The DOCUMENT Sixth Edition

Sounding off during our Great Debate on DOC’s first night.

That’s A Wrap – And A Great Start

Welcome back to The DOCUMENT, your connection to DOC! This year’s inaugural DOC event was a success, thanks to your incredible participation. We appreciate everyone who shared feedback through our survey—your input matters and has taught us so much.

First off, 100% of you said you want to come back. We’ll be opening early registration for DOC 2025 next month, just as soon as we have our dates and venues confirmed. You also gave DOC a remarkably high “net promoter score” (in the top percentile nationally), a key indicator of support from the community. Thank you, and it’s incredibly gratifying to know you appreciated the team’s work. But the biggest room at DOC is the room for improvement. You told us you wanted:

The program to be longer, with more time for networking and healthy activities, as well as visits to the Living Room Lab
More focus on practical steps one can take to improve health outcomes and longevity
More emphasis on women’s health throughout
More ongoing communication from DOC
To keep it intimate, with time for more small groups and breakouts
To add networking opportunities throughout the year

Here’s a quick overview of topics you wanted more of:

We hear you, and we’re hard at work on all these points and more. If you’d like to add your voice, the survey is still open here.

Highlights And Takeaways From DOC 2024

You showed up, and we’re so grateful you did!

We noticed several consistent themes emerging from the DOC program last month. Science is changing at a nearly incomprehensible speed, and the feeling in the room is that we’re at a tipping point where a small group of committed leaders can affect significant change.

DOC’s mission is to unite and catalyze leaders across health, business, and culture to transform healthcare on both personal and societal levels. Recent discussions with experts like Darshak Sanghavi (ARPA-H), Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures), and Laura Esserman (UCSF) highlighted the need to elevate science in health innovation through changes in funding, policy, and communication. A new working group from DOC’s inaugural gathering will tackle this challenge.

A conversation with Vinod Khosla.

A recurring theme throughout the program, particularly in discussions with our Faculty, was the critical yet under-recognized role of women in the healthcare system. From insufficient research and startup funding to the underrepresentation of women in clinical trials, it is evident that the DOC community sees an urgent need to center women in the healthcare dialogue. Addressing this will be a key focus of another of our working groups.

The first meeting of the working group on women’s health.

How will artificial intelligence impact health? That topic also permeated our conversations. Michael Howell of Google helped frame the technology, and Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy encouraged us to be creative as we imagined a world driven by AI. As our curator Dr. Jordan Shlain observed, we are very close to having the ability to “see around the corner and over the hill,” thanks both to AI and the advanced diagnostics we saw both on stage and at our Living Room Lab. The very idea of disease is up for debate, as we heard from Eric Verdin, Karl Pfleger, and others on our opening night. Yet, as we navigate this future, the debate must remain firmly rooted in science.

Jordan Shlain, Andrea Gartenbach, and Eric Verdin.

The impact of AI on patient-physician relationships is undeniable (as explored in Dr. Shlain’s analysis “AI Diagnosis: A Primary Care Physician’s Perspective“). The DOC proceedings highlighted a critical insight: we must embed proactive, preventative approaches across the entire system – from primary care to insurance, startups and policy. The discussions on healthcare financing, featuring insights from NEA’s Kavita Patel, AlleyCorp’s Brenton Fargnoli, and Blue Shield’s Lois Quam led to the formation of a working group focused on systemic payment reform.

Kavita Patel, Lois Quam, and Brenton Fargnoli.

One of our favorite DOC moments with Aloe Blacc.

Eddie Chang describes his groundbreaking research.

For a longer overview of the program, head to John Battelle’s LinkedIn post here.

Next Steps

As mentioned, the following working groups have been formed:

Payment Reform
Women’s Health
Science Communications

We’ll contact interested participants in the coming weeks. Looking ahead, we’re organizing intimate gatherings for the DOC community—including small meetings, salons, and dinners—starting in early 2025.

Our immediate focus is on growing our community and preparing for DOC 2025. We’re finalizing dates and venue, and we welcome your input. Please reach out anytime by contacting concierge@doc.health.

Keep thinking, DOC community!

News Of Note

Nearly everyone we’re talking to these days is talking about the impact of the incoming administration on, well, just about everything. Regardless of who’s confirmed for what position in government, one fact remains: science lies at the heart of health, and defending, advancing, and scaling good science needs leadership.

Resonant with our debate on whether aging is a disease or a process, The New York Times asks “Have We Reached Peak Human Life Span?” The answer: “humans could close in on the limits of what’s possible for average life span.”

AI dominates headlines in every field, but in health, things are getting very real. A small study found that “A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness.” Read Dr. Shlain’s response here.

Related, a JAMA article reviews ”the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation of AI; presents potential uses of AI in medical product development, clinical research, and clinical care; and presents concepts that merit consideration as the regulatory system adapts to AI’s unique challenges.”

GLP-1s were also a topic of discussion at DOC, this Times’ article discusses the drug’s potential impact on addiction. “Could these medications — collectively known as GLP-1 receptor agonists — also fight America’s most difficult drug problems? Striking new data suggests they might.”

We don’t know where he finds the time, but Jordan penned another great piece, this time on the history of the wellness industry: The Evolution of the Wellness Industry: From Hippie Crystals to Digital Longevity. “From the experimental days of the 1970s to today’s high-tech, data-driven approaches, new trends and philosophies have characterized each new era regarding the meaning of wellness, well-being, and longevity. Each interpretation holds legitimate advances in health science, but simultaneously, it has created opportunities for charlatans, pseudoscientists, and snake oil salesmen to exploit our deepest desires.”

Of note to all of us who might employ sleep and movement trackers: It’s becoming a very big business. From Bloomberg: “Oura Valued at $5 Billion in Deal With Glucose Device Maker Dexcom.”

And a global project worth checking out: The Human Cell Atlas (via the Economist).

Need To Know

DOC 2025 is just 11 months away! We’ll be announcing dates and venue soon, but plan on Napa in Fall once again. For more information, reach out to our DOC concierge Alison at concierge@doc.health.

Partners. Are you or someone you know interested in partnering with DOC? As we plan for 2025, we’re seeking the right partners — organizations that share our vision for advancing healthcare and would thrive by engaging with our unique community. We value the insights and connections of our trusted, inaugural DOC participants and would love to hear from you. Please reach out to Flora Lels-Carpenter, Head of Partnerships, at flora@doc.health to learn more.

DOC on LinkedIn. The DOC community is active on LinkedIn. Follow us there for regular updates featuring our Faculty and more.

Any questions? Contact our DOC concierge, Alison, at concierge@doc.health.

❤️,
The DOC Team