Session Abstract
Session Synopsis: The importance of recently launched government initiatives, whether the PMI, the Cancer Moonshot, or the Microbiome Initiative is undeniable. This session will provide an update on the progress of each initiative towards their ambitious goals of disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment by respective government representatives.
Session Chair Profile
Director of the Precision Medicine Initiative® Cohort Program, National Institutes of Health
Biography
Eric Dishman is the Director of the Precision Medicine Initiative® Cohort Program at the National Institutes of Health. In this role, he leads efforts to build a research cohort of one million U.S. participants to advance precision medicine. Previously, Eric was an Intel Fellow and Vice President of the Health and Life Sciences Group at Intel Corporation, where he was responsible for driving Intel’s cross-business strategy, research and development, and product and policy initiatives for health and life science solutions. He is widely recognized as a global leader in health care innovation with specific expertise in home and community-based technologies and services for chronic disease management and independent living. Trained as a social scientist, Dishman is known for pioneering innovation techniques that incorporate anthropology, ethnography, and other social science methods into the development of new technologies. He also brings his own experience as a cancer patient for 23 years—finally cured thanks to precision medicine—to drive a person-centric view of health care transformation.
Speaker Profile
Executive Director, Cancer Moonshot Task Force – The White House
Biography
Greg Simon is the Executive Director of the Vice President’s Cancer Moonshot Task Force. Greg returns to the White House after serving as Vice President Al Gore’s Chief Domestic Policy Advisor between 1993 and 1997. Previously, Greg was the CEO of the financial firm Poliwogg Holdings and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Policy at Pfizer Inc. Prior to that, Greg was the founding President of FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions, a center of the Milken Institute. Greg received his B.A in history from the University of Arkansas and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Washington, Seattle.
Speaker Profile
Engineering Director, Google
Biography
David is an engineering director at Google, currently helping life science organizations use Google’s Cloud Platform to accelerate and scale their work with big data. His previous projects at Google include creating and leading the Google+ Platform team, overseeing the company’s developer-facing offerings, and leading product and infrastructure teams for Google Apps. Prior to joining Google in 2006, he successfully started two companies: Verity in 1988 (IPO 1995), which did full-text search, and Eloquent in 1995 (IPO 2000), which used rich media to power business communications. Eloquent was later acquired by Open Text, an enterprise software firm, where David served as CTO. David grew up in Massachusetts, where he earned a BS in physics from MIT.
