Virtual Healthcare in the mainstream
Symposium & Research Forum
2026 Speakers & Panelists
Join leaders from across health technology, clinical medicine, and research as they explore where AI, telehealth, and real-world care delivery converge. Featuring voices from OpenEvidence, MDCalc, Ro, VegaHealth, NYU, Manatt, and more, this program brings together the people actively building the future of healthcare.
Keynote Speakers
Vin Gupta, M.D., MPA, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Dr. Vin Gupta is a managing director in Manatt’s health care group who works with a diverse range of clients focused on healthcare innovation. His work includes three primary focus areas: (1) transforming the future of medical education by working with top universities nationwide to build the nation’s next set of medical and health science institutions with a focus on technology integration from day 1; (2) providing fractional public health strategy and communication services for large employers, unions and other entities like sports leagues, with a focus on providing useful, trusted, and timely health content to build trust, shape benefits design, and encourage utilization of primary care services; and (3) supporting the development of hospital-at-home programs with leading health systems.
Previously, Vin served as a chief medical officer at Amazon for over 5 years, where he worked across the company on a range of strategic health initiatives, including Amazon Pharmacy, the Alexa Fund, Amazon Devices, and the Healthcare and Life Sciences division at Amazon Web Services since 2020. Prior to his role at Amazon, Vin worked on the development of the series 6 watch for Apple.
He concurrently serves in several roles across health care, including as an affiliate faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine, a practicing pulmonologist, Major in the United States Air Force Medical Reserves Corps and as a regular medical analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, discussing public health and providing analyses on current medical news. Vin is on the board of the American Lung Association, HIMSS and serves as a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr. Vin Gupta is a managing director in Manatt’s health care group who works with a diverse range of clients focused on healthcare innovation. His work includes three primary focus areas: (1) transforming the future of medical education by working with top universities nationwide to build the nation’s next set of medical and health science institutions with a focus on technology integration from day 1; (2) providing fractional public health strategy and communication services for large employers, unions and other entities like sports leagues, with a focus on providing useful, trusted, and timely health content to build trust, shape benefits design, and encourage utilization of primary care services; and (3) supporting the development of hospital-at-home programs with leading health systems.
Previously, Vin served as a chief medical officer at Amazon for over 5 years, where he worked across the company on a range of strategic health initiatives, including Amazon Pharmacy, the Alexa Fund, Amazon Devices, and the Healthcare and Life Sciences division at Amazon Web Services since 2020. Prior to his role at Amazon, Vin worked on the development of the series 6 watch for Apple.
He concurrently serves in several roles across health care, including as an affiliate faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine, a practicing pulmonologist, Major in the United States Air Force Medical Reserves Corps and as a regular medical analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, discussing public health and providing analyses on current medical news. Vin is on the board of the American Lung Association, HIMSS and serves as a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Travis Zack, M.D. PhD, OpenEvidence
Dr. Travis Zack is Chief Medical Officer at OpenEvidence and an Assistant adjunct professor at UCSF. His research lies at the intersection of computational biology, clinical medicine, and artificial intelligence. Travis received his PhD in Biophysics from Harvard and an MD in the Health Sciences and Technology track at MIT and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Zack has dedicated his career to using data-driven approaches to address pressing challenges in medicine. His lab focuses on developing AI models to support clinical decision-making and enhance patient outcomes, including machine learning–based tools for real-world evidence studies and natural language processing methods to extract valuable insights from electronic health records. In his role at OpenEvidence, he oversees design, production, evaluation, and quality for all our existing and future tools for bringing evidence-based practice to every clinical decision
Dr. Travis Zack is Chief Medical Officer at OpenEvidence and an Assistant adjunct professor at UCSF. His research lies at the intersection of computational biology, clinical medicine, and artificial intelligence. Travis received his PhD in Biophysics from Harvard and an MD in the Health Sciences and Technology track at MIT and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Zack has dedicated his career to using data-driven approaches to address pressing challenges in medicine. His lab focuses on developing AI models to support clinical decision-making and enhance patient outcomes, including machine learning–based tools for real-world evidence studies and natural language processing methods to extract valuable insights from electronic health records. In his role at OpenEvidence, he oversees design, production, evaluation, and quality for all our existing and future tools for bringing evidence-based practice to every clinical decision
Speakers & Panelists
Yin Aphinyanaphongs, M.D., PhD, NYU
Research Professor in the Departments of Population Health and Medicine and the Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science at NYU Langone School of Medicine. Founded and leads the Division of Applied AI Technologies (DAAIT) within the Department of Health Informatics in Medical Center Information Technology. The Division is a core team of data scientists and engineers that build, implement, deploy, and evaluates AI models. The division leads the operational use of AI and Large Language Models across our corporate, clinical, research, and education missions, pushing 128 AI applications to users in production. His lab focuses on transformative healthcare use cases, reliability, diagnostic capabilities, and reasoning capabilities of large language models in healthcare.
