A. The Pacific Health Summit welcomes leaders from science, policy, industry, medicine, and public health every June to discuss how to realize our vision for a healthier world. Each year the Summit focuses on a single theme designed to tackle an important problem in global health.

A. The Summit is co-presented by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), which serves as the Summit Secretariat.

The Summit is guided by members of an Executive Committee and advised by a Senior Advisory Group. The Executive Committee is a decisionmaking sub-entity of the Senior Advisory Group. Members of the Executive Committee and Senior Advisory Group provide leadership through strategic guidance and input on the Summit theme, agenda, and invited organizations and individuals. Members also play a lead role in Summit sponsorship through financial support from their own organizations.

A. The mission of the Pacific Health Summit is to connect science, industry, and policy for a healthier world by combining the effective utilization of scientific advances with industrial innovation and appropriate policy.

A. The vision for a Pacific Health Summit came out of a sense that what was happening in science and technology in the Asia-Pacific region could catalyze a transformation in healthcare from a reactive model to one based on prevention, early detection, and early treatment of disease. Over the years, this concept evolved and the Summit has expanded globally, focusing worldwide on innovation and opportunities, and recognizing that there are no borders around the human and financial cost of disease. Internationally, leaders in the science and technology field recognize our name and associate our annual gatherings as a place for them to connect and collaborate with the private sector and with policymakers. Though we have expanded beyond the Pacific, we will remain the Pacific Health Summit.

A. The Summit's annual theme is carefully selected by the Executive Committee in order to build momentum and impact for an area of global health that would benefit from the Summit's unique approach and contribution. Its purview is designed to be relevant to ongoing conversations and debates, and to topics that leaders in global health believe deserve immediate, sustained attention.

A. The Summit agenda evolves throughout the year and is finalized in the spring by the Summit Secretariat. After the Summit theme is cemented, the Secretariat conducts a series of conversations with leaders at the forefront of global health. Hundreds of one-on-one conference calls with experts, partners, and thinkers yield an agenda that reflects the most pressing questions surrounding the Summit theme. As we refine the agenda, we reach out through surveys to invite input from Summit invitees on provocative, key issues that every participant would like the Summit to address. Small brainstorming roundtables and advance workshops further help forge an agenda that is both relevant to participants, and useful in shaping the conversations and solutions surrounding the year’s theme.

For past Summit agendas, please click here

A. The Summit features a limited number of moderators and panelists who are chosen by the Summit Secretariat. The Secretariat makes a special effort to assemble panels that are diversely represented in terms of geography, ideas, and sector affiliation. Because 90% of our sessions involve interactive discussion, moderators and panelists are often chosen because of their individual expertise and their ability to engage in a big-picture conversation.

A. The Summit's plenary sessions and workshops are structured to foster dynamic panel discussions and interactive audience participation. Each session features a "talk show"-style plenary panel that is thoughtful and exploratory, and prompts action. Panelists serve as "discussion catalysts" and are given three minutes each at the start of the sessions to initiate lively and productive dialogue. Our plenary sessions focus on "What actions can and should the people in the room take now?" and are not intended to produce non-binding recommendations or technical discussions about specific data sets. PowerPoint is not permitted.

Panelists serve to catalyze a larger discussion. While the majority of Summit participants do not have a formal speaking role, interactive discussion between everyone in the room makes up 90% of our sessions.

A. The Pacific Health Summit encourages individuals and organizations to partner across sectors by organizing targeted meetings and facilitating connections between potential partners. Since 2010, each year the Summit Secretariat has assembled a collection of specific proposals for cross-sector partnership. These ‘Calls for Collaboration’ offer specific avenues of entry into targeted fields and clear contact points for immediate action. They are distributed at the annual Summit.

A. The Summit logo expresses the timelessness of the human hope for better health. The character chosen to represent the Pacific Health Summit, pronounced sheng in Chinese and ikiru in Japanese, means "life" or "to live." In the same way that this character for "life" also combines easily with other characters to build hopeful and strong compounds, we too hope the Pacific Health Summit will be a cornerstone upon which to build partnerships and collaborations.

Much like those who aspire to climb the world’s tallest mountains, the arched line at the top of our logo represents the Summit we aim for in health—to prevent and detect disease early enough to save lives at a much lower human and financial cost. Whether the mountain ascent is attempted by an individual or by a team, success is the result of training, careful preparation, and the unsung work of hundreds and even thousands more who help a handful achieve the glory of the summit.

A. The Summit welcomes support from private sector partners, as well as foundations and government institutions. In addition to Summit sponsors, every year the Summit Secretariat also invites a small number of partners to become "Summit Supporting Organizations." While Supporting Organizations do not necessarily provide financial sponsorship, they make essential contributions to the Summit through leadership, advice on our program and speakers, and in some cases, direct travel support to developing country participants so that they may attend the June Summit.

For more information on past and current Summit sponsors, and supporting organizations, please visit the Sponsors and Support Organizations page.

A. The Summit invites 250 leaders from science, industry, and policy from over 35 countries.

We deliberately maintain a select and distinct number of participants to foster the intimate atmosphere that allows individuals to make personal connections and build foundations for long-term relationships.

Each year the Summit Secretariat carefully canvases the landscape for leaders who have a unique approach, offer a new voice, and have the ability to reach across sectors. One of our guiding principles is the belief that the business sector has a role to play in discussions and activities that will transform global health. To that end, one out of four participants hails from the private sector.

While we aim for broad geographical, racial, gender, and sectoral representation, our primary focus is on identifying individuals who have the motivation, energy, and resources to make a real impact. We also welcome “movers and shakers” who are not traditionally featured at other events in order to bring new ideas to the table. Institutional affiliations are important, but we believe that it is the personal interactions among global leaders that will lead to durable and significant collaborations between countries, sectors, and organizations.

