Strategy& Insider Episode 7 - Balancing individual freedom and collective health

In this special episode, our host Thomas welcomes two familiar faces: Prof. Dr. Andreas Wicki from the Zurich University Hospital and Prof. Dr. Bernd Bodenmiller from the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich – both former podcast guests in solo episodes – share their vision to transform cancer diagnosis, treatment, and management through cutting-edge tumor profiling techniques and exploratory research. Tune in and find out about recent developments in cancer research, the power of data and technology – and how AI can revolutionize precision oncology.

In this episode, Bijoy Sagar, Executive Vice President, Chief Information Technology and Digital Transformation Officer at Bayer, discusses the transformative power of digital technology for the pharmaceutical landscape. In his view, groundbreaking digital advancement brings us to the cusp of another revolution in healthcare, reshaping our perception of pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, Bijoy explores how quantum computing addresses the limitations of AI and discusses the promising future of cell and gene therapy as the next transformative step in human medicine's evolution.

Sarah Lidé is the Deputy CEO of Medicon Village Innovation, which is the largest science park in Scandinavia focused on life science, based in Lund. Working at the intersection of academia, corporate players and healthcare providers, she is an expert in aligning stakeholders from biotech, pharma, research, healthcare providers and start-ups to facilitate world-class research innovation and thereby giving people a healthier and better life. Tune in to a truly insightful conversation about partnership, collaboration and research innovation.

The ultimate vision of precision healthcare is to allow each individual patient access to personalized medicines. By developing 2D and 3D printers as well as the software and the active pharmaceutical ingredients, Prof. Dr. Christian Franken – co-founder and managing shareholder of DiHeSys Digital Health Systems GmbH – and his team pursue the vision to allow every patient access to personalized medicines and making drug therapy less complex. Tune in to our latest episode and dive into the added values and the challenges that come with it, and how to foster a positive attitude towards the huge potential of digitization in healthcare.

It is a well-known fact that the potential of data in healthcare is huge. While some see data protection as a barrier, Elena Bonfiglioli – General Manager of Microsoft Healthcare – advocates that data privacy is in fact a key enabler for cutting-edge innovation and that privacy-enhancing solutions are crucial to reap the full power of the cloud. Tune in to our latest episode to learn how data can make pharma and healthcare more efficient and how AI can help extend our capabilities.

In this episode, it instantly becomes clear why it is a privilege to help humankind by reaping cutting-edge science and technology for Dr. Christian Rommel. As the Head of R&D and member of the executive board at Bayer Pharmaceuticals, he shares his experience in transforming how we are developing and regulating drugs, his view on the key to future medical innovation, and addresses how to enable patients to benefit from such innovations.

In this episode, Emil Hewage, CEO and co-founder of BIOS Health – a pioneering and awarded neural engineering startup from Cambridge – shares his visionary ideas for the future of healthcare, innovative treatments, and personalized medicine. His innovations are true game changers as he uses his expertise to spearhead the use of artificial intelligence for interpreting neural data, and by doing so, created new fields of precision medicine.

James Zackheim, Head of Corporate Strategy at global biopharmaceutical company UCB, shares what he foresees as the greatest benefits through collaborations between the pharma industry with tech companies. As these new partnerships, with the help of big data and AI, could accelerate the shift towards more preventive medicine and streamline the use of readily available data, however, there is also a disruptive threat from the new tech players that pharma should prepare for.

Cancer is still one of the most common diseases worldwide, and one of the top causes of death – also because there is no known cure yet. As this makes prevention all the more crucial for patients, we spoke to renowned researcher for biomedicine and scientific author Bernd Bodenmiller about his strong passion and commitment towards better understanding cancer.

The fourteenth episode features Betül Susamis Unaran, who is the Chief Strategy and Digital Officer at Zur Rose Group. She talks about the firm’s ambition to create a new healthcare ecosystem that connects healthcare products, digital healthcare services and third-party service offerings.