2026 Plenary Keynote Program
Tuesday, May 19
8:30 am Recommended Pre-Conference Workshops and Symposia*
On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, Cambridge Healthtech Institute is pleased to offer six pre-conference Workshops scheduled across two time slots (9:00 am–12:00 pm and 1:15–4:15 pm) and three Symposia from 8:30 am–3:45 pm. All are designed to be instructional, interactive, and provide in-depth information on a specific topic. They allow for one-on-one interaction and provide a great way to explain more technical aspects that would otherwise not be covered during the main conference tracks that take place Wednesday–Thursday.
*Separate registration required. Additional details:
4:30 pm Organizer's Remarks
Cindy Crowninshield, Executive Event Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute
4:35 pm PLENARY KEYNOTE INTRODUCTION: Getting Ready for Effective AI: Starting with FAIR Principles
Diana Gamez Diaz, Head, Data & AI Engineering, RCH Solutions
4:45 pm PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Rare Conversations: Explorations of the Research, Funding, and Advocacy for Rare Diseases
Thomas Bartlett, Ambassador, MG Uniter Myasthenia Gravis, Amgen
Catherine Brownstein, PhD, Manager, Molecular Genomics Core Facility, Boston Children's Hospital; Scientific Director, Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research Gene Discovery Core; Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Morgan Cheatham, MD, Partner, Head of Healthcare & Life Sciences, Breyer Capital
Sebastien Lefebvre, Head of Technology, Data and AI, Aurelis Insights
Dylan Livingston, Founder and President, The Alliance for Longevity Initiatives (A4LI)
William Van Etten, PhD, Co-Founder & Principal Consultant, StarfleetBio
Susan J. Ward, PhD, Founder & Executive Director, cTAP
In a unique plenary series of intimate conversations, we will explore the models, drivers, and challenges facing rare disease research. By uniting leaders in precision medicine, bioinformatics, national rare-disease infrastructure, and real-world legislative advocacy, we will give attendees an expansive, cross-disciplinary view of what’s required to deliver faster, more accurate, and more equitable rare-disease cures.
6:00 pm Welcome Reception in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)
The Bio-IT Kickoff Reception is a reunion—reconnect with friends, explore cutting-edge research, and celebrate innovation! Enjoy poster presentations, networking, and vote for the Best of Show and Poster awards.
7:15 pm Close of Day
Wednesday, May 20
6:30 am Bio-IT World’s 5K Rise and Shine Fun Run! (Sponsorship Opportunities Available)
RUN COORDINATORS:
Bridget Kotelly, Senior Conference Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute
Eileen Murphy, Conference Producer, Cambridge Healthtech Institute
Lace up and join Bio-IT’s Coordinators for the Fun Run on Wednesday, May 20! Sprint, jog, walk, or talk-your-way-through—ALL abilities are welcome. This informal event is all about getting moving together. Full details to come…just don’t forget your sneakers!
7:00 am Registration and Morning Coffee
8:00 am Organizer's Remarks
Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World and Clinical Research News
8:05 am Plenary Keynote Introduction
Speaker to be Announced, CLOVERTEX
8:15 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: The Collaboration Breakthrough: How Federated Learning Is Rewriting the Rules of Drug Discovery
Mohammed AlQuraishi, PhD, Assistant Professor, Systems Biology, Columbia University
Jonathan B. Gilbert, PhD, Senior Director, Ecosystem Growth and Contributor Partnerships, Eli Lilly and Company
José-Tomás Prieto, PhD, Director of AI Programs, Apheris
Woody Sherman, PhD, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Psivant Therapeutics
Christina Taylor, PhD, Senior Science Fellow and Computational Molecular Design Lead, Bayer
The pharmaceutical industry sits on a collective treasure trove of proprietary structural biology data, yet competitive concerns have historically prevented the data sharing necessary to train the most powerful AI models for drug discovery. Federated learning is changing this paradigm, enabling biopharma companies to collaborate on AI model training while keeping sensitive data secure and confidential. This plenary session explores the groundbreaking AI Structural Biology (AISB) Network, where industry leaders are pooling proprietary protein-ligand structure data to collaboratively train OpenFold3, an AI model designed to predict molecular interactions with precision approaching X-ray crystallography. Through the federated computing platform, thousands of experimentally determined protein–small molecule structures remain securely at their original locations while contributing to a shared learning framework that no single organization could achieve alone. This session reveals how federated learning solves the industry's most persistent challenge: unlocking collective intelligence while protecting intellectual property. Attendees will hear directly from consortium leaders about:
- The technical architecture enabling privacy-preserving collaborative AI training across competing organizations
- Real-world implementation of federated learning platforms and computational governance frameworks
- Strategic rationale for industry collaboration: why sharing model training beats going it alone
- Impact and outcomes from early OpenFold3 results in predicting binding affinities and accelerating small molecule discovery
- The future of collaborative AI in biopharma, from structural biology to clinical development
9:30 am Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)
Start your morning with coffee, connections, and cutting-edge research! Enjoy poster presentations, network in the Exhibit Hall, vote for awards, and a chance at a fabulous raffle prize!
