Eric Topol, MD

Author, AI expert and healthcare futurist, will share his always insightful perspective on the impact of COVID-19 and our data-driven world.


Voted the #1 Most Influential Physician Executive in the United States in a poll conducted by Modern Healthcare, Dr. Topol is also one of GQ’s 12 “Rock Stars of Science”. Dr. Topol is one of the leading innovators in medicine today, specializing in the use of artificial intelligence, “deep” data, and smart technology in the practice of individualized medicine. Also called precision medicine, individualized medicine tailors diagnosis, prevention, and treatment to the full biological and social profile of the individual, rather than the “average” human of traditional medical science. Dr. Eric Topol is the Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute (SRTI). He also is Executive Vice President of Scripps Research and Professor of Molecular Medicine.

Dr. Topol’s recent focus has been on deep learning and deep medicine. Deep-learning uses artificial intelligence to analyze huge quantities of data to inform “deep medicine.” These algorithms are becoming as good at diagnosis as doctors in a field; they don’t get tired, don’t have bad days, are really cheap and fast. To advance this work, Dr. Topol is a leader of the All of Us Precision Medicine Initiative begun by President Obama, the most ambitious US medical research project in history. The Precision Medicine Initiative will track the medical profiles of one million diverse Americans. The grant to Dr. Topol and Scripps Research is one of the largest grants in NIH history, and will use all the tools — genomics, sensors, smartphones — that Topol’s work has spearheaded and enhance the capabilities of individualized medicine. 

Before coming to Scripps to create its individualized medicine initiatives, Dr. Topol led the Cleveland Clinic to become the #1 center for heart care in the country and founded its medical school. One of the top 10 most cited researchers in medicine, Eric has published 1200 peer-reviewed articles and over 30 medical textbooks. His research earned him the title “Doctor of the Decade” from the Institute for Scientific Information. He is also the author of three bestsellers on the future of healthcare, The Creative Destruction of Medicine and The Patient Will See You Now, and most recently How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again.

Amy P. Abernethy, MD, PhD

Principal Deputy Commissioner & Acting CIO, US Food & Drug Administration

Amy P. Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D. is an oncologist and internationally recognized clinical data expert and clinical researcher. As the Principal Deputy Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Dr. Abernethy helps oversee FDA’s day-to-day functioning and directs special and high-priority cross-cutting initiatives that impact the regulation of drugs, medical devices, tobacco and food. As acting Chief Information Officer, she oversees FDA’s data and technical vision, and its execution. She has held multiple executive roles at Flatiron Health and was professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, where she ran the Center for Learning Health Care and the Duke Cancer Care Research Program. Dr. Abernethy received her M.D. at Duke University, where she did her internal medicine residency, served as chief resident, and completed her hematology/oncology fellowship. She received her Ph.D. from Flinders University, her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and is boarded in palliative medicine.

Michael Dowling

President and CEO, Northwell Health

Michael Dowling is one of health care’s most influential voices, taking a stand on societal issues such as gun violence and immigration that many health system CEOs shy away from. As president and CEO of Northwell Health, he leads a clinical, academic and research enterprise with a workforce of more than 72,000 and annual revenue of $13.5 billion. Northwell is the largest health care provider and private employer in New York State, caring for more than two million people annually through a vast network of nearly 800 outpatient facilities, including 220 primary care practices, 52 urgent care centers, home care, rehabilitation and end-of-life programs, and 23 hospitals.

Northwell also pursues pioneering research at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and a visionary approach to medical education highlighted by the Zucker School of Medicine, the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies, and one of the nation’s largest medical residency and fellowship programs.

Prior to becoming president and CEO in 2002, Mr. Dowling was the health system’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. Before joining Northwell Health in 1995, he was a senior vice president at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Mr. Dowling served in New York State government for 12 years, including seven years as state director of Health, Education and Human Services and deputy secretary to the governor. He was also commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services. Before his public service career, Mr. Dowling was a professor of social policy and assistant dean at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services, and director of the Fordham campus in Westchester County.

