Innovation in Healthcare

We would like to cordially invite you to the first sectoral event of the U.S.-India Innovation Forum, focused on Innovation in Healthcare. The discussion will be oriented towards understanding the growing challenges and unprecedented opportunities that lie ahead in building innovation-related partnerships between the United States and India.

When it comes to healthcare, India faces complex and deep-seated challenges. India still struggles with the public health challenges common to developing nations: limited access to care and high rates of maternal and child mortality and childhood stunting. But middle-class Indians are also increasingly suffering from the diseases of development: heart disease and obesity. India's public health system is ill-equipped to respond: it offers world class care to a select few and extremely poor care to a great many. In a world of limited budgets and unlimited need, innovation offers opportunities to improve access and outcomes for all Indians.

This panel will feature four experts on healthcare innovation:

• Sunil Wadhwani, the founding donor of the Wadhwani Initiative for Sustainable Healthcare (WISH). Through WISH, Mr. Wadhwani is using public-private partnerships to bring robust "last mile" healthcare provision to some of India's most remote areas.
• Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, head of global innovation for Duke Medicine. As Executive Director of Innovations in Healthcare, Dr. Udayakumar helps innovators to scale and replicate successful health care delivery solutions globally. 
• Ms. Catherine Robinson, the director for International Government Affairs at Pfizer. Pfizer is partnering with the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi to create an accelerator for innovative health care technologies developed and deployed in India.
• Ms. Roslyn Docktor, the director of Watson Health Policy at IBM. IBM's Watson Health Policy team is partnering with India's Manipal Hospital group to share state-of-the-art techniques for improving oncology diagnosis and care.