General schedule

The full program is in development and will be posted here soon.

10:00 AM to 5:00PM – LOWN26 Conference

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM – Networking & Cocktails

6:30 PM to 8:00PM – BLASR Award Dinner

Confirmed speakers

• Michael Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute
• Jason Carter, President and Chief Operating Officer, Duke Regional Hospital
• Fred Cerise, President and Chief Executive Officer, Parkland Memorial Hospital
• Lily Cervantes, Director of Immigrant Health and Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Bernard Lown Award winner, 2024
• Noam Levy, Senior Correspondent, KFF Health News
• Donna Lynne, Chief Executive Officer, Denver Health
• Reshma Ramachandran, Assistant Professor, Yale School of Medicine; Co-director, Yale Collaboration for Regulatory Rigor, Integrity, and Transparency (CRRIT); Bernard Lown Award winner, 2025
• Kate Walsh, Former MA Secretary of Health and Human Services

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.

This year our dinner honoring the winner of the Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility will be held in conjunction with the LOWN26 conference.

The BLASR is awarded annually to a young clinician who demonstrates bold leadership in social justice, health care reform, environmental justice, global peace, or other humanitarian efforts, and comes with a $25,000 prize.

Previous winners:

• Dr. Mona Hanna, who helped expose the Flint, Michigan water crisis.
• Dr. Altaf Saadi, an advocate for immigrants and others impacted by trauma.
• Dr. Lilia Cervantes, who secured lifesaving care for undocumented immigrants.
• Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, a leader in the promotion of fair access to medicines.

Let’s take on these important questions together:

HOSPITAL LEADERS – Are there practical pathways to affordability that don’t compromise quality or mission?

CLINICIANS – How can we make care both more affordable and aligned with our profession’s moral foundations?

POLICYMAKERS – What are the areas of shared purpose where policy change can have the greatest impact?

BUSINESS EXECUTIVES – Can making care more affordable improve market stability and reduce long-term risk?

RESEARCHERS – Where are there opportunities for research to support change that makes care more affordable?

BOARD MEMBERS – What are the best strategies for aligning cost containment with community benefit and social responsibility?

YOUNG CLINICIANS – The meeting will include a special focus on young clinicians whose voices and leadership are vital to the work ahead. One early-career clinician, the winner of the 2026 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility, will be honored at the closing dinner.