Each Summit participant is personally recommended by other leaders and occupies a place in a global network of thinkers and doers. In the end, the Summit’s results depend upon this growing community to turn thoughtful discussion into transformative action.

Please visit our participant page for past participants and demographics represented at the Summit.

A. While some participants and organizations are invited to more than one Summit, our changing theme and space constraints mean that the mix of people and invitees naturally varies from year to year. An invitation to one Summit does not constitute a standing invitation to subsequent Summits. Every year the Secretariat creates an entirely new invitee list, unique to the current theme and context.

A. Participation in the Summit is by invitation-only; invitations are non-transferrable. Invited participants will receive an official invitation and registration instructions by email from Summit staff, which will include a link to the registration website and a personalized username and password. Booking for the conference hotel can be done through the registration website. Invitation requests and recommendations will be considered at the discretion of the Summit Secretariat, and granted on a case-by-case basis.

A. Our venue accommodates 250 attendees, and the frank, peer-to-peer discussions that make the Summit special are only possible by limiting attendance to our specific invitees. In some cases, we are able to welcome an additional colleague from specific organizations. In most cases however, we invite one representative per organization so that we can welcome a larger number of diverse affiliations to the discussion.

With regard to family members, unfortunately we do not have the space to accommodate such requests. We appreciate the desire to share experiences with loved ones, but we regret that our answer must be "no" in order to preserve the unique atmosphere for the discussion we strive for and to manage our space limitations.

The relationships that begin at the Summit have had a monumental impact on global health. We expect each participant to share the outcomes of the Summit with their group of peers or organization, allowing the ideas, collaborations, and networks developed every June to reach an exponentially larger group of global leaders than we are able to invite to the Summit event itself.

A. The Summit takes place every June. Seattle was the venue for the first five Summits. It is the city where the Summit was initially conceptualized, and is home to a thriving global health community and a large number of truly global 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, the home of our co-presenting partner, the Wellcome Trust, was the natural selection. Additionally, London provides us with a central hub for participants attending from around the globe. The 2010 London Summit represented the first year of our now annual rotation between Seattle and London.

In 2012, the Summit will convene in London.

A. The Summit Secretariat works closely with local law enforcement and government agencies to address and prepare for any security concerns prior to and during the Summit.

A. The Pacific Health Summit is an invitation-only event. In keeping with the Summit’s goal to foster cross-sector dialogue and collaboration, the Summit invites a group of international thought-leaders from the media. Participating as Summit attendees, media participants engage 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 participate in all Summit discussions. By accepting a Summit invitation, all Summit participants agree to adhere strictly to the Summit’s media policy.

A. Summit media reporting guidelines are based on a modified Chatham House Rule approach: sessions are on a background basis only. Sources may be quoted; however, explicit permission must first be obtained from participants for any attribution, paraphrasing, and direct quotation. Journalists are free to characterize the general content of the discussions and use those discussions to inform their reporting. Members of the reporting press must refrain from asking questions for reporting purposes in plenary sessions and workshops. These questions should be saved for interviews and press briefings.

For all media-related questions and to schedule interviews, please contact:

Jacqueline Koch, Media Relations Coordinator
Tel: 206.632.7370 | Cell: 360.556.1194 | Email: jkoch@nbr.org

For more information, please visit media overview and policy.

A. All Summit participants are required to follow the Summit media policy when writing, blogging, or tweeting at the Summit and Summit-related events, or in reference to the Summit.

Blogs & Twitter: Bloggers and Tweeters are requested to provide sources with a brief summary of content/context when requesting participants’ permission for direct quotes, attribution, and paraphrasing. The official Twitter hashtag for the Pacific Health Summit is #pachealthsummit.

Photos: Photography to accompany articles and blogs is permitted. If the photo features an individual participant, their explicit permission is required. Any participant’s wish not to be photographed must be respected.

Video: Video recordings during any Summit plenary sessions, workshops, working breakfasts, and affiliated discussions or events are not permitted.

A. The Summit offers a platform for key announcements, where recent scientific developments, or new alliances and innovative partnerships can be shared with attendees.

Should a number of participating organizations want to align a public or private announcement and/or have significant relevant news to share with peers and journalists, the Summit Secretariat will work with respective media teams and participants to facilitate on-site press briefings and interviews.

Press briefings are scheduled in response to significant, timely, and newsworthy announcements, and according to participant and media response. At past Summits, participating organizations have opted for a “soft launch” approach, sharing key developments with the multi-sector leaders in the room, to build greater momentum for subsequent media outreach and coverage.

A. In inviting members of the press, the Summit goal is to highlight key topics and issues pertaining to each year’s theme, rather than promote coverage of the event itself.

• Mail & Guardian (South Africa) – July 1, 2011
  “Made in China, Protected in Africa” by Mia Malan
• The New York Times Economix Blog – July 2, 2010
  “Can Medical Technology Solve the Health Care Problem?” by Uwe E. Reinhardt
• Science Insider – September 7, 2009
  “Behind the Scenes on a New Vaccines Push in India” by John Travis

A. The Summit Secretariat can help facilitate and schedule one-on-one interviews between media participants and other Summit attendees. The Summit Secretariat will also provide updates and details of any scheduled press briefings.

For all media-related questions and to schedule interviews, please contact:

Jacqueline Koch, Media Relations Coordinator
Tel: 206.632.7370 | Cell: 360.556.1194 | Email: jkoch@nbr.org

A. Please contact Ms. Jacqueline Koch, Media Relations Coordinator with any questions or inquiries.

Jacqueline Koch, Media Relations Coordinator
Tel: 206.632.7370 | Cell: 360.556.1194 | Email: jkoch@nbr.org