Research Professor in the Departments of Population Health and Medicine and the Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science at NYU Langone School of Medicine. Founded and leads the Division of Applied AI Technologies (DAAIT) within the Department of Health Informatics in Medical Center Information Technology. The Division is a core team of data scientists and engineers that build, implement, deploy, and evaluates AI models. The division leads the operational use of AI and Large Language Models across our corporate, clinical, research, and education missions, pushing 128 AI applications to users in production. His lab focuses on transformative healthcare use cases, reliability, diagnostic capabilities, and reasoning capabilities of large language models in healthcare.
Melynda Barnes, M.D., Ro
Dr. Melynda Barnes is responsible for Ro's clinical strategy and the quality and patient safety initiatives on its direct-to-patient healthcare platform. In providing clinical leadership for Ro, she also oversees the clinical product strategy, shaping the company's proprietary EMR and technology tools it offers providers, and physical product innovation, supporting the development of new health and wellness products.
Since joining Ro in 2018, Dr. Barnes has helped transform Ro from a telehealth platform treating a single condition to a vertically integrated platform that seamlessly connects telehealth, labs, and pharmacy services nationwide. She is a triple board-certified Obesity Medicine, Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, and Otolaryngologist. In addition to her leadership role at Ro, Dr. Barnes was an attending physician at Harlem Hospital where she was honored with the Top Doctor Award for New York State in 2018. Dr. Barnes earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she was a Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellow. Prior to Ro, she was also an Assistant Professor of Surgery-Otolaryngology at Yale School of Medicine and served on Yale Medical Group's Board of Directors.
Dr. Barnes has been recognized as one of Business Insider's 30 under 40 in Healthcare, Crain's New York Notable Black Executives, Fierce Healthcare's Most Influential Minority Executives and a 40 Under 40 Leader in Health. She has been invited to speak at Harvard Business School and the American Telemedicine Association National Conference, and has been featured in Fast Company, Axios, Fortune, Forbes, Shape and more. Dr. Barnes is also a founding member of CHIEF, a network of female executives, and is on the board of the Fund for Public Health in New York City.
Dr. Melynda Barnes is responsible for Ro's clinical strategy and the quality and patient safety initiatives on its direct-to-patient healthcare platform. In providing clinical leadership for Ro, she also oversees the clinical product strategy, shaping the company's proprietary EMR and technology tools it offers providers, and physical product innovation, supporting the development of new health and wellness products.
Since joining Ro in 2018, Dr. Barnes has helped transform Ro from a telehealth platform treating a single condition to a vertically integrated platform that seamlessly connects telehealth, labs, and pharmacy services nationwide. She is a triple board-certified Obesity Medicine, Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, and Otolaryngologist. In addition to her leadership role at Ro, Dr. Barnes was an attending physician at Harlem Hospital where she was honored with the Top Doctor Award for New York State in 2018. Dr. Barnes earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she was a Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellow. Prior to Ro, she was also an Assistant Professor of Surgery-Otolaryngology at Yale School of Medicine and served on Yale Medical Group's Board of Directors.
Dr. Barnes has been recognized as one of Business Insider's 30 under 40 in Healthcare, Crain's New York Notable Black Executives, Fierce Healthcare's Most Influential Minority Executives and a 40 Under 40 Leader in Health. She has been invited to speak at Harvard Business School and the American Telemedicine Association National Conference, and has been featured in Fast Company, Axios, Fortune, Forbes, Shape and more. Dr. Barnes is also a founding member of CHIEF, a network of female executives, and is on the board of the Fund for Public Health in New York City.
Ania Bilski, M.D., OpenEvidence
Dr. Ania Bilski is the VP of Clinical AI at OpenEvidence and an Emergency Medicine Physician in San Francisco who completed her medical training at UCSF. In her role at OpenEvidence, she works cross-functionally on clinical product and quality, commercial and pharma partnerships, health system integration and deployment, medical society partnerships, and medical education. Dr. Bilski is dedicated to transforming how doctors access and utilize technology to improve patient outcomes and ensuring that AI tools are safe, grounded in peer-reviewed literature, and practically useful for clinicians.