Mr. Dowling has been honored with many awards over the years. They include: his selection as the Grand Marshal of the 2017 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City; induction into the Irish America Hall of Fame; the 2012 B’nai B’rith National Healthcare Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the 2011 Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award from the National Center for Healthcare Leadership, the 2011 CEO Information Technology Award from Modern Healthcare magazine and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the National Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the State University of New York’s Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, an Outstanding Public Service Award from the Mental Health Association of New York State, an Outstanding Public Service Award from the Mental Health Association of Nassau County, the Alfred E. Smith Award from the American Society for
Public Administration, and the Gold Medal from the American Irish Historical Society. For 12 consecutive years, Modern Healthcare has ranked Mr. Dowling on its annual list of the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.” In March 2016, he was listed No. 1 on Long Island Press’ 2015 “Power List” recognizing the 50 most-influential Long Islanders. He was also ranked No. 44 among large company CEOs in the US and was the nation’s top-ranking health care/hospital CEO on Glassdoor’s “Top CEOs in 2019” list.

Mr. Dowling is past chair of the Healthcare Institute and the current chair of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences and the North American Board of the Smurfit School of Business at University College, Dublin, Ireland. He also serves as a board member of the Long Island Association. He is past chair and a current board member of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL), the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) and the League of Voluntary Hospitals of New York. Mr. Dowling was an instructor at the Center for Continuing Professional Education at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Mr. Dowling grew up in Limerick, Ireland. He earned his undergraduate degree from University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, and his master’s degree from Fordham University. He also has honorary doctorates from Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin, Hofstra University, Dowling College and Fordham University.

Brent C. James, MD, MStat

Clinical Professor, Clinical Excellence Research Center (CERC), Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine

Brent James is known internationally for his work in clinical quality improvement, patient safety, and the infrastructure that underlies successful improvement efforts, such as culture change, data systems, payment methods, and management roles.

He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly known as the Institute of Medicine), and participated in that organization’s seminal works on quality and patient safety.

He is a Clinical Professor at the Clinical Excellence Research Center (CERC), Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine.

He holds adjunct faculty appointments at several other universities:

• Visiting Lecturer, Harvard School of Public Health (Health Policy and Management)
• Adjunct Professor, University of Utah David Eccles School of Business
• Adjunct Professor, University of Utah School of Medicine (Family Medicine; Biomedical Informatics)

He is a Fellow of the American College of Physician Executives.

He is presently a Senior Advisor at Health Catalyst, Salt Lake City, UT; Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Boston, MA; and a Senior Advisor at the Leavitt Group, Salt Lake City, UT.

He is was formerly Chief Quality Officer, and Executive Director, Institute for Healthcare Delivery Research at Intermountain Healthcare, based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Through the Intermountain Advanced Training Program in Clinical Practice Improve¬ment (ATP), he has personally trained more than 5,000 senior physician, nursing, and administra¬tive executives, drawn from around the world, in clinical management methods, with proven improvement results (and leading to over 50 “sister” training programs in more than 10 countries).

He currently anchors an upgraded version of the ATP, Mastering Clinical Quality / Leading Clinical Change (MCQ), based at Health Catalyst in Salt Lake City, UT.

• He has been honored with a series of awards for quality in health care delivery, including (among many):
• 2018 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety & Quality Individual Award, Joint Commission & National Quality Forum, March 2019
• Distinguished Alumnus, University of Utah, 2015
• Deming Cup – Columbia University School of Business, 2011
• C. Jackson Grayson Medal, Distinguished Quality Pioneer – American Quality and Productivity Center, 2010
• Joint Commission Ernest A. Codman Award, 2006
• AHA HRET TRUST Award, 2005
• National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Quality Award, 2005
• American College of Medical Quality Founders’ Award, 1999

For 8 of first the 9 years it existed, he was named among Modern Physician’s “50 Most Influential Physician Executives in Healthcare.” He was named among the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” (Modern Healthcare) for over 5 consecutive years, and among Modern Healthcare’s “25 Top Clinical Informaticists”.

Before coming to Utah in 1986, he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health, providing statistical support for the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and Cancer & Leukemia, Group B (CALG); and staffed the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer.

He holds the following degrees; Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science (Electrical Engineering) and Medical Biology; an M.D. degree (with residency training in general surgery and oncology); and a Master of Statistics degree.

