Burns Blaxall

Biography
Driving innovation in precision medicine, implementation science, and health system transformation, as well as basic, translational and clinical research. Passionate about defining value and shifting healthcare from reactive to proactive. Skilled in forging strategic partnerships across healthcare, academia, and industry. Led multi-million-dollar initiatives, established and scaled research centers, clinics, and programs. Successfully secured tens of millions in competitive funding, with impactful publications and invited lectures across six continents to advance personalized, proactive, value-based care and research.

Lee Hood

Biography
A world-renowned scientist and recipient of the National Medal of Science in 2011, Dr. Leroy Hood co-founded the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in 2000 and served as its first President from 2000-2017. In 2021, he founded Phenome Health, a non-profit research organization dedicated to contributing solutions to the major challenges causing a crisis in healthcare. In September 2023, Dr. Hood joined the Buck Institute for Research on Aging as Chief Innovation Officer and Distinguished Professor. Dr. Hood is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine. Of the more than 6,000 scientists worldwide who belong to one or more of these academies, Dr. Hood is one of only 20 people elected to all three. He is also a member of the Inventors Hall of Fame for inventing automated DNA sequencing.

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Talk
Keynote: AI and Data-Driven Individual Health: Optimizing Wellness, Preventing Disease and Empowering Precision Medicine

Howard Jacob

Biography
Howard J. Jacob brings decades of genome knowledge from academia and the clinical setting to address the current state of whole genome sequencing and its potential for both patients and those interested in learning more about their own DNA. He joined AbbVie in January 2019 to lead one of the largest Genomics Research Center efforts in the field with access to over one million genomes and clinical data and has since established the Quantitative Medicine and Genomics function. Jacob earned his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa and then completed a post-doctorate at MIT, Harvard, and Stanford. Prior to his work at AbbVie, he led the clinical teams at the worlds first stand-alone genomic medicine clinic, as well as a whole genome clinical sequencing lab. Jacob has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles. He founded four companies and is on the advisory boards for numerous academic and commercial organizations.

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Talk
Common Diseases Arent Always What They Seem
Despite advances in molecular diagnostics, the effect of rare diseases on the diagnosis of common diseases in clinical trials has not been comprehensively investigated. New data shows the value of systematic genome sequencing in understanding the phenotypic heterogeneity of common diseases and the benefits of molecular phenotyping in patient care.

Howard Jacob

Biography
Howard J. Jacob, Ph.D., brings decades of genome knowledge from academia and the clinical setting to address the current state of whole genome sequencing and its potential for both patients and those interested in learning more about their own DNA. Jacob is the Vice President and Head of Genomics and Data Integration at AbbVie and Distinguished Research Fellow and member of the scientific Governing Board. He joined AbbVie in January 2019 to lead one of the largest Genomics Research Center efforts in the field with access to over one million genomes and clinical data. In addition, he leads AbbVies RD-wide Data Integration Program (called Convergence) which brings together all types of data to create knowledge to solve and ultimately improve treatment for patients. The Convergence team recently launched the AbbVie Research Collaborative, a health data platform that enables patients to share their health data with AbbVie researchers to help advance the development of new medicines.Jacob earned his Ph.D. at the university of Iowa and then completed a post-doctorate with Eric Lander and Victor Dzai at MIT, Harvard, and Stanford. Prior to his work at AbbVie, he led the clinical teams at the worlds first stand-alone genomic medicine clinic, as well as a whole genome clinical sequencing lab. Jacob has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles. He founded four companies and is on the advisory boards for numerous academic and commercial organizations.As a pioneer and leader in genomics, in 2009, Howard and his team at the Medical College of Wisconsin were the first in the world to use genomic sequencing to save the life of a patient, Nicholas Volker. Nicholas story was highlighted in a Pulitzer Prize winning series in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Jeffrey Balser

Biography
As CEO and medical school dean since 2009, Dr. Balser has led VUMCs health system expansion from two to five regional campuses housing seven hospitals and nearly 2000 licensed beds. With over 40,000 employees, annual operating income has grown from $2 to over $9 billion, supported by 3.5 million patient visits at over 200 locations. VUMC houses the nations largest heart transplant center and the Mid-Souths largest NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center. The School of Medicine is the nations 5th largest recipient of NIH grants and is the nations academic leader in health information technology and precision medicine, hosting the Data and Research Support Center for NIHs All of Us precision medicine program. He led a $1.2B public debt issuance and historic restructuring with Vanderbilt University in 2016, launching VUMC as an independent 501C3. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, he is a director of VUMC and CVS Health.

