Mission to do common good through better health – 2017 HTF Innovation conference – preview

Current discussions on repeal of Obamacare has brought much focus on issues of health and wellness in America and has energized the underserved communities.  The 6th Annual Health Technology Forum Innovation Conference taking place at Stanford University on May 1 and 2, 2017 will explore health and wellness through panels and speakers, with a central focus on technology and on implementation of key health policies.

What kind of technology innovations may effectively address the unmet needs of the underserved and underrepresented markets?  Can next generation technology solutions provide better access and improve care outcomes? These and other issues will be discussed in outstanding panels. The Innovation Showcase will offer an exclusive networking opportunity to startups and investment community to develop strategic partnerships. The high visibility demo space in the expo corridor will allow startups an opportunity to highlight their offerings.

Every year, health technology forum conference offers phenomenal opportunity to bay area health strategists, providers, venture capitalists, startups, and professionals to come together with a mission to do “common good” through better health.  Please register for the conference at www.healthtechnologyforum.com .

 

Joseph Haydn (Chamber Music) by Saint Michael Trio at Villa Montalvo Arts Center

This trio of super talented ensemble, entertains and enthralls, delights the audience, and delineates the music of diverse range of composers and genres.  In addition to the classical masterworks, they perform jazz and even rock tunes.  The artists (Daniel Cher, Russell Hancock, and Michael Flexer) make the concerts informative, educational, interesting, witty, and funny.

I attended the performance titled “Haydn on Trial”.  Franz Joseph Haydn, one of the most prominent and prolific composers of the classical period (1732-1809) has also been accused of being simplistic, mechanical and at times, also trivial.  Rising to his defense, the trio performed various pieces of Haydn’s music, interspersed with interesting commentary.  Speaking as if to a jury, Russell Hancock made a strong case to get Haydn acquitted, from the unfair accusations.

Haydn was one of the first composers to write a pitch change as well as a written out solo for the timpani in a symphonic movement. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Joseph Haydn pioneered the sonata form of music that would dominate the world of classical music, for over 200 years.  Unlike Bach whose music is precise, controlled, and mathematical, Hayden’s music is a story-telling enterprise.  Hayden introduced narrative aspect to the music.  After the stage is set, the tension is built up to introduce additional themes (like characters in a story), then it is developed further, eventually leading to reconciliation, and finally there is coda or the end with recapitulation.

Haydn was a prolific composer.  He has written 104 symphonies, 54 piano sonata, 24 operas, 76 quartets, 31 concertos, 16 masses, 3 oratories, and 30 songs.   Haydn needs to be compared to the context and the constraints of his time.  Haydn spent nearly 80% of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterhazy family, at their remote estate, in Austria.  He did not enjoy the kind of liberty in composing his music, like Beethoven, for instance.  Haydn wrote pieces requested of him.  Haydn was instrumental in the development of chamber music, such as the piano trio and he is also widely recognized as the pioneer of Symphony and String Quartet.  Haydn was born on the border of Austria and Hungary and he brought the Hungarian folk music elements into his music.  Haydn was also a friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a teacher of Ludwig van Beethoven.

St. Michael Trio performed fantastic pieces of Haydn’s compositions and made a brilliant case on behalf of Haydn.  They proved unequivocally that Haydn if not held to contemporary standards, was a brilliant composer, who also introduced “surprise” elements into his music.

Russel Hancock (Piano), Daniel Cher (Violin), and Michael Flexer (Cello) performed beautifully, presenting the music in highly engaging and interesting manner.  Each of the artists hold high profile careers in the private sector and balance their professional roles with their passion for music.  They are artists-in-residence at Menlo College, perform frequently at Stanford University, and are artists-in-residence at the Villa Montalvo Arts Center.  What San Jose Mercury News says is right on the money, “If these guys were a company, I’d buy stock”.  For further information or for tickets to their performances, go to http://www.saintmichaeltrio.com .

