Irving Stackpole to chair panel discussion at the C3 Davos of Healthcare™ NYC Summit, September 14, 2026
Clinical trials have long been anchored to major academic medical centers, but that model is changing fast. Digital health tools, remote monitoring, AI-driven data platforms, and connected devices are enabling decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) that reach broader, more diverse patient populations while reducing costs and speeding recruitment. The result: research that is more representative, more accessible, and increasingly borderless.
This shift is the focus of an upcoming panel at the C3 Davos of Healthcare™ NYC Summit — “Challenging Science: How Research, AI and Biotech Are Racing to End Disease” – taking place September 14, 2026, in New York City. Irving Stackpole, President of Stackpole & Associates, will chair the session, Decentralized Trials: Bringing Research to Patients, Not Just Clinics.*
How Neurology, Oncology, and Hospital Medicine Are Rewriting the Trial Playbook
Advanced therapeutics – gene and cell therapy, TCR-engineered T cell therapies, precision oncology – do not fit neatly into the traditional single-site trial model. They require specialized manufacturing, complex logistics, and highly coordinated multi-country execution. At the same time, sponsors and health systems are under pressure to make trials more accessible, more diverse, and more efficient for providers and patients.
This panel brings together complementary expertise from neurology, oncology, and hospital medicine to explore how emerging models in each field are reshaping the design and execution of multi-country clinical trials – with a particular focus on advanced therapeutics and real-world implementation. Together, the panelists will examine the shared challenges and opportunities that cut across their work: translating highly specialized therapies into scalable, multi-country trial platforms; aligning diverse regulatory, ethical, and genomic standards; and integrating hospital-based workflows with industry-driven protocols.
Precision medicine, applied genomics, and advanced cell and gene therapies are demanding new paradigms for site selection, data interoperability, and patient access in cross-border research. This panel of experts sits at the center of that conversation.
Meet the Panelists
Dr. Howard Federoff, Kenai Therapeutics Dr. Federoff is Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Medicine and Science at Kenai Therapeutics, where he serves as Principal Investigator on the company’s lead program, an allogeneic stem-cell-derived neuron replacement therapy for Parkinson’s disease now in first-in-human trials. A serial biotech executive and former Dean of Medicine, he brings a gene and cell therapy perspective to the panel – grounded in leading clinical-stage programs for neurologic disease and the realities of managing complex regulatory and funding pathways, including large public-private initiatives and the emerging potential of digital twinning.
Dr. Chrystal Louis, TScan Therapeutics Dr. Louis is Chief Medical Officer at TScan Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company developing TCR-engineered T cell therapies for cancer. Her two decades of hematology-oncology drug development experience span roles at CRISPR Therapeutics, Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, and Zentalis Pharmaceuticals. On the panel, she will contribute lessons from multi-regional hematology-oncology drug development and launch activities – spanning everything from small molecules to cutting-edge T cell receptor-engineered T cell therapies and other cell and gene therapies.
Dr. Deepak Asudani, UC San Diego Health Dr. Asudani is a Health Sciences Clinical Professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine at UC San Diego Health, where he serves as Medical Director of the International Patient Program. He will frame the panel’s discussion within the realities of hospital operations, global health initiatives, and international patient programs – emphasizing how trial design intersects with health systems, policy, and human rights considerations.
What Attendees Will Learn
Attendees can expect the panel to cover:
- How highly specialized therapies – gene, cell, and TCR-engineered treatments – can be translated into scalable, multi-country trial platforms
- What it takes to align divergent regulatory, ethical, and genomic standards across regions
- How hospital-based workflows and industry-driven protocols can work together rather than in opposition to each other
- How precision medicine, applied genomics, and advanced cell and gene therapies are demanding new paradigms for site selection, data interoperability, and patient access
- What resilient international trial networks look like for sponsors, academic centers, and health systems tackling complex, high-intensity studies
- The infrastructure needed to make patient-centered research the new global standard
Sponsors, academic centers, and health systems will leave with a clearer vision of how these converging innovations can accelerate the development of equitable, globally relevant clinical trials of the future.
Join the Conversation
The C3 Davos of Healthcare™ NYC Summit brings together leading hospitals, biotech companies, researchers, and AI leaders to explore the next frontier in drug discovery and clinical trials. Complimentary registration is available using our unique code.
📅 September 14, 2026 | New York City Learn more and register →
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* While Elizabeth Ziemba is listed on the conference site’s speaker roster, she is not participating in this particular panel. She has been instrumental in bringing together this high-powered panel and will attend the conference.