The Tolan Center for Healthcare Past Events

On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the landmark legislation creating the Medicaid insurance program in the US. Sixty-one years later, the Tolan Center for Healthcare, in partnership with the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI), invited a group of decision-makers and leaders to a forum on The Future of Medicaid in the Age of AI. 

Attendees from healthcare providers, payers, policy, and technology came together September 23-24, 2026, around a shared vision to inspire action on behalf of the 76 million Americans who are insured by the Medicaid program, in a time of transformative change. The event opened with keynote speakers Ziad Obermeyer, Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor, University of California Berkeley, and Jetson Leder-Luis, Assistant Professor, Boston University and NBER (on leave), and Deputy Executive Director, White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. During the two-day working forum, participants explored topics including: maternal and child health, rural health, program administration, advances in AI across healthcare, and transparent discussion of the obstacles to overcome in implementing AI across states and vulnerable populations in the Medicaid program.

Elizabeth Brill, MBA '08 joined healthcare advisor Anna Levchuk, MBA '08, for a virtual alumni conversation hosted by the Chicago Booth Tolan Center for Healthcare. Dr. Brill is Executive Director, Clinical Operations, for the Medical Operations Center of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Her portfolio includes Access, Innovation/AI/Emerging Tech, the full suite of Virtual Care programs, Research Operations, Academic Affiliations, Healthcare Ethics, Infectious Disease/Pandemic preparedness, Supplemental Staffing for EHRM transition and Credentialing and Privileging for the VHA system. She shared her unconventional path from OB/GYN and the Army to national healthcare leadership—and how the VA has become a proving ground for some of the boldest innovations in American healthcare. 

On May 19, 2026, faculty from Chicago Booth and the Biomedical Sciences Division (BSD) gathered for the AI in Healthcare Conference. The agenda featured work from Booth, BSD and UChicago Medicine. Following the academic presentations, a networking hour provided time for small group and one-on-one conversations exploring how business research and AI-enabled methods can contribute meaningfully to healthcare clinical and operational workflows.

On April 21, the Tolan Center for Healthcare welcomed Andrew Hack, AB’95, PhD’00, MD’02, Partner at Bain Capital Life Sciences, for a conversation with Brian Coe, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, as part of the Healthcare Speaker Series.

Andrew shared insights from his career spanning life sciences investing, biotechnology, and healthcare leadership, including his experience as CFO of Editas Medicine, the first publicly listed CRISPR gene editing company. The discussion explored innovation in healthcare, the evolving life sciences landscape, and the leadership strategies shaping the future of the industry.

On Thursday, February 26, the Tolan Center for Healthcare welcomed Vas Narasimhan, AB’98, CEO of Novartis and Ream Qato, MBA ’15, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Healthcare Management for one of our most successful Healthcare Speaker Series to-date.

As the leader of one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Vas brought a perspective shaped by bold strategic vision, purpose-driven leadership, and the complexities of leading a highly-regulated enterprise in a rapidly changing world.

Adapting to What’s Next in the Healthcare Landscape

On February 28th, 2026 the FT Student Healthcare Club presented a full day of insight, dialogue, and connection designed to bring together leaders shaping the future of healthcare.

Keynote conversations from Pat Basu, CEO of Lincoln Liberty Capital; Deb Glasser, Head of Specialty North America at Sanofi; and Janet Lin, Chief Strategy Officer at UI Health created a dynamic and engaging event. The program featured expert panels on healthcare leadership, investing in healthcare services, emerging biotech in Chicago, and the evolving role of AI in healthcare, alongside a startup fair and networking social. 

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend Booth Healthcare Conference 2026.

On January 22, the Tolan Center and the Kilts Center will partner to host a roundtable-style discussion with Mike Nolte, a seasoned healthcare executive who has held multiple CEO roles across the healthcare industry. Drawing on decades of leadership experience, Nolte shared candid insights into navigating complex healthcare organizations, leading through change, and building impactful careers in the healthcare sector.

