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:

• Symposia: www.bio-itworldexpo.com/symposia
• Workshops: www.bio-itworldexpo.com/workshops

PLENARY KEYNOTE PROGRAM

4:30 pm Organizer's Remarks
Cindy Crowninshield, Executive Event Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

4:35 pm Welcome Remarks from the City of Boston and the Office of Mayor Michelle Wu
Donald Wright, Interim Chief, Economic Opportunity & Inclusion Cabinet, City of Boston

4:40 pm PLENARY KEYNOTE INTRODUCTION: Getting Ready for Effective AI: Starting with FAIR Principles
Diana Gamez Diaz, Head, Data & AI Engineering, RCH Solutions

4:50 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

PLENARY KEYNOTE PROGRAM

8:00 am Organizer's Remarks
Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World and Clinical Research News

8:05 am PLENARY KEYNOTE INTRODUCTION: From Tools to AI Teammates: How AI Driven Scientific Workbenches can Redefine the Scientist User Experience
Sayan Lahiri, Vice President, Data and Insights, CLOVERTEX
Life sciences R&D is drowning in powerful tools, massive data, and advanced infrastructure—yet scientists still spend too much time managing environments, rerunning workflows, and navigating fragmented systems. The real bottleneck is no longer data or compute; it is the scientist’s user experience. In this plenary, we explore how Clovertex’s AI driven scientific workbench called NUMEN, are changing the role of technology from passive infrastructure to an active scientific collaborator. By embedding AI directly into the workbench, these platforms guide scientists in choosing the right compute, optimizing cost, enforcing reproducibility, tracking metadata and scaling experiments seamlessly from exploration to production—all while governance and security remain invisible. AI powered workbenches create a shared operating model where science moves faster, results are trusted, and innovation scales. The future of life sciences R&D will not be defined by more tools—but by intelligent platforms that work like a teammate alongside scientists.

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, PsiThera
Christina Taylor, PhD, Senior Science Fellow and Computational Molecular Design Lead, Bayer
Arman Zaribafiyan, PhD, Head of Strategic Alliances, AI Simulation, SandboxAQ
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

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST WITH BREAKOUT DISCUSSIONS (IN-PERSON ONLY)

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, CEO & Co-Founder, Knowledge3

• How are knowledge graphs supporting reliable scientific intelligence
• Lessons from early deployments
• Remaining challenges and barriers to scale

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?

Topic 4: Bridging Tech Transfer and Industry: Unlocking Real Collaboration at Bio-IT

Nancy Wetherbee, Director Commercialization, Research Innovation Center, Northeastern University

• Where are the highest-value collaboration opportunities between academia/TTOs and industry (biopharma, startups, AI/data, investors), and what makes them actually work?
• What types of partnerships are most effective in practice (licensing, co-development, startup creation, sponsored research), and how do both sides evaluate quality and fit quickly?
• What specific formats, access points, or structures at the Bio-IT event would actually drive follow-up, partnerships, and deal-making?

Topic 5: Supporting Innovation While Managing Risk: The CIO’s Dilemma in AI-Driven R&D

Chris Dwan, Independent Consultant, Dwan, LLC

• How do CIOs enable rapid AI and data innovation without breaking governance, compliance, or data integrity frameworks?
• What separates pilot-stage innovation from scalable, production-grade systems? Where do most organizations fail?
• How do leaders manage emerging risks (model bias, data provenance, regulatory exposure) while still pushing competitive advantage?

Topic 6: Real-World Data and Evidence: Unlocking Value Beyond Clinical Trials

Michael Liebman, PhD, Managing Director, IPQ Analytics, LLC

• How real-world data is being used alongside clinical and experimental data
• Challenges in standardization, access, and regulatory acceptance
• Opportunities to improve outcomes, access, and long-term patient insights

Topic 7: Beyond Data Management: Why AI Fails without Institutional Memory in Life Sciences

Alexandra Brocato, CEO & Co-Founder, Beakr, Inc.

• Why critical experimental knowledge is lost across ELNs, LIMS, and siloed teams, and the cost of reinventing work 
• How structured experimental memory makes past decisions, failures, and context reusable across teams
• How organizations can make scientific knowledge reusable for both humans and AI

Topic 8: Intellectual Property in Biotech: Strategy, Patents, and Trademarks

Elizabeth F. Jackson, Acting Director, Northeast Regional Outreach Office, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

• How to think strategically about IP early in biotech and AI-driven research
• Common pitfalls in patent and trademark applications and how to avoid them
• Navigating ownership, protection, and commercialization of innovations

• Why do current workflow systems fail most scientists in practice? 
• Can no-code and AI-driven workflows meet standards for reproducibility, validation, and clinical readiness? 
• What would a “production-ready” workflow ecosystem actually look like across teams and organizations?

• The gap between AI ambition and the reality of data foundations, platforms, and operating models
• What “AI‑ready data” actually means in practice—beyond pilots, dashboards, and proofs of concept 
• Where AI initiatives most often break down: data integration, data quality, metadata, and governance at scale​

Plenary Keynote Program

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
Since 2003, Bio-IT World’s Innovative Practices Awards have recognized outstanding technology innovation advancing life sciences research. The 2026 winners highlight excellence in open science, patient advocacy, global data access, and real-world AI through collaborations involving Arizona State University and Starfish Storage, CareDx, ASAP Discovery Consortium, and Novartis with Genedata AG. Together, these projects illustrate the modern R&D data lifecycle, from unlocking legacy data to enabling collaboration and driving clinical decision-making.

8:25 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 20-minute plenary keynote at Bio-IT World, highlighting the impact of their research and the forward-looking direction of their work.

8:35 am Emerging Innovator Award Presentation: Scalable Connectomics for AI-Ready Brain Data
Ons M'Saad, PhD, Co-Founder & CEO, panluminate Inc.
Mapping the brain at synaptic resolution—connectomics—could transform neuroscience, medicine, and AI. Until now, the field has depended on electron microscopy: slow, expensive, difficult to scale, and limited to structure alone. Dr. Ons M’Saad presents a new optical approach that adds molecular context to large-scale brain maps, opening new ways to study neurodegenerative disease and inform more biologically grounded AI.

8:50 am PLENARY KEYNOTE INTRODUCTION: Trusted Data, Accelerated Science: Building a Context-First Data Foundation for AI in BioPharma
Scott Weiss, Vice President, Product & Strategy, IDBS 
As AI reshapes BioPharma R&D, the biggest barrier isn’t the model—it’s the data. Experimental and process data remains fragmented across spreadsheets and siloed systems, often stripped of scientific context. In this introduction, Scott Weiss, VP Product & Strategy at IDBS, argues that a context-first data foundation is essential to AI success, showing how unified, traceable lab data becomes AI-ready, GxP-compliant, and accelerates confident decision-making.

9:05 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!