Since its inception in 2005, the Summit mission has been to connect science, industry, and policy for a healthier world. By fostering substantive, cross-sector communication, the Secretariat seeks to catalyze strategic alliances that will produce long-term results and partnerships. We also make a deliberate effort to support and build momentum for existing global efforts through mechanisms such as our Calls for Collaboration.

Because Summit outcomes often result from personal interactions and spontaneous brainstorming, our participants feel uniquely invested in creating viable solutions to some of the world’s most pernicious health challenges. It is this sense of personal ownership that leads to robust, sustainable engagement and action. Through formal and informal discussions, we hope to:

We revisit past Summit themes each year to maintain momentum and build additional support for tangible progress.

The vision for a Pacific Health Summit originated from observations that technological advancements in Asia and the Pacific region could transform healthcare from a reactive model to a preventive one. The Summit has since grown to address the effects of health challenges in regions across the globe, focusing worldwide on innovation and opportunities. By convening leaders from diverse backgrounds and locales, the Summit’s name has become synonymous with utilizing global forces for a healthier future.

Please visit the participants and demographics pages for past participants, and economies and sectors represented.

The Summit’s plenary sessions and workshops are structured to foster dynamic panel discussions and highly interactive audience participation. Panelists serve as “discussion catalysts” and are given a few minutes each at the start of sessions to initiate lively and productive dialogue with the whole group. PowerPoint is not permitted.

Discussion based, the sessions’ principle aim is to determine, “What actions can and should the people in the room take now?” As such, the sessions are non-technical and focus on the forward-looking, big picture while acknowledging practical realities. They are not intended to produce broad, consensus-based declarations or to facilitate discussions about specific data sets.

Seattle has been the venue for the first five Summits. It is the city where the Summit was initially conceptualized, and it is home to a deep global health community and a large number of international companies. While Seattle will continue to be one of our venues, we have listened to feedback from participants who requested we consider other locations. London, as a central geographical hub and the home of our co-presenting partner, the Wellcome Trust, was a natural selection. The 2010 London Summit represented the inaugural year of our now annual rotation between Seattle and London.

The Pacific Health Summit is an invitation-only event. Each year, the Summit Secretariat carefully canvasses the landscape of innovators and leaders in fields most relevant to our theme. We search for individuals who offer a new voice and have the ability to reach across sectors. While we aim for broad geographical representation, our primary focus is on identifying individuals who have the motivation, energy, and resources to facilitate a significant impact. Individuals who match the Secretariat’s vision will receive an invitation and registration instructions via email from the Summit Secretariat staff. While some participants and organizations are invited to more than one Summit, our changing themes and space constraints mean that the mix of people naturally varies from year to year, and an invitation to one Summit does not constitute a standing invitation to all subsequent Summits. We are proud of our distinguished alumni and their appreciation of this dynamic.

Each year, the Summit invites a number of international thought-leaders from the media for the valuable insight and input they offer as key stakeholders in Summit discussions. Media participants from previous Summits have represented publications and outlets including the Financial Times, Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, and the BBC. To enrich the debate with diverse perspectives and insights, and with the hopes of communicating key global health themes to a broader international audience, the Summit has also invited journalists from South Asia, Africa, and South America.

Participating as Summit attendees, media participants are engaged in the event alongside all Summit participants from science, industry, policy, and other sectors. Media participants have access to all Summit sessions and related events, and actively engage in all Summit discussions. By accepting a Summit invitation, all Summit participants agree to adhere strictly to the Summit’s media policy.

For more information, please visit media overview and participation and the FAQs page.