One of my favorite annual events is Health Connect South. It brings together a rich array of people all interested in the same goal — improving health outcomes for everyone. The energy inside and outside the meeting rooms is undeniable.
Part of the magic of the day is planned – introducing the most influential and latest leaders in the industry and featuring the latest initiatives that can improve our health care.
The other part of the day’s magic is providing a space where serendipitous encounters can occur by simply bringing a wide diversity of people to be in the same room and offering them opportunities to connect.
The all-day gathering at the Georgia Aquarium was held on Sept. 16, a day covered in a preview and follow-up story by SaportaReport journalist Gabi Hart.
Let’s begin with a couple of leaders who were featured.
There was Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the 18th director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), who was introduced by Georgia’s own Tom Price, the 23rd U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The other keynote was Dr. Erica Schwartz, who became director of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) on Aug. 5. It was her first public speaking event since becoming director.
Schwartz, who is filling a position that has been a revolving door, was upbeat and open with the audience, posing for photos with a swarm of people who surrounded her after her time on stage.
“I think the future of public health is incredibly bright,” she told the audience of 1,100 people. “All of you are doing amazing jobs. Incredibly effective.”
Health Connect South has invited every CDC director to speak at its gatherings. Only one didn’t appear because she lost her job days before the 2025 event.
Two of the latest initiatives that were spotlighted included brain health and serving rural and underserved communities through digital advances.
Improving brain health offers Georgia an opportunity to lead. Because of the extensive expertise already in the state, Georgia has an opportunity to become a national capital for brain health. It impacts all of us, but especially those who are afflicted with diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, or those who suffer mental health issues, such as depression or addiction.
The panel of experts agreed.
“We’re at an inflection point,” said Tim Denning, president of the Georgia Research Alliance, which has been exploring how the state can become a leader in brain health.
“Absolutely we’re at an inflection point,” echoed Allan Levey, director of Emory University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. “This is really an exciting time.”
It used to be the only way to diagnose Alzheimer’s was by doing a brain autopsy. Levey said we now have blood tests that can diagnose Alzheimer’s at the early onset of the disease, which offers opportunities for treatment.
Denning said it’s “deceivingly complex” to bring together all the entities working on brain health, including universities and companies as well as state and civic organizations, so they can better collaborate.
“We have a pretty unique ecosystem that’s much more collaborative than what I’ve seen in other places,” Levey said. But it can be difficult to “get beyond the silos between each institution” to create even more powerful collaboration.
“I know the community is ripe,” he said.
Thomas Saylor, an entrepreneur who has been following the effort, was listening. Because Georgia is in both the “stroke belt” and the “dementia belt,” it offers a great opportunity for detection and treatment. It helps that the state has a diverse population so research can apply to most people.
“There is growing momentum,” Levey said. “I think GRA is going to be absolutely critical. We need a structure as a backbone. We need universities to work together. We need to attract venture capital. This is a magnet.”
GRA’s Denning said the effort “is very much still in progress.” He would like to follow the ARPA-H model, where “you set your North star” and “assemble the team of partners.” But he added that GRA needs funding to build the team.
But Levey said the competition is stiff. “The state of Texas passed $3 billion for Alzheimer’s disease research and prevention,” he said. “We need demonstrated projects with bite-sized wins.”
Another featured initiative was making healthcare even more accessible to the underserved and those living in rural areas.
Serial entrepreneur Jeff Arnold, founder of WebMD and Sharecare, is working with the state of Georgia to do just that.
In August, Atlanta-based Sharecare had the national launch of AskMD, a health navigation experience that combines an individual’s medical history, health plan and location, nationwide.
Health Connect South was Arnold’s first public appearance around AskMD. It was also the first time AskMD unveiled the patient engagement tool selected by the Georgia Department of Community Health to improve health access to rural Georgia.
AskMD is designed to give people a clear next step in their health journey, and it is free on several online applications.
It’s part of Arnold’s mission to help make healthcare information more available to everyone who is willing to give permission to connect their medical records and health plans. AskMD then matches people to doctors and offers patients greater visibility into the costs of the service.
Those are just a couple of examples of the significance of Health Care South.
In an interview Monday, Lipari talked about the origins of the organization, which was founded in 2013 and held its first gathering in 2014
“We were trying to get a national health conference to move here,” Lipari said. When they didn’t, Lipari and others decided to start their own.
“We call it our annual gathering of health,” Lipari said. “There’s value in our health community coming together. Diseases don’t care how you vote. Health transcends everything.”
Over the years, Lipari has had officials from every administration — Republican and Democrat. It’s always been about finding ways to collaborate, whether the issue is Ebola, cancer or COVID.
“We have a rich density of health assets here,” said Lipari, who added the people in the audience often are just as impressive as the people on stage. “The opportunity for serendipitous innovation only happens if people know each other.”