He serves on several non-profit boards of trustees dedicated to clinical improvement and patient safety.

Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono, MD

Former CEO and director of the U.S. Defense Health Agency and head of Washington state’s COVID-19 healthcare response team

Serve a mission greater than yourself. It’s a powerful motto that exemplifies the life, work and impact of Vice Admiral (Ret.) Raquel C. Bono, MD, who served more than 30 years with honor and distinction as a Navy Officer. A board-certified trauma surgeon, Dr. Bono was the first woman surgeon in the military to hold the rank of Vice Admiral. Her legacy is as rich as it is deep, going well beyond the military and medicine. Civilians of every background and leaders in all sectors have been and will be empowered by her transformational leadership, willingness to disrupt convention and passion for pioneering positive change.

Dr. Bono is the recently retired, former CEO and director of the Defense Health Agency (DHA). In this role she led efforts to enable all branches of the U.S. military to provide streamlined health care services. “So much of what I’ve learned in the military health system has great applicability to the private health care system,” says Dr. Bono, who has been named among Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executive Leaders, 50 Most Influential Healthcare Physician Executives and Leaders and 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. Recognized as a creative disruptor of conventional health care and laser-focused on co-creating health care delivery informed by patients’ values and priorities, Dr. Bono served for 20 years in various leadership positions within the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Military Health System. At the DHA, she integrated an unprecedented $50 billion worldwide health enterprise of 50 hospitals and 300 clinics formerly managed by individual military branches. She also oversaw the DoD deployment of the enterprise health record and advanced the development of the largest federated health system with the Department of Defense and the Veterans’ Health Administration. In 2020, Bono was named a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

As the first female three-star admiral in the medical field in the history of the U.S. Navy, as well as the first Asian-American woman promoted to Vice Admiral, Dr. Bono is accustomed to blazing paths. Born in the Philippines and raised in Texas, she credits her father – also a Navy surgeon – for instilling in her the belief that she could do and be anything, as long as she continued to serve a greater mission than herself. Dr. Bono has dedicated her life’s work to doing exactly that, while inspiring and mentoring others to do the same.

Dr. Bono has made it part of her mission to encourage women and minorities to pursue careers in the military and medicine. A firm believer that diversity strengthens organizations, she launched the Military Health Corps’ Female Physicians Leadership Course to encourage diversity, retain women physicians and give military women the skills they need to succeed in senior leadership roles. Today, it is an annual standalone, three-day course, training more than 100 women military physicians each year. Her advice to attendees: “As a leader, you have to be willing to make change happen. Leadership should make you uncomfortable; it’s not for the weak of heart because it takes courage, self-knowledge and skill.”

Dr. Bono received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, Austin, her Master of Business Administration from Washington State University (Spokane, WA) and her medical degree from Texas Tech Health Sciences Center (Lubbock, TX). She completed her surgical internship and residency at the Naval Medical Center (Portsmouth, VA) and performed a trauma and critical care fellowship at the Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine (Norfolk, VA).

Sampson Davis, MD

Emergency Medicine Physician, New York Times Best-Selling Author and Frequent Medical Expert on Today and CNN

Dr. Sampson Davis was raised as the fifth of six children in Newark, one of New Jersey’s poorest cities. As a child Dr. Davis grew-up in cramped living quarters, surrounded by fragmented families, crime, and drugs. Still, he was a good student, able to strike the fragile balance between being smart yet socially acceptable on the streets. It was this combination of skills, Dr. Davis says, that were most critical to his survival. While attending University High School in Newark, Dr. Davis met Dr. Rameck Hunt and Dr. George Jenkins, two fellow students who together made a promise to become doctors. Dr. Davis and his two childhood friends each successfully fulfilled their pact and today Dr. Davis is a board certified Emergency Medicine Physician.

Dr. Davis has appeared on numerous talk and radio shows including Oprah, The Today Show, Dr. Oz, Anderson Cooper 360, The View, Tavis Smiley and NPR as well as print publications including but not limited to Readers Digest, O Magazine, People, Washington Post, NY Times, USA Today, Parade and Black Enterprise. Ms. Winfrey also delivered the highest honor naming Dr. Davis, “The Premiere Role Models of the World”.