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Talk
Implementing Precision Medicine at Scale: Lessons from Vanderbilt Health
"Vanderbilt University Medical Centers CEO shares a strategic roadmap for scaling precision medicine. Drawing from VUMCs experience, this session highlights key lessons in data integration, clinical implementation, and cross-sector collaborationoffering leaders actionable insights to advance personalized care."

Euan Ashley

Biography
Born and raised in Scotland, Euan Angus Ashley graduated with 1st class Honors in Physiology and Medicine from the University of Glasgow. He completed medical residency and a PhD in molecular cardiology at the University of Oxford before moving to Stanford University where he trained in cardiology and advanced heart failure joining the faculty in 2006. His group is focused on the application of genomics to medicine. In 2010, he led the team that carried out the first clinical interpretation of a human genome. The paper published in the Lancet was the focus of over 300 news stories, became one of the most cited articles in clinical medicine that year, and is currently featured in the Genome Exhibition at the Smithsonian in DC. The team extended the approach in 2011 to a family of four and now routinely apply genome sequencing to the diagnosis of patients at Stanford hospital where Dr Ashley directs the Clinical Genome Service and the Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. Dr Ashley is a recipient of the National Innovation Award from the American Heart Association (AHA) and a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Directors New Innovator Award. He is a Principal Investigator of the Myocardial Applied Genomics Network (MAGnet), a member of the leadership group of the AHA Council on Functional Genomics, and a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Translating Genomic-Based Research for Health. He is a peer reviewer for the NIH and the AHA as well as journals including Nature, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet and the Journal of Clinical Investigation,. He is co-founder of, and advisor to, Personalis, Inc, a Menlo Park based genetic diagnostics company.

Jacob Thaysen

Biography
Jacob Thaysen is Chief Executive Officer of Illumina. Prior to joining the company in 2023, Thaysen served as president of the Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group and Diagnostic and Genomics Group at Agilent; corporate vice president of RD at Dako; and management consultant at Copenhagen Consultancy Company (now Bain Co). Early in his career, he was founder and chief technology officer of Cantion, a research and defense application development company based in Denmark. Thaysen is Chairman of the ALDA Board (Analytical, Life Science and Diagnostic Association) and is a San Diego Chapter member of the American Cancer Societys CEOs Against Cancer. Thaysen holds an MSc and PhD in physics from the Technical University of Denmark.

Premal Shah

Biography
Premal Shah, Ph.D., is the CEO of MyOme, a genomics innovation company focused on preventive health through whole genome sequencing and polygenic risk scoring. With over 20 years of experience in biotech and healthcare, he is dedicated to advancing personalized medicine and genomics-driven health solutions. Previously, Premal was Co-Founder President at Ciitizen, a digital health company empowering patients with their own health data, where he oversaw operations and strategic development, including go-to-market strategies. Ciitizen was acquired by Invitae. Before Ciitizen, he served as CEO of Applied Proteomics, a company pioneering a blood-based colorectal cancer diagnostic test. Prior to that, he led corporate development at Genomic Health (now part of Exact Sciences). Premal began his career as a management consultant at Booz Company, focusing on front-office strategies. He holds a Ph.D. in computational biology from the California Institute of Technology, with several publications in the field.

Jeffrey Balser

Biography
As CEO and medical school dean since 2009, Dr. Balser has led VUMCs health system expansion from two to five regional campuses housing seven hospitals and nearly 2000 licensed beds. With over 40,000 employees, annual operating income has grown from $2 to over $9 billion, supported by 3.5 million patient visits at over 200 locations. VUMC houses the nations largest heart transplant center and the Mid-Souths largest NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center. The School of Medicine is the nations 5th largest recipient of NIH grants and is the nations academic leader in health information technology and precision medicine, hosting the Data and Research Support Center for NIHs All of Us precision medicine program. He led a $1.2B public debt issuance and historic restructuring with Vanderbilt University in 2016, launching VUMC as an independent 501C3. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, he is a director of VUMC and CVS Health.

