AI Buyers and Builders

Panelists

Brian Cantwell

Vice President, Head of AI, Bayer Pharmaceuticals

Brian Cantwell is Vice President, Head of AI, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, where he drives AI strategy and execution for the U.S. Pharma business. With more than 15 years of experience in marketing innovation and digital transformation, Brian is at the forefront of integrating AI into enterprise workflows to unlock new levels of efficiency, personalization, and performance.

Since joining Bayer, Brian has led an award-winning team spanning digital strategy, media activation, content and campaign services, and marketing operations. He pioneered Bayer’s in-housing initiatives, making it the first pharmaceutical company to fully in-house digital media, delivering major gains in ROI and engagement while reducing costs. Prior to Bayer, Brian held senior roles at Biogen, where he built the Multichannel Excellence team, and at Accenture, where he led digital transformation programs for pharmaceutical clients. He holds an MBA from MIT Sloan and a BA from Harvard and is passionate about innovation and shaping the future of AI in healthcare.

Tarun Mehra

Partner, Microsoft

Tarun Mehra is a Partner at Microsoft, where he leads Strategy & Partnerships for Healthcare industry segment and for Microsoft Dragon Copilot. In this role, he drives AI-first strategic growth initiatives, fosters innovation, and forges transformative partnerships across the healthcare ecosystem, including operators, innovators, and investors. He is deeply committed to helping healthcare orgs address critical industry challenges through cutting edge technologies including Microsoft's Cloud, AI, and Dragon Copilot platforms. He is also a senior industry advisor to M12 (Microsoft's venture arm) & Microsoft for Startups and represents the firm on LPAC of select fund investments, supporting healthcare-related investments and innovation ecosystem.

Previously, he was VP of Strategy, M&A, and Partnerships at Nuance Communications (before Microsoft acquisition), where he helped expand its clinical documentation portfolio, including the Dragon ambient platform. Tarun also brings nearly two decades of experience in senior management consulting roles, advising healthcare orgs, technology leaders and investors on growth, innovation, M&A, and transformation. He previously served as an Associate Partner at Monitor Group (now part of Deloitte). Prior to that Tarun led the healthcare strategy practice at Fuld & Co, where he was also the founder and CEO of one of the firm’s subsidiaries prior to its exit. He began his career in product development at i2 Technologies before transitioning into business and product strategy at Accenture following his MBA. He is an active industry collaborator and serves in various advisory and governance roles.

He sits on the advisory board of Digital Health Innovation Summit (DHIS), a premier digital health event with a goal to fuel healthcare innovation and collaboration. He holds a B.Tech. degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi and MBA in strategy and innovation from IIM Indore.

Jonathan Kamerman is Enterprise Healthcare Solutions Leader at Philips, where he works with health systems to design and implement integrated technology solutions that improve clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, and patient experience. With deep experience at the intersection of healthcare delivery, digital innovation, and enterprise partnerships, he collaborates with providers to advance scalable, data-driven transformation across care settings.

Bruce Hashemian, Ph.D., brings over 15 years of experience developing and deploying AI-driven solutions, sensing platforms, and decentralized technologies across healthcare systems, medical devices, and biotechnology. At Massachusetts General Brigham, he integrated cutting-edge AI and data-intensive solutions for disease diagnostics and point-of-care health monitoring. His work has advanced digital health technologies to address critical clinical needs in hospital information systems, medical imaging, and intensive care monitoring. While at MIT, Dr. Hashemian led initiatives applying AI to the Internet of Things (IoT), privacy-preserving technologies, and data fusion, bridging innovation and real-world applications. He has also held senior leadership roles, including VP of Artificial Intelligence, Chief Data Officer, and Technical Advisor, at several companies and startups worldwide.

At NVIDIA, he has spearheaded multiple healthcare initiatives, ranging from NVIDIA Healthcare NIMs (NVIDIA Inference Microservices) to digital pathology, microscopy, and healthcare AI sensing platforms. He currently leads the AI Sensing Ecosystem at NVIDIA and serves on advisory boards, and as chair of the Human-AI Interaction Working Group at the Medical Open Network for AI (MONAI).

Barry Stein, MD, MBA, is Chief Clinical Innovation Officer and Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Hartford HealthCare, where he founded and leads the Center for AI Innovation in Healthcare to accelerate the safe deployment of AI and emerging technologies into clinical care. A practicing vascular and interventional radiologist and MIT Sloan Executive MBA alumnus, he also advises startups and venture capital, co-founded an MIT-based hospital analytics startup, and serves as an academic leader advancing health system innovation.

Annie supports Echo Health Ventures in all aspects of the investment process, from deal sourcing and evaluation through transaction management and execution. She is responsible for providing financial and market support that drives investment initiatives and decisions, and the success and growth of Echo’s portfolio companies. Annie currently serves as a board observer for Wildflower Health, Heartbeat Health, TytoCare and Upfront Healthcare. Prior to joining Echo, Annie was an investment banking associate with Macquarie Capital’s healthcare services and technology group where she advised clients on strategic alternatives including M&A, investment opportunities and capital raising. Annie began her career as a first full-time hire at a digital health startup focused on women’s health, where she focused on business development, growth strategy and product implementation. When the company was acquired, she continued to advance the product line with the acquirer, focusing primarily on product development and go-to-market efforts. Annie earned her bachelor’s degree and her Master of Public Health from the University of Virginia, where she was a Jefferson Scholar. She earned her Master of Business Administration from MIT Sloan. Annie is based out of Echo’s Boston, Massachusetts office.