Dr. Davis was honored in 2000 with the Essence Lifetime Achievement Award and also named one of their forty most inspirational African Americans in the country. He is the youngest physician to receive the National Medical Association’s highest honor, The Scroll of Merit, and was previously honored on 2009 BET Awards.

Dr. Davis is also author of “Living & Dying in Brick City–An E.R. Doctor Returns Home” which discusses Dr. Davis’ riveting experiences as an ER physician. The book will also offer preventative guidance as a means of supporting healthier communities.

about the STUFF:
In 2018 Dr. Davis co-authored “the Stuff” with Sharlee Jeter. Everyone has the strength to overcome any obstacle. This inner fortitude is what we refer to as the STUFF. The STUFF will help you discover the hidden strengths within yourself. This message burns brightly within the STUFF founders Dr. Sampson Davis and Sharlee Jeter. They’ve long been fascinated by individuals who thrive in spite of life’s harshest trials and for good reason: they’ve lived it. www.thestuffmovement.com

Today Dr. Davis spends his time practicing medicine and traveling the country delivering keynote speeches with timely messages. Dr. Davis believes it is important to give education a sense of style and fashion. To glorify and glamorize education is the key. A face must be present, a concrete image that all individuals across America can draw inspiration from. Dr. Davis considers his 3 D’s, Dedication, Determination and Discipline, as the necessary ingredients to success.

Graduating with honors, Dr. Davis received his bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University, his medical degree from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the same hospital where he was born, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.

Today, Dr. Davis is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physician at several emergency departments in New Jersey. He has been a weekly correspondent on the Tom Joyner Morning Radio Show and CNN where he highlighted prevalent and life- changing medical topics. Dr. Davis has also co-authored three New York Times best- selling books entitled The Pact, We Beat the Street and The Bond.

In 2000 during his residency, Dr. Davis along with his best friends felt the burning need to give back to communities in need, and together created The Three Doctors Foundation. This non-profit organization offers a series of free public programs focused upon health, education, leadership and mentoring.

Laura Craft

Vice President, Analyst, Gartner

Laura Craft is a Vice President, Analyst in Gartner’s Healthcare Industry’s Research group. Her research focuses on big data, analytics and AI, population health and value-based care. Ms. Craft has more than 30 years’ experience in healthcare across data and analytics, data management and governance, as well as industry IT trends, business drivers and strategic planning. She is highly skilled in helping clients develop, plan and execute strategies that address business needs and improve information delivery, access and use.

Prior to joining Gartner, Ms. Craft worked for IBM, Yale University, Hospital of Saint Raphael and Beth Israel Medical Center, New York. She has the honor of holding a USDA patent for a reporting system to monitor hand-washing compliance in clinical care settings.

Ari Robicsek, MD

Chief Medical Analytics Officer at Providence St. Joseph Health and a specialist in infectious diseases, will share how the health system quickly mobilized data to prepare and synthesize information about COVID-19 patients throughout their system.

Ari Robicsek, MD, is chief medical analytics officer at Providence St. Joseph Health (PSJH), a 51-hospital / 9,000 physician health care system based on the West Coast of the United States. His team is responsible for the health system’s Value-Oriented Architecture (VOA) initiative, an effort to discover and disseminate high-value patterns in care delivery.  His team is also responsible for data democratization, quality measurement and care delivery innovation.

Dr. Robicsek, who specializes in infectious diseases, has a longstanding passion for data science and health care informatics. Before coming to PSJH, he was vice president of clinical analytics at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Illinois, where his team received multiple honors for information technology, including placing first in the 2013 Healthcare Informatics Innovator Awards, ranking in the 2014 Information Week Elite 100, being named to the 2016 CIO Magazine Chief Information Officer 100, and leading his health system to become the first in the country to earn ambulatory HIMSS Analytics Stage 7. In 2017, he was one of Health Data Management’s Top 25 Physician IT leaders. 

Dr. Robicsek is the author or co-author of more than 65 academic publications, and was formerly a clinical associate professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Ari’s academic work has been published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Nature Medicine and other journals. He has co-chaired Epic’s Research Advisory Council and Data Scientist Forums, and has presented regularly at national and international meetings on clinical analytics.

