BY SANDRA JACOBS, VITAL SIGNS EDITOR
Building on the success of the inaugural Future Health: Best Practices for Advancing Care conference, in March 2023, the one-day in-person and virtual event returns Friday, March 22, 2024, to provide insights and opportunities for what it means to be
physicians of the future, starting today.
“The content really touches on what physicians of all career stages are thinking about and concerned about,” says MMS member Amy Lisser, MD, co-chair with Mary Beth Miotto, MD, MPH, of the conference’s 10-member advisory/planning group of physicians of
diverse ages and specialties. “A lot of us are asking: In the medical marketplace, what are we as physicians? This is an opportunity to think about these things and what we bring to health care.”
The hybrid daylong event will be held at MMS Headquarters in Waltham and will also be available online. The conference is presented by the Massachusetts Medical Society and supported by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM),
NEJM Catalyst, and NEJM AI.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one focus of the conference, starting with keynote speaker Maia Hightower, MD, MBA, MPH, who is CEO and founder of Equality AI. Three program sessions follow:
- The Impact of Climate Change on Our Patients and Health Systems
-
The 2030 Physician: Our Role in Health Care, Systems, and Society
-
AI in Medicine: Future of Diagnosis
“The content will be fantastic and so will the energy,” says Lisser. “It meets many of the needs of physicians today, including the isolation that some are feeling. This is an opportunity to have an impactful day, to connect with other physicians.”
Each session includes a moderator or faculty organizer who is an NEJM Group editor with subject matter expertise: Caren G. Solomon, MD, MPH, a New England Journal of Medicine deputy editor who oversees articles related to climate
change; Namita Seth Mohta, MD, executive editor of NEJM Catalyst and physician executive with a focus on health care delivery transformation; and Arjun (Raj) Manrai, PhD, a founding deputy editor of NEJM AI and assistant professor
in the Harvard Medical School Department of Biomedical Informatics.
“What most physicians think of as health care of the future is already here in many ways,” says Aditya Chandrasekhar, MD, MPH, FACP, an advisory/planning member, pointing specifically to AI. “Within health care, we are at a critical inflection point as
AI gets rapidly integrated into our workflows. Getting an idea of this rapidly evolving space is vital . . . The Future Health Best conference will serve as an excellent opportunity to do just that!”
Learn of Alternative Paths in Medicine and Network Across Generations
In the lunch-and-learn session, Alternative Paths in Medicine, moderator Ted A. James, MD, MHCM, FACS, chief of Breast Surgical Oncology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, will guide physician panelists in discussing their work and opportunities
in the biopharma industry, in consulting, and as entrepreneurs or career and life coaches.
“For early-career physicians, how do we navigate this changing system, and how do we find our place within it?” says advisory/planning member Caitlin Farrell, DO, an emergency physician at Boston Medical Center who completed residency in 2022. “How do
we explore other possibilities outside of traditional medicine that best suit our needs and interests? The Future Health Best conference will discuss our roles as physicians within not only health care but in society overall, while providing
networking opportunities for physicians seeking alternative career paths.”
In between sessions, attendees can experience a product theater and a poster symposium and enjoy ample opportunities for meeting and connecting with other participants in person and online.
“Save your education day for this,” says Lisser. “This is the one event you want to go to. It will broaden your perspective and equip you with knowledge, resources, and personal connections.”
Registration for Future Health: Best Practices for Advancing Care will begin in January. Meanwhile, save the March 22 date and invite your colleagues and friends to do the same and join you! Find the growing faculty roster and other conference information at FutureHealthBest.org and sign up for our Future Health Best e-newsletter.
