LOWN26: Confronting Healthcare Affordability

The healthcare affordability crisis isn’t a partisan issue. It’s a human one. This one-day conference brings together leaders who recognize that solutions won’t come from staying in our corners. It will come from those brave enough to step out of them. 

LOWN26 convenes policymakers, clinicians, hospital leaders, business executives, and union organizers, united by one conviction: care shouldn’t crush the finances of American families.  

Through open debate and honest exchange, we’ll break down silos, stress-test assumptions, and identify areas of consensus. The goal is not performance or positioning, but clarity about where progress is possible and what responsibility demands. A special focus will be placed on young clinicians whose voices are vital to the work ahead.

After decades of gridlock as our nation’s health declines, there’s no more time for hesitation and finger pointing. Where things go from here depends on leaders willing to rethink what’s possible and act with boldness and purpose.

Are you ready to shape the future rather than wait for it? Join us at LOWN26!

All events held in plenary on the 3rd floor of the LeMeridien Hotel in Cambridge, MA.

Every speaker on this panel arrives with a worldview shaped by a distinct place on the political spectrum, from free-market right to progressive left, and each has watched that worldview collide with political reality. This panel cuts to the chase: which elements of these frameworks survive first contact with the real world, and where do the Venn diagrams overlap? As working families face impossible choices between care and financial survival, finding common ground isn’t a thought experiment, it’s a moral imperative.

• Erin C. Fuse Brown, JD, Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice, Brown University (Moderator)
• Michael F. Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute
• Adam Gaffney, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Past-President, Physicians for a National Health Program
• Hayden Rooke-Ley, JD, Senior Fellow, Brown University School of Public Health
• Avik Roy, MD, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity

• Lily Cervantes, MD, Director of Immigrant Health and Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; 2024 BLASR winner (Moderator)
• Fred Cerise, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Parkland Health
• Jeanne Lambrew, PhD, Director of Health Care Reform and Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation; Former Commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services
• Noam Levey, Senior Correspondent, KFF Health News

• Reshma Ramachandran, MD, Assistant Professor, Yale; Co-director, Yale Collaboration for Regulatory Rigor, Integrity, and Transparency; 2025 BLASR winner (Moderator)
• Michael L. Barnett, MD, Professor of Health Services Policy & Practice, Brown University School of Public Health
• Zirui Song, MD, Associate Professor of Health Care Policy and Medicine, Harvard Medical School
• Kenneth Qiu, MD, Founder, EuDoc Direct Primary Care

• Vikas Saini, MD, President, Lown Institute (Moderator)
• Gloria Sachdev, PharmD, Indiana Secretary of Health and Family Services; Former CEO of Employers Forum of Indiana
• Kate Walsh, Former Secretary of Health and Human Services, Massachusetts; Former CEO of Boston Medical Center

• Donna Lynne, DrPH, CEO, Denver Health (Moderator)
• Jason Carter, MBA, President and Chief Operating Officer, Duke Regional Hospital
• Susan Ehrlich, MD, CEO, Zuckerberg San Francisco General
• Brendan G. Carr, MD, CEO, Mount Sinai Health System

• Lily Cervantes, MD, Director of Immigrant Health and Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; 2024 BLASR winner (Moderator)
• Reshma Ramachandran, MD, Assistant Professor, Yale; Co-director, Yale Collaboration for Regulatory Rigor, Integrity, and Transparency; 2025 BLASR winner

Genuine ideological diversity – This isn’t an echo chamber. You’ll engage with people who have different points of view but, like you, are ready to figure out where collaboration is possible anyway.

Solutions over performance – No panels designed for applause lines. No keynotes that avoid hard truths. Just honest exchange about what’s actually blocking progress and what might move us forward.

Action, not just analysis – You’ll leave with concrete next steps, new collaborators, and renewed clarity about where you can make the biggest impact.

Access to unlikely allies – Where else will you find young clinicians, hospital board members, business leaders, union organizers, and health policy researchers all working the same problem from different angles?

Bottom line: we need leaders like you – If you see yourself as a leader and want to shape the future rather than wait for it, this is your conference.

Boston is beautiful in the spring!

For more information about the LOWN26 Conference, BLASR Dinner, and/or sponsorship opportunities, reach out to Grant Sabean at lownaward@lowninstitute.org.

For press inquiries, contact Aaron Toleos at atoleos@lowninstitute.org.