Life Science Startups: Challenges & Opportunities – Panel and EPPIC event Preview

EPPIC Global (www.eppicglobal.org) is celebrating its 15 year journey in the Life Science arena.  EPPIC is a volunteer driven organization that was found by a group of Silicon Valley Life Science professionals to provide networking, mentoring, and learning opportunities to life science professionals.  During EPPIC Global’s 15th Annual Celebration, on October 26, 11am to 4:30pm, one of the panels moderated by Mahendra Shah, Partner, Vivo Ventures and Shalabh Gupta, Founder & CEO, BioCycive, will discuss “The intricacies of starting a life science company”.”

Starting a life science company has become more complex and more challenging.  There are different funding approaches that may be appropriate for different business models and core technologies, different regulations are in place that must be followed.  The illustrious panelists will discuss all issues pertinent to starting life science companies and navigating through the challenges.

One of the panelists, Daria Mochly-Rosen, is Senior Associate Dean & George D. Smith Professor of Translational Medicine, and SPARK Director at StanfordUniversity, School of Medicine.  Concurrently, she is also Professor at Department of Chemical and Systems Biology.  At her multi-disciplinary research lab, some of the research focus included, understanding how protein-protein interactions govern cell signaling.  Kai Pharmaceuticals found by Dr. Leon Chen and Dr. Mochly-Rosen was acquired by Amgen.  The lab’s current research efforts focus on identifying small molecules that correct genetic defects in other critical enzymes, through the use of high throughput screening, in silicon design and synthetic organic chemistry.

Panelist Kenneth A. Clark, is Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.  He was recognized by Chambers and Partners in its 2005-2013 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as one of the country’s top biotechnology lawyers.  He currently serves as a director of Pharmacyclics Inc.

Panelist Farah Champsi is Managing Director at Alta.  Farah led Alta’s investments in various young pharmaceutical companies.  She also serves on the board of directors of Allakos, Chimerix, Kite Pharma, Portola Pharmaceuticals and Trevena. Prior to Alta, Farah was an investment banker at Robertson Stephens & Company and helped build one of the most successful life sciences investment banking franchises on Wall Street.

Syed Askari, Co-founder and CTO of Medicus Biosciences, is a serial entrepreneur of 3 different startups that focused on key polymer technologies for FDA approved biomaterials.  One of the startups was acquired for about $1 billion and another startup has acquired a major market share.

Other panels and keynotes are just as interesting and include a panel on intra and entrepreneurship in the life sciences, a panel on women entrepreneurs and much awaited keynote address by Nagesh Mhatre, EPPIC Founding Member and Partner at The Angels’ Forum, Halo Fund.  Mhatre’s 35 year long illustrious career includes tremendous achievements, in addition to his major contributions as a mentor for several of Silicon Valley life science startups.   Registration is only $10 and $20 for students and non-members respectively.  Register for the event before it is sold out at http://www.eppicglobal.org.

Image by None via CrunchBase

Image by None via CrunchBase

Image by None via CrunchBase

TiEcon 2013 Overview – Focus on Big Data, Mobile, SDN & Entrepreneurship

TiEcon 2013, the biggest conference of its kind, with a mission to nurture entrepreneurship, has an impressive lineup of excellent speakers and panels, in the hottest industry segments of Big Data, Mobile, Software Defined Infrastructure, and in Entrepreneurship.

Big Data track will feature speakers that include, Dr. D J Patil http://bit.ly/YYyOxd, data scientist at Greylock Partners, and Rayid Ghani, http://bit.ly/16Ys2iI , Mr. Obama’s Chief Scientist who converted vast amount of data collected through large commercial databases, boutique lists, voter files, and social media sites, into a source of valuable data that galvanized the election campaign and the rest is history.

Mobile track will hold panels on “mobile ecosystems” to “where they are VCs investing”, in this fast growing market.  The track will feature top notch speakers like Anand Chandrasekhar http://bit.ly/10zEJks, Senior VP and CMO at Qualcomm.

With data centers of the future defined by Software Defined Infrastructure, efficiency is bound to get a boost, as resources get divided.  This track will feature speakers like Dr. Guru Parulkar http://bit.ly/10MyHYw, Executive Director at ONRC and Consulting Professor at Stanford University, with discussions around how OpenFlow might enable networks to evolve by giving power to the remote controller, to modify the behavior of network devices.

