Trump HHS Deputy Secretary & Acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill to Speak at Next Week’s Health Summit
O'Neill, an HHS veteran with roots in Silicon Valley, just took the reins at the CDC
Update: We’re sorry to report that Jim O’Neill will not be appearing at the event after all. It’s undoubtedly a busy time at HHS and the CDC.
Jim O’Neill — the Deputy Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services — is making a familiar trek to San Francisco next week to speak at our AI health and longevity summit Deus Ex Medicina.
He’s known to many in Silicon Valley as the former CEO of the Thiel Foundation and managing director of Clarium Capital, a role he assumed after his first stint at HHS in the George W. Bush administration.
These days, O’Neill is also wearing a new hat: Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He was named to the position last week.
I’m co-hosting Deus Ex Medicina with independent journalist Nayeema Raza on September 9. We’ll be spending the day hearing from founders of top health companies, including Abridge, Benchling, Loyal, Noom, and Hippocratic AI, along with top venture capitalists Vinod Khosla, Annie Lamont, and Bob Kocher.
We’ll announce final speakers, discussion group leaders, and the agenda tomorrow. If you’re the founder of an AI health or longevity startup, you can apply for a ticket here.
Hope you'll be able to ask him some hard questions, e.g.: how eliminating childhood vaccine requirements in Florida [for starters] and limiting access to Covid vaccines fit into a longevity schema; how the CDC's shift in leadership from scientists to venture capitalists will serve the future of public health; and how the US private sector can maintain our advantage in health innovations with the rising brain drain of scientists to other countries in light of the administration's deep cuts to federal research funding. Looking forward to your post-mortem.