Dr. Ania Bilski is the VP of Clinical AI at OpenEvidence and an Emergency Medicine Physician in San Francisco who completed her medical training at UCSF. In her role at OpenEvidence, she works cross-functionally on clinical product and quality, commercial and pharma partnerships, health system integration and deployment, medical society partnerships, and medical education. Dr. Bilski is dedicated to transforming how doctors access and utilize technology to improve patient outcomes and ensuring that AI tools are safe, grounded in peer-reviewed literature, and practically useful for clinicians.
Mark Sendak, M.D., MPP, Vega Health
Dr. Mark Sendak is the Co-Founder and CEO of Vega Health, a health AI platform company that facilitates the safe, effective, and responsible use of AI at scale. He also co-leads Health AI Partnership, a learning collaborative to develop and disseminate best practices and provide technical assistance to advance the safe and responsible use of AI software within healthcare delivery organizations. Prior to founding Vega Health, Mark spent over 10 years at the Duke Institute for Health Innovation (DIHI), where he led interdisciplinary teams of data scientists, clinicians, and machine learning experts to build technologies that solve real clinical problems. Together with the DIHI team, he built tools to transform chronic disease management within an Accountable Care Organization and detection and management of inpatient deterioration within hospitals. He has integrated dozens of data-driven technologies into clinical operations and is a co-inventor of software to scale machine learning applications and real-world evidence generation across health systems. Mark has published over 60 manuscripts in top technical, clinical, and management venues and while at Duke secured over $12 million in external grant funding from government, philanthropic, and industry sources. He obtained his Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics from UCLA, where he was awarded the Charles E. Young Humanitarian Award, the top honor for community service, and his MD and Masters of Public Policy at Duke University as a Dean’s Tuition Scholar.
Dr. Mark Sendak is the Co-Founder and CEO of Vega Health, a health AI platform company that facilitates the safe, effective, and responsible use of AI at scale. He also co-leads Health AI Partnership, a learning collaborative to develop and disseminate best practices and provide technical assistance to advance the safe and responsible use of AI software within healthcare delivery organizations. Prior to founding Vega Health, Mark spent over 10 years at the Duke Institute for Health Innovation (DIHI), where he led interdisciplinary teams of data scientists, clinicians, and machine learning experts to build technologies that solve real clinical problems. Together with the DIHI team, he built tools to transform chronic disease management within an Accountable Care Organization and detection and management of inpatient deterioration within hospitals. He has integrated dozens of data-driven technologies into clinical operations and is a co-inventor of software to scale machine learning applications and real-world evidence generation across health systems. Mark has published over 60 manuscripts in top technical, clinical, and management venues and while at Duke secured over $12 million in external grant funding from government, philanthropic, and industry sources. He obtained his Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics from UCLA, where he was awarded the Charles E. Young Humanitarian Award, the top honor for community service, and his MD and Masters of Public Policy at Duke University as a Dean’s Tuition Scholar.
Graham Walker, M.D., MDCalc
Dr. Graham Walker is an emergency physician who practices in San Francisco. He is the co-director of Advanced Development at The Permanente Medical Group, which delivers care for Kaiser Permanente’s 4 million members in Northern California. As a clinical informaticist, he also leads emergency and urgent care strategy for KP’s electronic medical record. He completed his residency training in emergency medicine at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan, and attended medical school at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Graham is also a software developer and entrepreneur. He created MDCalc and Offcall, two online resources dedicated to helping physicians across the world. In his free time, Graham writes about the intersection of AI, technology, and medicine, and created The Physicians’ Charter for Responsible AI, a practical guide to implementing safe, accurate, and fair AI in healthcare settings and enjoys writing about the intersection of healthcare, technology, AI, and policy
on LinkedIn.
Dr. Graham Walker is an emergency physician who practices in San Francisco. He is the co-director of Advanced Development at The Permanente Medical Group, which delivers care for Kaiser Permanente’s 4 million members in Northern California. As a clinical informaticist, he also leads emergency and urgent care strategy for KP’s electronic medical record. He completed his residency training in emergency medicine at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan, and attended medical school at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Graham is also a software developer and entrepreneur. He created MDCalc and Offcall, two online resources dedicated to helping physicians across the world. In his free time, Graham writes about the intersection of AI, technology, and medicine, and created The Physicians’ Charter for Responsible AI, a practical guide to implementing safe, accurate, and fair AI in healthcare settings and enjoys writing about the intersection of healthcare, technology, AI, and policy
on LinkedIn.