Entrepreneurship track has some of the biggest names of inspiring self made entrepreneurs, including famous Ronnie Screwvala http://bit.ly/160LYQB, Syntel’s Bharat Desai http://bit.ly/13HmSrQ, Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics http://bit.ly/ZxDn3f, and Manoj Bhargava  http://bit.ly/17KV6dc, CEO of 5-Hour Energy, possibly the wealthiest Indian entrepreneur, in USA.

Vinod Khosla (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Entrepreneurship is not just a buzzword at TiEcon.  Here future successful entrepreneurs will be showcasing their companies, will get access to mentors like Vinod Khosla and Kanwal Rekhi, and get countless opportunities to network.  The participants will likely include professionals from some of TiE’s 500+ startups and 150+ angel investors.  Come and get energized, in an environment where failures are merely stepping stones to success.

Last few days to register for tiecon, before it is fully sold out – http://www.tiecon.org.

Patient Engagement Panel at Health Technology Forum

Health Technology Forum promotes affordable health care through exploration and adoption of innovative technologies that positively transform healthcare.  The Innovation Conference on April 13^th, from this socially responsible perspective, fostered interesting dialogues in various panels.  Highlights below from one of the panels.

Patient Engagement Panel

Promise and potential for patient engagement, in the context of consumer-centric environment, was discussed, in this panel moderated by Neil Versel, HIT journalist at Uni-Versel Media and freelance journalist for MobiHealthNews and Information Week .  Dr. Laura Esserman, Professor at UCSF School of Medicine, talked about the importance of giving patients access to information, about their own health routinely, to create loops of continuous learning systems.  “We need the data to drive and move care”, said Esserman.  Jan Oldenberg, VP at Aetna and author of “Engage”, said, “engaged patients have better outcomes with fewer hospitalization, less adverse events, and engaged patients continue to make better choices”.  The drivers for engagement include, convenience, meeting patients where they are, providing right tools and services, connecting them with caregivers, and giving relevant and timely data, said Oldenberg.

According to Amy Tenderich, founder of Diabetes Mine, currently the systems are not designed to support patients.  A strong driver of patient engagement is their ability to connect with each other, said Tenderich.  People often may not be interested in managing their health, but they respond to managing their self-image, said Dr. Kyra Bobinet, Senior Designer-Instructor in Behavior Design at Stanford University.  Understanding the contributors to self image and explaining how the care will impact that, is more likely to get the patients engaged in their own care, said Bobinet.

Open Flow Enabling Innovation in Network Computing – Dr. Guru Parulkar to speak at TiEcon 2013 (Preview)

In the past, computing centered around hardware based silos of network and storage.   With data centers of the future defined by software defined infrastructure, efficiency can be boosted as resources get divided.  In the earlier model, because of the network, you had to build pods or tiers.  Now tasks can be moved around and ability to move applications that need high performance, is increased.

Dr. Guru Parulkar, Executive Director of Open Networking Research Center (ONRC) and Consulting Professor of EE at Stanford University, will talk about how OpenFlow enables networks to evolve by giving a remote controller the power to modify the behavior of network devices.  The growing OpenFlow ecosystem now includes routers, switches, virtual switches, and access points from a range of vendors.   Parulkar has been in the field of networking for close to 20 years.  He joined Stanford University in 2007 and helped create three large projects – OpenFlow and SDN, POMI 2020 (Programmable Open Mobile Internet 2020), and SEDL (Stanford Experimental Data Center Laboratory).  Parulkar is now spending most of his time on OpenFlow and SDN and on ONRC including OnLab.

Will Open Flow and SDN gain momentum quickly and become a new norm of networking?  Come and hear Parulkar talk about how Open Flow and SDN is increasingly deployed in the production network of universities, with an aim to develop comprehensive intellectual framework for SDN.  Register for TiEcon 2013 at www.tiecon.org .