Speaker Profile
Ph.D., Global Head, Genentech
Biography
Robert Piskol, Ph.D., is a computational biologist and oncology drug-discovery leader at Genentech, where he works within gRED Computational Sciences. His work combines large-scale molecular data, quantitative modeling, and translational biology to identify disease mechanisms, biomarkers, and therapeutic opportunities. He has contributed to studies using genomics, transcriptomics, single-cell data, and functional models to understand tumor biology and treatment response, including recent research on cell states that drive metastatic dissemination in colorectal cancer. Before moving into oncology drug discovery, Dr. Piskol conducted research on RNA biology and RNA editing, including work at Stanford that helped characterize how endogenous double-stranded RNA is distinguished from viral RNA by the innate immune system. He earned his Ph.D. at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he studied structural and population-genetic determinants of RNA evolution. His current work focuses on integrating computational analysis with experimental oncology so that complex datasets can produce testable mechanisms and drug-development decisions.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2027 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Vincent Liu, Kaiser Permanente
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Ziad Obermeyer, UC Berkeley (Luminary)
Featured Speakers
• Ziad Obermeyer, UC Berkeley
• John Halamka, Mayo Clinic Platform
• Ashley Beecy, Sutter Health
• Shiv Rao, Abridge
• Munjal Shah, Hippocratic AI
• Vivek Natarajan, Google Health
• Vincent Liu, Kaiser Permanente
• Mark Sendak, Duke Health
• Joshua Denny, NIH
• Chris Lunt, Critical Path Institute
• Ida Sim, UCSF
• Travis Zack, OpenEvidence
• Danton Char, Stanford
• Brian Anderson, CHAI
• Julia Adler-Milstein, UCSF
The Year in Clinical AI
What shipped, what failed, and what should change next.
AI Agents in Clinical Workflows
Ambient documentation, patient-facing agents, and operational agents in real care.
Foundation Models in Healthcare
What makes a clinical foundation model useful, deployable, and trusted.
AI, Human Cohorts, Trials & RWE
Turning clinical data into stronger trials and decision-grade evidence.
AI Safety, Governance & Evaluation
Avoiding harm at scale when algorithms move into production.
AI + Pharmacogenomics
How decision support and drug-response data can make each other more useful.
Davos of Precision Medicine
PMWC 2027 Program
January 27–29, 2027 · Santa Clara Convention Center
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In a few words.
PMWC is indeed The Davos of Biotech
PMWC Hall of Impact
Previous Speakers Include
Nobel laureates, technology founders, regulators, CEOs and scientific pioneers who have taken the PMWC stage.
