Keynote Speakers

Bioengineering

Stephen Quake, PhD

Mindset

Carol Dweck, PhD

Health Policy

Raj Chetty, PhD

Bioethics

Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH

Lee Otterson Professor in the School of
Engineering and Professor of
Bioengineering, of Applied Physics, and
of Physics, Stanford University

​Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of
​Psychology, Stanford University

Professor of Economics, Stanford
​University

Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics

Session Overview

Session 1: Origins of Illness and Disability: Nurturing Nature?

As insight into the determinants of both health and disease has increased, tools designed to modify the ‘natural history’ of disease are becoming available. The precision of these new tools confers power to individualize therapeutic strategies. With scientific progress the potential of applying tools, such as gene editing, epigenetic modification and parabiosis becomes ever more real. Dr. Wyss-Coray will share how previously unknown healing powers within both ‘young’ and healthy serum or blood can modify aging and disease. As science moves from discovery to discovery, the question of whether and how these strategies ought be translated to the human condition demands careful consideration. Dr. Kahn will offer ethical insights into the implications of these discoveries and the very real concerns we might consider as the strategies move from bench to bedside. 

Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD

​Professor of Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Stanford University

Michelle Monje, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Pediatrics, Stanford University

Moderator: David Cornfield, MD

​Anne T. and Robert Bass Professor in
Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine and
Professor of Surgery, Stanford
​University

Moderator: Jeffrey Kahn, PhD

Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht
Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy, Johns Hopkins Berman
​Institute of Bioethics

Session 2: New Approaches to Understanding and Treating Mental Health in Childhood: Networks
​and Connection

Reducing the prevalence and severity of mental health disorders, especially during childhood, is a critical component of improving the health of the population.  To reduce the burden of mental health disorders requires new thinking about the causes of mental health disorders and new approaches to prevention and treatment.  In this session, we explore new concepts regarding etiology and treatment.  An increasing body of research demonstrates that mental health disorders are the result of subtle abnormalities across distributed areas of brain and disordered neural circuits that connect those regions.  Dr Pasca will describe a novel approach to derive human brain circuits non-invasively from any individual and grow them in a dish. This three-dimensional tissue preparation can be used to study how the human brain develops under normal circumstances and how it changes in clinical conditions. Dr. Joshi will discuss how successful mental health prevention and treatment moves beyond a narrow focus on treating symptomatic individuals to a broader consideration of identification and community support of individuals at risk for mental health disorders.

Sergiu Pasca, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral
​Sciences, Stanford University

Shashank Joshi, MD

Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral
​Sciences and of Pediatrics, Stanford University

Moderator: Heidi Feldman, MD, PhD

Ballinger-Swindells Endowed Professor in
Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, Stanford
​University

Session 3: Literacy and Health:  A Framework for Addressing Social Determinants during Early
​Childhood

Literacy is a critical issue in the Information age because the ability to read and write well impacts academic success in childhood and occupational and financial success in adulthood.  This session takes a broad view of emergent literacy in relation to child health and well-being.  A pre-eminent panel of researchers, representing different academic disciplines, will consider the bi-directional influences of neurological, social and behavioral health and literacy in childhood.  The speakers will consider the role of literacy as a determinant of health across the life span.  Ultimately, close collaboration between health systems and education systems is critical to meet the needs of parents and children to promote literacy.  The panel discussion will explore the implications of the discussion on a national research agenda and on public policy.  

Catherine Snow, PhD

Professor of Education, Harvard University

Ruth Parker, MD

Professor of Medicine, Emory University

Bruce McCandliss, PhD

Professor of Education, Stanford University

Moderator: Lee Sanders, MD

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University

Session 4: The Childhood Obesity Epidemic: Novel Solutions

Childhood obesity is a major public health issue, both nationally and internationally. Childhood obesity can be detrimental to physical, psychological, and social health across the life span. Hence, effective prevention and intervention strategies are necessary to prevent or control obesity in children. In this session, speakers will explore novel approaches to this challenging issue.  Dr. Parsonnet will discuss the role of the body’s bacteria, the microbiome, on health and on weight reduction.  Dr. Patel will describe how access to drinking water in school settings is pertinent to maintaining healthy weight.  Dr. Jutte will share community development interventions that work in real world settings to reduce obesity and improve health. Discussion with the audience will consider the implications of research on clinical interventions, public health practice and policy. 

Julie Parsonnet, MD

George DeForest Barnett Professor in Medicine and
​of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University

Anisha Patel, MD, MPH, MS

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University

Douglas Jutte, MD, MPH

Executive Director, Build Healthy Places Network, Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health​

Moderator: Thomas Robinson, MD, MPH

Irving Schulman Endowed Professor in Child Health and Professor of Medicine, Stanford University

Session 5: New Genetic and Immunological Treatments: ImplementatioN

Every year, several cures or therapies designed to address diseases once considered fatal are moving from concept to the clinic. As hope replaces fear, new challenges abound. Dr. John Day will consider how new approaches to the treatment of muscular dystrophies, including spinal muscular atrophy, are changing the lives of patients and caregivers. Among the most exciting therapeutic advances in cancer biology is the advent of CAR-T cell therapy, which entails genetically engineering a patient’s own immune system to battle the cancer.  Dr. Davis will share the development, promise and potential pitfalls of this strategy.  In both cases, the cost of drug development, delivery and commerce is extremely high. While the biopharma industry has translated discoveries to the bedside, questions abound surrounding the costs and sustainability of the ‘big science’ approach to cure and care. With the benefit of an industry insider, we plan to explore these issues. ​

Kara Davis, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics,
​Stanford University

John Day, MD, PhD

Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics and of Pathology, Stanford University

Moderator: Paul Fisher, MD

Professor of Neurology &
Neuroscience, and Neurosurgery, and of ​Pediatrics, Stanford University

Jim Woody, MD

Board Member
​Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford

Session 6: Next Generation Management of Chronic Illnesses: Technology for Real-Time Monitoring

Using precise and timely data to manage chronic disease holds the promise of altering approaches traditional paradigms of care. As monitoring equipment is becoming smaller, cheaper and ever more precise, models of care delivery are rapidly evolving. In this session, the intersection of technology and health care delivery will be viewed through the prism of three vexing diseases that once affected only children and are now affecting adults. Dr. Maahs will consider how novel approaches to monitoring and reporting blood glucose level is changing the way that care is delivered to children with diabetes. Dr. Carlos Milla will discuss how real-time monitoring of sweat chloride levels with a ‘wearable’ device will enable delivery of a ‘Goldilocks’ dose of treatment medication to individual patients. Dr. Harris and co-workers will discuss a tool that combines a sensitive home sensing device with the internet for individuals with asthma.  It provides an early warning of an impending worsening of breathing control, thereby providing parents and children with an unprecedented level of security and safety. These three discoverers will remind us all that patients sit at the intersection of technology and medicine.

David Maahs, MD, PhD

Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford
​University

Carlos Milla, MD

Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford
​University

Bronwyn Harris, MD

Clinical Instructor, Stanford University

Moderator: Paul Yock, MD

Martha Meier Weiland Professor in the School of Medicine, Professor of Bioengineering and of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University