Liftoff PGH health care conference to launch in 2020

The Jewish Healthcare Foundation is launching a new conference intended to make Pittsburgh more competitive in the health care field.

Scheduled for September 2020, the event — Liftoff PGH — will merge with Life Sciences Week, which was presented by the public-private partnership InnovatePGH.

“Independently, Liftoff PGH 2020 will dramatically raise the national profile of Pittsburgh’s health care profile,” Sean Luther, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Innovation District, said in a statement. “In joining Life Sciences Week with Liftoff PGH, we believe a combined event will serve as an international marker for Pittsburgh’s rapid ascendance as a hub for digital health, immunology, women’s health and the intersection of AI and medical technologies.”

The event will bring over 1,000 local and international participants together to discuss topics including workforce and education, entrepreneurship, innovative health care spaces, payment and regulation as well as patient care.

“New technologies offer opportunities to provide simpler, more accessible, customized, safer and even cheaper health care,” said Karen Wolk Feinsten, president and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation. “But a region must be prepared to accommodate these changes. This will require adjustments in training and education, spatial design, regulations and payment to better meet patient and workforce needs.”

The conference is scheduled for September 15-16, 2020, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Registration will open in January.