Converge
Leaders unite to explore how to improve quality of life through the convergence of healthcare, science, and education.
WittKieffer is privileged to work with exceptional leaders and innovators confronting the complex issues impacting the wellbeing of our communities. More than ever before, executives in healthcare, life science, and education—the Quality of Life Ecosystem—must converge to explore solutions to address the challenges they face. WittKieffer’s Converge series curates deep engagement among Quality of Life ecosystem leaders to share perspectives, insights, and ideas for the future.
Converge Series
We maintain relationships with top executives across the Quality of Life Ecosystem representing a wide range of organizations, including providers, payers, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, tools and diagnostics, research institutes, academic medicine, universities, and investors. We invite transformative leaders to join us in cities around the country for exclusive dinners and evenings of lively discussion, debate, and collaboration. Our objective is to generate relationships across boundaries through active dialogue—and emerge with true innovation.
2024 Converge Themes and Takeaways
WittKieffer hosted its latest Converge dinners, one in Las Vegas and one in Switzerland, where we recently opened an office and added Managing Director Jennifer Borrer. Leaders from healthcare delivery, digital health, biotech, pharma, medtech, venture capital, private equity, and privacy and regulation came together to discuss market trends, advancements, and pressing challenges.
These conversations underscored the dynamic nature of the Quality of Life Ecosystem landscape. Despite complexity and numerous hurdles over the last several years, participants remain optimistic. In fact, they see optimism as a necessary quality in the pursuit of innovation, but also recognize the need for resilience given the non-linear nature of innovation. Leaders who embrace this “pragmatic optimism”—combining optimism with practicality, resilience, agility, adaptability, and perseverance—will be best positioned to navigate these challenges and drive success. Key themes across our dinners included the growing importance of cross-sector collaboration, a human-centric approach, and the transformative potential of AI.
Key Takeaways from Las Vegas
The Las Vegas Converge dinner yielded valuable insights into several key areas:
Specialty Compounding Pharmacy Trends: Participants noted a growing demand for customized medications driven by limitations in commercially available formulations. Compounding pharmacies are increasingly collaborating with healthcare providers to integrate personalized therapies into patient care plans.
Investment Trends in Specialty Providers: Private equity interest in specialty physician practices has been waning, attributed to factors such as reimbursement challenges, rising labor costs, increased regulatory scrutiny, and narrowing exit opportunities.
AI in Healthcare: While AI holds immense promise, attendees discussed challenges related to unstructured data, including medical images, notes, audio recordings, and device readings. This could pose challenges for traditional analytics and machine learning algorithms, which often rely on structured data, neatly organized in rows and columns. Data ownership costs, integration complexities, and responsible implementation of AI are also real concerns.
Women’s Health: Discussions emphasized the economic and societal benefits of prioritizing women’s health, particularly during prime working years (20-60). Leaders highlighted the importance of increased investment and research to address the unique needs of this population.
Emerging Trends: Conversations also touched upon the rise of mental health apps and the growing “food as medicine” movement, with its potential to personalize dietary interventions for chronic disease management.
Key Takeaways from Zurich
The Zurich Converge dinner explored similar themes:
Artificial Intelligence
Discussions centered on the current state and future potential of AI. While adoption in clinical trials has been less widespread than expected, AI is showing promise in drug asset identification, contract development, and marketing. There was also optimism for AI’s ability to reduce waste and failure rates in the sector. Concerns were raised about data readiness, the need for advanced diagnostics, data islands, and the ethical implications of AI.
Data Readiness: Despite the abundance of data on the impact of drugs on cell targets, participants highlighted limited data availability and gaps in understanding of complex biological systems. As a result, AI is inherently limited in its ability to target these systems and related potential impacts. AI’s impact on early biology varies by disease area – for example, neuroscience is poorly understood in terms of early biology compared to fields like immunology or oncology.
Advanced Diagnostics: While crucial for progress, these tools are not yet readily available. According to some experts, diagnostics for prevention have not fulfilled their promise due to the need for substantial healthcare infrastructure to deliver tests across national health systems.
Data Islands: Scattered data and a lack of systems and governance for large-scale data sharing and synthesis are additional limiters for AI impact and introduce potential biases and errors.
Ethics and Legislation: There were significant concerns about the ethics of AI and the need for rapid legislation. While there was optimism for AI’s potential, there is also an expectation of a longer adoption curve and real concerns about controlling AI for humanity’s benefit. Despite billions of dollars being invested in AI, leaders questioned whether humans are ready and capable of clearly defining the problems they want AI to solve.
Prevention vs. Treatment
Participants recognize that pharma industry economics favor treating patients over preventing illness. Shifting from a “sick care conundrum” towards a preventative model remains a challenge. The role of payers was acknowledged in areas like advanced early cancer detection and genetic therapies. Conversations turned to key trends, including the implications of GLP-1s for weight management, the potential of longevity science, the rise of biohacking and the role of payers in shaping the adoption of novel therapies and preventative approaches.
GLP-1s: Concerns about the significant growth in usage among non-obese or marginally obese populations highlight the need to consider other factors like social, behavioral, and structural influences on health.
Longevity Science: The implications of longevity science (i.e., the study of extending the human lifespan and improving the quality of life as people age) on the environment and economics need further consideration.
Biohacking: While still in its early stages, biohacking employs methods drawn from fields like biology, genetics, neuroscience, and nutrition to enhance physical or mental performance, improve overall health and well-being, and potentially extend one’s life span or achieve a specific health outcome (e.g., weight loss). The biohacking movement promises to reshape our understanding of human potential and redefine the boundaries of health optimization.
Conclusion
Collaboration throughout healthcare, science, and education is necessary to address evolving challenges we face, which is why we’re passionate about the convergence of these three monumental fields that define quality of life globally. We are inspired by the insights and dedication of the leaders who participated in these events and remain steadfast in our commitment to support their efforts to advance healthcare and improve lives.
WttKieffer Converge Cast
WittKieffer’s Converge Cast podcast series is dedicated to exploring important, meaningful ideas that bring people and organizations together across the Quality of Life Ecosystem – which spans the life sciences, healthcare, and education sectors. We aim to make the world better by fostering fresh insights into today’s most fundamental challenges.
Recent Episodes
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More About Converge
Building Relationships
Michael Castleman, Chief Business Officer; Executive Partner, Global Life Sciences & Investor-backed Healthcare at WittKieffer, discusses how Converge unites leaders through in-depth conversations about the challenges facing the quality of life ecosystem.
Finding Common Ground
Shelly Carolan, Managing Partner, For-profit & Investor-backed Healthcare at WittKieffer, shares how the Converge series brings together leaders from across various markets and disciplines to share their experiences and find common ground.
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