Nineteenth Annual Malcolm T. MacEachern Symposium: Discussing Shape of Things to Come

MacEachern Symposium movers and shakers: Speaker John Grotting of Bridge Medical; Professor Tom Prince; HIM Alumni Board President Tracy Heilman; Mrs. Isobel Soans; MacEachern Lecturer Jane Henney, M.D.; Professor Alicia Löffler; Professor Edward F. X. Hughes, M.D.; and Program Director Joel Shalowitz, M.D., MBA.

On May 11th, 2001, Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Feinberg Pavilion was once again the venue for another iteration of the Health Industry Management Alumni Association's annual Symposium. More than 160 attendees heard speakers address the topic "Improving Tomorrow's Healthcare from Technological Development's Today: How Advances in Bio, Nano and Informational Technologies Will Reshape Medical Care."

Joel Shalowitz, M.D., MBA, the Program Director welcomed those attending the symposium and introduced the day's moderators, Health Industry Management Program (HIMP) Alumni Association President Tracy Heilman and the Program Director for Kellogg's Biotech Center Alicia Löffler, PhD. Tracy then introduced the symposium's first speaker: George Lundberg, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of MedScape.com, whose topic was "The Medical Internet: An Endangered Species?" Lundberg was the longtime editor of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. His presentation described the strengths of the Internet with regard to healthcare (on-line health information, electronic alerts from physicians, lab results on line, etc.) as well as its faults (privacy issues, quality and safety concerns).

Dr. Mac's daughter, Isobel Soans (l) greets Jane Henney, M.D., who presented the 19th Malcolm MacEachern Memorial Lecture.

The second speaker was this year's Malcolm T. MacEachern Memorial Lecturer, Jane Henney, M.D., the recent Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in the Clinton Administration. Her topic "Technology and the Revolution in Life Sciences," was a review of some of the milestones, which have been reached in the life sciences recently.

Raised in Woodburn, Indiana, Henney went to nearby Manchester College and graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1973. After a residency in Atlanta, she studied oncology at the M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston. That led to ten years (1976-1985) at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. After that stint, Henney moved to an administrative position at the University of Kansas (UK) from 1985 to 1992. There she served as vice chancellor for health programs and policy.

Her performance at NCI and at Kansas brought Henney to the FDA in 1992 to be deputy commissioner for operations. After two years at FDA, Henney moved again to become vice-president for health sciences at the University of New Mexico, finally returning to the FDA as commissioner in 1998.

	MacEachern opening presenter George Lundberg, M.D., (c) poses with Program Professors Peter Budetti, M.D., J.D., (l) and Joel Shalowitz, M.D., MBA (r)

The Institute of Medicine's recent studies on patient safety and the number of errors in healthcare were appropriate introductions to the next topic ("Technology as a Safety Net Against Medical errors") which was given by John Grotting, President and CEO of Bridge Medical, Inc., of San Diego. Grotting explained the factors behind the IOM reports. He reported that the number of pharmaceutical drugs available has increased from 3,000 in 1990 to 17,000 in 2000, thus increasing the potential for adverse reactions. He then explained his firm's technology which enables many errors to be prevented through better medication administration, and how his firm is commercializing the technology. Prior to his work with Bridge, John spent 28 years in health system management, including CEO of Minneapolis' Allina Health System and CEO of Portland's Legacy Health System.

Speaking next was Mark Gurney, a PhD scientist (who once taught at Northwestern's Medical School), who took an MBA from Kellogg in 1994. He is at deCODE Genetics (VP for Pharmaceutical Discovery.) DeCode is a genomics firm based in Iceland which is studying and typing the genetic make-up of all Icelanders. His MacEachern presentation was entitled "Genes, Disease and the Delivery of Healthcare." Gurney spoke of the challenges of drug discovery and that we really have to understand diseases rather than symptoms to get to effective treatments. Gurney gave several examples, one of which was the ALS gene.

The final morning speaker was David Wang, M.D., PhD, the Executive Vice President of First Genetic Trust. Wang took his Medical Degree from the Beijing Medical School and a PhD in human genetics from California Institute of Technology. Wang was more recently head of genomics and bioinformatics at Motorola and chairman of the SNP Consortium's scientific committee. Wang's topic was "Genetic Medicine and the Future of Healthcare." Wang spoke of the evolution of genetic medicine which will lead to personalized healthcare. This evolution in medical practice will require societal scrutiny for impingements on broader social concerns, such as loss of confidentiality and privacy and insurance and employment discrimination.

MacEachern Symposium panelists Dr. Kathuria, Ms. Vasista, Mr. Botos, Moderator Löffler and Dr. Loiret-Bernal.

Following the luncheon (and the Alumni Awards Ceremony discussed below), the afternoon keynote speaker was John Doll, Director of Biotechnology at the U.S. Patent and Trademarks office of the Department of Commerce, Washington, DC. Doll's topic was "The Ground for Genomic Patenting." Doll has been with the USPTO for 26 years and has been Director of the Biotech group since 1995. His presentation focused on the patenting of new and beneficial technologies. Doll said that although his office's mission is to help applicants get patents, the job is becoming increasingly difficult since the Patent Office's Technology Center's caseload has increased dramatically; indeed the FY 99-FY00 2-year load increased 22% annually. Doll then clearly explored the process one goes through to patent a biotechnology product.

Following Doll's presentation, a panel was convened to focus on "What's Happening in Chicago in Healthcare Technologies?" Kellogg's Alicia Löffler, head of its Center on Biotechnology, moderated the panel. The four panelists represented different aspects of the industry. Matt Botas was the representative of IBIO (The Illinois Biotech Industry Organization) and was spokesperson for the contributions biotech could bring to the state's economy.

Speaking next on the panel was Chirinjeev Kathuria, M.D., MBA. Dr. Kathuria is Chairman of Health Cite, an Internet entrepreneur, whose business manages technologies and their connectivity with medical knowledge. Additionally, Dr. Kathuria and his physician/MBA-brother, Bobby, operate Koshika Telecom, Ltd., a digital cellular mobile phone company in four states in India, which reaches 300 million customers. These local physician-entrepreneurs are also very involved in international telecommunications and Dr. Kathuria spoke about the use of wireless and broadband in hospitals and other healthcare settings, and about how this technology will bypass the need to "wire" healthcare facilities and physicians to enable connectivity. Dr. Kathuria, we might add in closing, has his B Sc. and M.D. from Brown University and an MBA from Stanford.

	John Doll (r) a MacEachern keynoter from the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, answers questions following his presentation.

The third panelist to speak was Vijaya Vasista, the Chief Operating Officer of Nanosphere, Inc., a start-up nanotechnology company that is developing a state-of-the-art diagnostics system. Ms. Vasista described the science behind this new technology -- developed by two Northwestern Chemistry professors -- and how it is being developed for the marketplace. Ms. Vasista has her BA from the Wharton School and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Prior to her current position, she was the leader of a $500 million division of Baxter Healthcare.

The final panelist was Cedric Loiret-Bernal, M.D., MBA, a Kellogg graduate who has his medical degree from the University of Bordeaux in France. Loiret-Bernal joined GeneProt as CEO and a member of the Board in April 2000. The firm is a start-up that wants to become a leader in proteomics (by analysis of selected biological fluids and tissues) which will be enhanced through bioinformatics. The firm has academic affiliations with the University of Geneva (Switzerland) and the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and has a corporate sponsorship with Novartis, among other firms.