industry put together the pieces to bring the World Without Disease to life.
Registration is open now for the event, which is being held June 21st and 22nd at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. Learn more and register at www.worldwithoutdisease.com.