Thursday, May 21
7:00 am Registration Open
7:00 am Connect & Collaborate: Breakfast Networking Roundtables (Sponsorship Opportunities Available)
Start the day with small-group roundtable discussions designed to spark collaboration and exchange insights across the Bio-IT community. Attendees join themed tables—spanning AI, data ecosystems, foundational models, and more—for focused, peer-driven discussions that foster problem-solving, connection, and cross-functional perspectives ahead of the plenary keynote.
Topic 1: Knowledge Graphs
Tom Plasterer, PhD, Managing Director, Knowledge Graph Capability, XponentL Data
Topic 2: From Molecules to Qubits: A Collaborative Conversation on Pharma’s Quantum Future
Christopher Bishop, Chief Reinvention Officer, Improvising Careers
- Learn how leading global pharma companies are applying quantum principles to real-world research.
- Discover the quantum companies transforming traditional processes around drug development and drug discovery.
- Discuss how quantum, along with HPC and AI, is poised to help researchers tackle historically intractable problems and potentially find new treatments for diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes.
Topic 3: From AI Tools to Autonomous Discovery: Are We Ready for Agentic AI in Drug Discovery?
Parthiban Srinivasan, PhD, Professor and Director, Centre for AI in Medicine, Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, India
- Where are we today? Are AI tools truly integrated into workflows, or still operating in silos?
- What changes with agents? How do LLM-based agents shift drug discovery from prediction to decision-making?
- What is blocking autonomy? Data quality, validation, trust, or organizational readiness for AI-driven discovery?
8:00 am Organizer's Remarks
Cindy Crowninshield, Executive Event Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute
8:05 am Bio-IT World 2026 Innovative Practices Awards Ceremony (Winners Announced)
Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World and Clinical Research News
The Innovative Practices Awards recognizes and celebrates technology innovation in the life sciences. Bio-IT World is currently accepting entries for the 2026 Innovative Practices Awards, a competition designed to recognize partnerships and projects pushing our industry forward. Winners will be announced in April 2026, recognized during the Thursday, May 21 Plenary Keynote Program, and scheduled to give a podium presentation about their project during the conference. The deadline for entry is March 2, 2026. For more details about the Awards and to submit an application, visit www.bioitworldexpo.com/innovativepractices.
8:20 am Bio-IT World 2026 Emerging Innovator Award—NEW (Winner Announced)
Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World and Clinical Research News
The Emerging Innovator Award recognizes one exceptional early-career researcher advancing the future of life sciences through breakthrough work in biomedical data, computational methods, or technology-enabled discovery. The 2026 awardee will deliver a 10-minute plenary keynote at Bio-IT World, highlighting the impact of their research and the forward-looking direction of their work. Nominations are due March 2, 2026, at www.bio-itworldexpo.com.
8:35 am Plenary Keynote Introduction
Scott Weiss, Vice President, Product & Strategy, IDBS
8:45 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Generative AI across Drug Discovery Tasks
Jeremy L. Jenkins, PhD, US Head, Discovery Sciences, Novartis BioMedical Research
Many steps in drug discovery are informed by large-scale biological and chemical data, from genomics to the chemical universe, to phenotypic cell profiling. Generative-ML models are increasingly being deployed across these domains, including single-cell foundation models for target discovery, generative chemistry for rapid ligand design, and transfer learning to accelerate image analysis. Practical applications of generative AI in early drug discovery will be described, including simulated functional-genomics screens with in silico perturbations; compound design conditioned on protein pockets; and in silico-labeling approaches that replace traditional image staining. Together, these advances illustrate how generative AI is transforming how drug discovery research is conducted.
9:45 am Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Competition Winners Announced (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)
Bio-IT is all about connections! Explore booths, award-winning posters, and network with clients, colleagues, and exhibitors. Grab coffee, build relationships, and stay for a chance to win a raffle prize!