Dr. Robicsek received his medical degree from the University of Toronto Medical School, where he also served his internship and residency.  He completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at Harvard Medical School.

Anita Pramoda

CEO, Owned Outcomes Board Director, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Former CFO – Epic Systems

Anita Pramoda is the founder and CEO of Owned Outcomes, Inc. – a software company that enables data-driven decision making for healthcare providers and payors as they seek financial sustainability alongside clinical outcomes in patient care.

She also serves as an Executive Advisor to Technology Crossover Ventures and on the boards at Dupage Medical Group, Health Catalyst, and Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (Los Angeles). She previously served as the CFO of Epic Systems Corporation and as a board member at Allscripts. Ms. Pramoda holds a MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Yonatan Adiri

CEO and founder, Healthy.IO, former CTO to Israeli President Shimon Peres, will share innovations and new uses for smartphones in his keynote address: “The Era of the Medical Selfie."

Yonatan Adiri, is the CEO and Founder of Healthy.io – the first company to receive FDA class II approval for a smartphone enabled urine test. He was selected by TIME Magazine as one of the 50 most influential people in healthcare in 2018.

At the early age of 26, Yonatan was entrusted by the President of Israel, Shimon Peres, as the country’s first Chief Technology Officer and steered the countries technological diplomacy with his counterparts in world capitals. In his role, Adiri led Israel’s tech-diplomacy with heads of state from the White House in Washington to the Blue House in Korea. He was also responsible for the President’s long-term agenda on transformative technologies such as Neuroscience, Immunotherapy, Stem Cells and Bioinformatics. As part of his service, Yonatan participated in the inaugural class (2009) of Singularity University’s GSP program – where he co-founded “the AirBnB of Cars,” GetAround, and was selected as class President.

His leadership in the technology and diplomacy sphere was recognized by the World Economic Forum who, at the age of 30, selected him as one of the 100 “Young Global Leaders” list and recently chose Healthy.io as a member of the select “Tech Pioneer” group that includes the likes of Google, Uber, DropBox, Kickstarter and more. He’s a frequent contributor to leading media outlets such as CNBC, BBC Wired Magazine and the Financial Times and has recently debated (Davos, 2017) the macro trends of technology and economic inequality alongside Nobel Laureates Robert Shiller and Angus Deaton.

Sadiqa Mahmood, DDS, MPH

General Manager & Senior Vice President, Life Sciences Business, Health Catalyst

Sadiqa Mahmood, DDS, MPH is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Life Sciences business at Health Catalyst and contributes to the overall vision and growth for the company. Sadiqa’s work focuses on identifying and addressing areas of high unmet need for therapeutic development through application of real-world data. She is an advisor to several healthcare organizations and global policy makers. Sadiqa is a dental surgeon and holds a master’s degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Passionate about improving access to care and patient outcomes by leveraging data and healthcare ecosystem, Sadiqa has spent her career at the intersection of medicine, policy, technology, and analytics. Previously she led clinical analytics, quality and safety, value-based contracting, and population health across healthcare organizations, including the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Partners HealthCare System, and Boston Medical Center. Sadiqa has been an advocate of collaborative learning system in healthcare and has steered cross-industry multi-stakeholder national and global collaborations to drive healthcare innovation.

She joined Health Catalyst in 2019 as SVP of Medical Affairs. Sadiqa has lived and worked in Asia and UK in addition to the US. She is based in Boston, Massachusetts. Outside of work, she is a Formula 1 fan and races as a member of a local team.

Dan Burton, MBA

Chief Executive Officer, Health Catalyst

Dan Burton serves as CEO of Health Catalyst, a healthcare data warehousing and analytics company. He became involved with Health Catalyst when it was a three-person startup. Mr. Burton is also the co-founder of HB Ventures, the first outside equity holder in Health Catalyst. Prior to Health Catalyst and HB Ventures, Mr. Burton led the Corporate Strategy Group at Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU). He also spent eight years with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) in strategy and marketing management roles. Before joining HP he was an associate consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, where he advised healthcare systems and technology companies. Mr. Burton holds an MBA with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was elected a George F. Baker Scholar, and a BS in economics, magna cum laude, from BYU.