[February 24, 2015]

Partners HealthCare Announces Keynote Speakers for the 2015 World Medical Innovation Forum

Partners HealthCare today announced the keynote speakers, including several of the health industry's most well-known and respected chief executives, for the first annual World Medical Innovation Forum™, which will bring together more than 1,000 international decision-makers from the life sciences, health care, academic and investment communities on April 27-29, 2015, in Boston to discuss the most compelling advances in neuroscience technology, care and research.

The Forum will present a valuable opportunity for investors, senior executives, entrepreneurs, physicians and scientists on the forefront of medical advancement to gather annually to jointly engage on the paramount importance of innovation in health care. The focus for the inaugural Forum will be neuroscience, with future areas set to include oncology and cardiology. Partners has selected CEOs of some of the top industry leaders achieving noteworthy progress in neuroscience to keynote the Forum: Jeff Immelt, General Electric; Mark Bertolini, Aetna; Robert Bradway, Amgen; George Scangos, Ph.D., Biogen Idec; Mike Mahoney, Boston Scientific; Deborah Dunsire, M.D., Forum Pharmaceuticals; David Meeker, M.D., Genzyme; and Jeffrey Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., Vertex (News - Alert) Pharmaceuticals.

The emphasis of the Forum will be assessing the shared commitment to innovation across academia, business and industry as a means of advancing health care. Also keynoting the Forum are Partners' own Rudy Tanzi, Ph.D., Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard University and Vice-Chair of Neurology and Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Atul Gawande, M.D., Surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Ann Romney, Global Ambassador at the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Peter Orszag, Vice Chairman of Corporate and Investment Banking at Citigroup, will also share their perspectives at the Forum. Top journalists from Bloomberg (News - Alert), CBS, CNBC, CNN, NBC and TIME will moderate the sessions.

"The World Medical Innovation Forum combines international CEOs, clinicians, scientists, entrepreneurs, journalists and deal-makers in an unrivaled program to explore neuroscience breakthroughs and the future of medical innovation. It provides compelling opportunities for partnering and actionable takeaways," said Chris Coburn, Vice President of Innovation at Partners HealthCare. "Our hope is that meaningful engagement throughout the Forum will spark the new partnerships needed to address longstanding unmet needs. The Forum will lay the groundwork for important contributions to health care for years to come."

The choice of neuroscience as the inaugural theme for the Forum reflects the enormous range of new technologies currently under development for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Important topics of discussion at this year's Forum will include multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression, schizophrenia, autism, stroke and sleep disorders. Game-changing diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions will also be featured, including genome editing, gene therapy, neurostimulation, neuroregeneration, population management, neuroimaging and novel biomarkers. General health care innovation topics such as value-based care and personalized medicine will also be important areas of discussion.

"The rate of discovery in the neurosciences is accelerating. Diseases that have defied effective diagnosis and therapies are yielding to a tsunami of new insights, tools and investment," said Tanzi. "Boston is the center of this global phenomenon."

Partners HealthCare plans to showcase the most promising neuroscience technology innovations currently under development around the world by selecting 12 technologies with the potential to revolutionize neurocare over the next decade. The final selections, called "The Disruptive Dozen," will be announced on the last day of the Forum.

The World Medical Innovation Forum is organized by Partners HealthCare Innovation, a division of Partners HealthCare dedicated to advancing the development and commercialization of new medical technologies from Partners' academic medical centers.

About the World Medical Innovation Forum

The World Medical Innovation Forum is a global gathering of more than 1,000 senior health care leaders hosted by Partners HealthCare in the heart of Boston. It was established to respond to the intensifying transformation of health care and its impact on innovation. The Forum is rooted in the belief that no matter the magnitude of that change, the center of health care needs to be a shared, fundamental commitment to collaborative innovation and its ability to improve patient lives.

Each year, experts from throughout health care will assess the most compelling advances in technology, care, research and unmet needs in a key area of care - the first year's focus is on the neurosciences (2015), year two is cancer (2016) and year three is cardiovascular (2017). Speakers are industry CEOs, leading clinicians, innovators, investors and top journalists. In addition to examining the cutting-edge issues in the field, the Forum will feature the "Disruptive Dozen" - 12 emerging technologies with the potential to revolutionize the selected field over the next decade.

The 2015 Forum will feature discussions of issues and advances in many areas of unmet need, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, depression, schizophrenia, autism, stroke and sleep disorders. It will also highlight new tools and interventions in genome editing, gene therapy, neurostimulation, neurodegeneration, population management, neuroimaging and neurological biomarkers.

Confirmed speakers include CEOs and top executives of dozens of global medical companies, investors, media leaders, and internationally recognized Partners experts - Harvard Medical School faculty - such as Atul Gawande, M.D., and Rudy Tanzi, Ph.D. Leading sponsors include Biogen Idec, Novartis, Amgen, Boston Scientific, General Electric and MacDougall Biomedical Communications. Enterprise Ireland (News - Alert), HealthXl, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and Yorn are also sponsors.

For more information or to register, please go to www.worldmedicalinnovation.org.

About Partners HealthCare

Partners HealthCare is an integrated health system founded by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to its two academic medical centers, the Partners system includes community and specialty hospitals, a managed care organization, community health centers, a physician network, home health and long-term care services, and other health-related entities. Partners HealthCare is one of the nation's leading biomedical research organizations and a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Partners HealthCare is a non-profit organization.

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