conversations
The connections and conversations that are at the heart of the Convergence Forum extend beyond the Cape Cod Canal. Join us for candid conversations from leaders in heathcare innovation. Want to be the first to know about upcoming conversations? E-mail us!
October 8, 2020 | 11:30AM
The View from Here with with Jay Bradner, MD, President of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. Anna Protopapas, CEO of Mersana Therapeutics.
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May 15, 2020 | 11:00aM
COVID-19 and The Road Ahead, with Ashish Jha, Andrew Plump, Penny Heaton, and You
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In the race to combat Covid-19, Dr. Ashish Jha has been a vocal proponent of the need for more testing, Dr. Andrew Plump and his team at Takeda Pharmaceutical have been working on Ig therapy and Dr. Heaton leads the Gates Medical Research Institute. Thanks Dr. Jha, Dr. Plump and Dr. Heaton for their compelling discussion about the short-term and long-term implications of the pandemic on May 15th.
Ashish Jha, MD, MPH
Physician, health policy researcher, and advocate for the notion that an ounce of data is worth a thousand pounds of opinion. Dr. Jha is a professor of Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, and a practicing general internist at the VA. He adds his own voice to the debate on how to improve the healthcare system through his blog ‘An Ounce of Evidence’ and on twitter @ashishkjha.
Andrew S. Plump, MD, PhD
Dr. Plump is the President of Research and Development at Takeda Pharmaceutical and serves as a member of the company’s Board of Directors. His career spans nearly 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry and academia and his experience encompasses early research through regulatory approval and patient access. Dr. Plump’s approach toward drug research and development is reflected in a virtuous cycle of “bench to bedside to bench” learning. He is a true translational physician-scientist, with deep knowledge in biomedical research, experimental medicine, early development, genomics and biomarkers and a history of scientific contributions in neuroscience, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
Penny Heaton, MD
Dr. Heaton is the Chief Executive Officer of the Gates MRI, a non-profit medical research institute that aims to accelerate translational science to combat diseases that disproportionately impact the poor in low- and middle-income countries. Dr. Heaton will lead the institute’s work to capitalize on new strategies that could increase the identification, selection, and optimization of novel candidates for drugs, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and diagnostics to eradicate malaria, accelerate the end of the TB epidemic and prevent diarrheal deaths from occurring in children. Prior to this role, Dr. Heaton served as director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Vaccine Development and Surveillance team, where she led the foundation’s vaccine development program against several diseases including HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, pneumonia, enteric diseases, and polio. She has more than 15 years of experience leading vaccine clinical research and development for companies like Novartis, Merck and Novovax. Dr. Heaton began her career at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This one-hour gathering included time for the Convergence Forum community to ask questions, and share how their organizations are pivoting, adapting, and planning for the future.
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