Terri Wareham, Managing Director and Founding Partner of Kaufman Hall. Terri's areas of expertise include development and execution of strategic and financial plans, business planning, financial advisory services, and facilitation of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and affiliations.

David Ridley, PhD, is a health economist at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. His research focuses on incentives for innovation and quality, as well as pricing. He is dedicated to creating and studying tools that improve health. Ridley presented, Optimal push and pull funding for global health.

Dr. Catina Latham, acting director of the Healthcare team at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), currently leads the Health Care Team, which plays a critical role in congressional oversight of Medicaid and other health care programs. This fireside chat offered valuable insights for those curious about the future of government healthcare programs in an election year. 

Nathan Pelzer is the Co-founder and CEO of Clinify Health. Clinify Health assits payers and providers in steamlining processes to deliver more effective care. Nathan has previously worked at VillageMD and Accenture. Nathan attended the University of Minnesota-Carson School of Management and received an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Alyssa Jaffee is a Partner at 7wireVentures where she invests in companies that empower everyone to be better stewards of their health. Her portfolio includes Caraway Health, NOCD, MedArrive, Brightline, Zerigo Health, Ayogo, and Jasper Health. Previously, Alyssa was an investor at Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Hyde Park Angels. Alyssa is also a cofounder of TransparentCareer, a NVC winning company helping people make more data-driven career decisions. Alyssa spent time at the Advisory Board Company where she launched new technologies and consulted hundreds of hospital executives to understand their needs and recommend solutions.

Madjav Rajan, dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting, sat down with Matt Notowidigdo, the David McDaniel Keller Professor of Economics, at this Spring 2024 event in San Francisco. Prof. Notowidgo shared with alumni attendees recent research studying the effects of health insurance, his thoughts on the post-pandemic healthcare worker shortage, and his current projects training the healthcare workforce for the "work of the future." He also discussed some lessons from his new book Better Health Economics: A An Introduction for Everyone.

Kathy Najarian, MHA, is the Vice President of Payer Contracting and Strategy for The University of Chicago Medicine academic health system. Kathy is the senior leader responsible for managing the contract portfolio and relationships with commercial and governmental payers and setting the strategic direction for payer partnerships. Kathy previously served in similar leadership roles at Rush Health, part of the Rush University System for Health in Chicago, IL and Atrium Health, formerly Carolinas Healthcare System in Charlotte, NC.

The Tolan Center joined with the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center to host a faculty seminar in Spring 2023. At the morning session, faculty presented recent research and leaders shared health system and patient priorities. Nearly 30 faculty from Booth and the Biological Sciences Division participated in the afternoon break-out roundtable sessions to discuss overlapping areas of mutual interest and potential new collaborations.

Steven Gould, MD, Consulting Director, Ventures, at The University of Chicago Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Steven has in-depth experience in clinical and scientific research, raising capital for and investing in early stage companies, founding and leading a development stage biotechnology company.

Molly Schnell is Assistant Professor at the Dept. of Economics, Northwestern University. Her research focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of provider behavior, specifically in regards to the opioid crisis, and her more recent work has shed light on the economic impact of school shootings.

A fireside chat with Bill Chase, former CFO, of AbbVie and board member of Parexel. AbbVie’s mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. They strive to have a remarkable impact on people’s lives across several key therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care, virology, women’s health and gastroenterology, in addition to products and services across its Allergan Aesthetics portfolio.
Parexel International is an American provider of biopharmaceutical services. It conducts clinical trials on behalf of its pharmaceutical clients to expedite the drug approval process.

The Center For Applied Artificial Intelligence at Chicago Booth (CAAI) hosts a virtual annual conference to further efforts toward combatting algorithmic bias across domains. In 2022, CAAI partnered with the Tolan Center to focus on the healthcare industry. We brought together healthcare professionals in industry and policy to advance the conversation around mitigating algorithmic bias to improve health outcomes.