Plenary sessions

Plenary Sessions at ADLM 2027 will feature world-renowned experts and thought leaders whose work is shaping laboratory medicine and health care. These high-profile sessions offer compelling perspectives on the scientific, clinical, technological, and societal forces influencing the field.

• Sunday, July 25: Democratizing Molecular Diagnostics
  Carl Wittwer, MD, PhD | 2027 Wallace H. Coulter Lectureship Awardee
• Monday, July 26: AI in Medicine: Real Magic or Technological Illusions?
  Jonathan Chen, MD, PhD
• Tuesday, July 27:To be announced.
• Wednesday, July 28: To be announced.
• Thursday, July 29: To be announced.

The Wallace H. Coulter Awardee, Carl T. Wittwer, MD, PhD, University of Utah/ARUP Laboratories, will be featured as the first confirmed plenary speaker. Additional plenary speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.

Sunday, July 25

Democratizing Molecular Diagnostics

2027 Wallace H. Coulter Lectureship Awardee
Carl Wittwer, MD, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Pathology, University of Utah/ARUP Laboratories
Camden, ME, USA

Talk Description: Over the past 40 years, molecular diagnostic methods have evolved from multi-step, time-consuming protocols towards simple, rapid analysis. Once only performed in niche academic labs, molecular tools are now available to everyone. Thanks to the pandemic, everyone knows what “PCR” is. Advances towards simplicity include: 1) NaOH extraction or sample dilution instead of complex sample preparation, 2) real-time PCR quantification in a single step without additional processing, 3) melting analysis replacing gels, 4) generic DNA dyes instead of specific probes, 5) single base discrimination by high-resolution melting, and 6) amplification and melting time reduction by orders of magnitude. As practical consequences, both research and clinical advancements are accelerated. Commercial FDA-approved products, including multiplexed syndromic panels feature, “sample-in, results-out” workflows. As times shorten, complexity decreases, and costs are reduced, molecular diagnostic tools become more and more readily accessible to everyone.

Biography: Dr. Carl Wittwer is Professor Emeritus of Pathology at the University of Utah and a pioneer in molecular diagnostics. He authored more than 200 scientific publications and was the primary inventor of the LightCycler® real-time PCR system commercialized worldwide by Roche. In the 1990s, he pioneered rapid PCR, reducing amplification times to approximately 15 minutes, and later advanced extreme PCR in under one minute and high-speed DNA melting in less than five seconds. He introduced SYBR Green chemistry, hybridization probes, and melting curve analysis to real-time PCR. Dr. Wittwer holds more than 40 U.S. patents and numerous international equivalents. He also co-founded BioFire Diagnostics, whose FilmArray syndromic diagnostic platform has achieved more than 30,000 placements worldwide and transformed infectious disease diagnostics.

Monday, July 26

AI in Medicine: Real Magic or Technological Illusions?

Jonathan H. Chen, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
Director for Medical Education in Artificial Intelligence, Stanford Medicine
Stanford Division of Computational Medicine; Division of Hospital Medicine; Clinical Excellence Research Center; Biomedical Data Science
Founding Site Lead, ARiSE Healthcare Network
Stanford, CA, USA

Talk Description: Pandora's box has opened in the form of publicly accessible generative AI systems, now applied to every imaginable—and many unintended—purpose. These emerging technologies challenge the fundamental theorem of informatics: that the combination of human and machine outperforms either alone. When AI alone can match or surpass human–computer teams in complex medical reasoning, we are forced to reconsider the foundations of relevant clinical expertise. With a global shortage of medical professionals and an overwhelming demand for healthcare, AI's potential to democratize knowledge, expand access, and restore efficiency is both awe-inspiring and urgently needed. These advances compel us to ask: What makes a doctor a doctor—or any professional truly human—in this new era? Confronting these existential questions will have profound implications for practice, pedagogy, and policy.

Biography: Jonathan H. Chen, MD, PhD leads a clinical informatics research group working to empower individuals with the collective experience of the many, combining human and artificial intelligence to deliver better care than either alone. He also serves as Director of Medical Education in Artificial Intelligence for Stanford Medicine. Before his medical training, he co-founded a company translating his computer science graduate work into an expert system used worldwide. He continues to practice medicine as an attending physician, for the concrete rewards of caring for real people and to keep his research grounded in clinical reality. His work advances the science and technology while redefining how we train an entire generation of the healthcare workforce to integrate intelligent systems safely and effectively. His expertise is featured in the popular press, with over 100 publications and awards from the NIH, ARPA-H, the American Medical Informatics Association, and the International Brotherhood of Magicians.