JP Morgan Health Care Conference brings thousands to city

SAN FRANCISCO - More than 8,000 attendees from around the world are in San Francisco this week for J.P. Morgan's 42nd Healthcare conference at the Westin St. Francis hotel across from San Francisco's Union Square. 

The annual conference is by invitation only, and it brings together investors, large pharmaceutical and health care companies, as well as small startups in life sciences and tech, to discuss industry trends and innovations.

Tuesday's keynote speaker was former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Also featured are J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Danielle Carnival, Deputy Assistant to the President on cancer moonshot.

"Between Stanford, UCSF and the ecosystem of Silicon Valley, this is still where it's still happening," said Michael Sughrue, a neurosurgeon who did a residency at UCSF and went on to become co-founder & CMO of Omniscient, a company headquartered in Australia that analyzes mental health conditions and maps out patient solutions for treatment. 

Sughrue says the conference is the biggest event of the year for health companies, startups and investors.

"As the complexity of the financial system and reimbursement system in health care has changed," Sughrue said. "We really need industry, finance and technology working together or these treatments are not going to make it across the finish line to help patients."

Christine Lemke is CEO of a startup called Evidation based in San Mateo. She says the conference is critical for business. 

"It's to collaborate in real time face to face with a lot of different customers all in one place, all at one time," Lemke said.

"This really is the start of the year from the business development perspective. This is where everybody meets in terms of strategy, financing, M&A considerations, licensing, so this is the place to be," said Rasmus Just, ALK Global Head of Business Development. "A lot of it is... also in side events and meeting with companies you would not necessarily meet."

The San Francisco Travel Association says J.P. Morgan's conference has a big economic impact.

Last year, it brought more than $86million to the city.

"They're a huge boon to San Francisco, our restaurants, our cultural attractions and small businesses. I can't think of a better way to kick off the new year for San Francisco," said Cassandra Costello, executive vice-president of policy & external affairs at SF Travel.

San Francisco Travel says the city still has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels in the convention and tourism areas.

In 2019, the Moscone Convention Center had 49 events. In 2023, there were 35, and in 2024, there are 25 conventions booked so far.

Outside the Moscone bookings, SF Travel says it has seen some 900 bookings for self-contained meetings last year. The term "self-contained" is an industry term indicating an event that takes place outside of Moscone Center at a hotel or event venue. By comparison, SF Travel was involved with "more than 1,500 self-contained events that took place in 2019."

The convention is benefiting some small businesses in the city too, with hundreds of receptions in restaurants, bars and galleries.

UC Berkeley hosted one of those side events, a Bio Startup Showcase, Tuesday night at a gallery on Minna Street. It is the first time Berkeley showcased its startup successes.  

"Pitchbook just ranked UC Berkeley number one for venture-backed startups, edging out Stanford for the first time in 2023, so we just really wanted to show people what we're building in Berkeley," said Darren Cooke, Executive Director of the  UC Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center.

The conference runs through Thursday and SF Travel says J.P. Morgan has said it plans to book the conference again in San Francisco next year. 
 

Jana Katsuyama is a reporter for KTVU. Email Jana at jana.katsuyama@fox.com or call her at 510-326-5529. Or follow her on Twitter @JanaKTVU.