Sasa Jenko

Biography
Saša Jenko is interested in responsible innovation including AI and its implementation in health systems. Saša is with the EU Commission working in the Health Policy Strategy at DG SANTE on strategic matters in digital health. She was the 2025 EU Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she studied the organizational, economic, ethical, legal and regulatory aspects of AI-aided health and care in USA and analyzed its implications for the EU context. Before the fellowship she was the Head of Sector for Health Reforms at DG REFORM, European Commission where she worked closely with the EU Health Ministries on the digital transformation of health systems including design, implementation and monitoring of health reforms.

Niall Lennon

Biography
Niall Lennon has been with the Broad Institute for over 20 years and has contributed to the development of applications for every major next generation sequencing platform across a range of fields. In 2013, Dr. Lennon built Broad Clinical Labs, a CLIACAP licensed clinical laboratory at the Broad, to facilitate return of results to patients and to support clinical trials. Dr. Lennon has led efforts to achieve FDA approval for both large-scale genomics projects (as co-Chair of the regulatory working group for NIHs All of Us Research Project) and for Broads own clinical diagnostic for COVID-19 testing process that delivered 37 million diagnostic test results to people in the New England region during the pandemic. In 2025, Niall led a team that collaborated with Roche to achieve a world record for the fastest human genome sequenced.

Jeffrey Balser

Biography
As CEO and medical school dean since 2009, Dr. Balser has led VUMCs health system expansion from two to five regional campuses housing seven hospitals and nearly 2000 licensed beds. With over 40,000 employees, annual operating income has grown from $2 to over $9 billion, supported by 3.5 million patient visits at over 200 locations. VUMC houses the nations largest heart transplant center and the Mid-Souths largest NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center. The School of Medicine is the nations 5th largest recipient of NIH grants and is the nations academic leader in health information technology and precision medicine, hosting the Data and Research Support Center for NIHs All of Us precision medicine program. He led a $1.2B public debt issuance and historic restructuring with Vanderbilt University in 2016, launching VUMC as an independent 501C3. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, he is a director of VUMC and CVS Health.

Howard McLeod

Biography
Dr Howard McLeod is an internationally recognized expert in precision medicine, having made novel contributions at the discovery, translation, implementation, and policy levels. Dr McLeod has been recognized as a Fellow of both the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. He has also been an active Board Member and or Founder for over a dozen privately held and publicly traded companies. Howard has published over 600 peer reviewed papers on pharmacogenomics, applied therapeutics, or clinical pharmacology and continues to work to advance innovative healthcare.

Burns Blaxall

Biography
Driving innovation in precision medicine, implementation science, and health system transformation, as well as basic, translational and clinical research. Passionate about defining value and shifting healthcare from reactive to proactive. Skilled in forging strategic partnerships across healthcare, academia, and industry. Led multi-million-dollar initiatives, established and scaled research centers, clinics, and programs. Successfully secured tens of millions in competitive funding, with impactful publications and invited lectures across six continents to advance personalized, proactive, value-based care and research.

K V Venkatesh

Biography
Dr. K. V. Venkatesh is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Bombay and a leading authority in systems biology, applying engineering systems principles to understand complex biological phenomena. Over three decades, his research has focused on uncovering the design principles that connect genotype to phenotype and developing dynamic physiology models of organs and diseases. His work has influenced areas such as drug discovery, wellness, and personalized healthcare.He has mentored over 40 PhD scholars, published nearly 250 papers, and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India and is a receipient of several prestigious national awards. Building on this foundation, Dr. Venkatesh founded Metflux Research, a systems-biology-driven precision health company offering personalization and RD solutions that integrate multi-modal biology to enable predictive, preventive, and personalized healthcare. The platform is live in prominent Wellness, Neutra and Healthfood enterprises.

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Talk
Integrating Multi-Modal Systems Biology into Precision Care Pathways
This talk presents a systems-biology approach that integrates genetic, microbiome, multi-omic, wearables, and clinical data to generate pathway-resolved physiological insights. The expert system illustrates how combining biological knowledge with analytical reasoning provides a totality of evidence for individual immuno-metabolic physiological states, supporting precision-care decision-making.

Charles Sailey

Biography
Dr. Sailey is a board-certified clinical and molecular genetic pathologist with dual graduate degrees in Cell Biology and Biotechnology. He completed his residency in Anatomic Clinical Pathology and a fellowship in Molecular Genetic Pathology. Dr. Sailey oversees scientific processes at Molecular Testing Labs, ensuring compliance with CAP and CLIA regulations.