My first experience at Health Datapalooza was over a decade ago, and like many good things in life, it started with a bit of uncertainty. I had just stepped into the role of Chief Data Officer for the Louisiana Department of Health, eager to learn how the Open Data movement—led by visionaries like Todd Park and Greg Downing—could help transform state decision-making. I figured I’d get a few new contacts, maybe a policy idea or two.
I expected a typical conference. What I walked into was anything but. There were patient advocates on stage alongside federal CTOs, startup demos happening in the hallways, and breakout sessions where people actually rolled up their sleeves to problem-solve—not just passively listen. It wasn’t a conference. It was a movement—and I was hooked.
Health Datapalooza was loud, unapologetically cross-sector, and unfiltered. It wasn’t afraid of messy questions or half-baked ideas. From those early days, the Datapalooza ethos was clear: smash the silos, challenge the status quo, and make data work harder for patients.
I stumbled into a technicolor whirlwind of passionate data nerds—and I say that with pride— policy wonks, federal change-makers, curious technologists, and scrappy entrepreneurs gathered to discuss how data could be used to transform health care from the ground up. It was the only place where a startup founder, a state Medicaid director, and a patient advocate could all crowd around the same table and actually build something useful together. I left energized by the belief that data, when used honestly and intentionally, could reshape our health system from the ground up.
That spirit has stayed with me. And it’s what keeps me coming back.
Over the years, I’ve watched the conversation at Datapalooza shift. We’ve moved from unlocking public data to building Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), to rethinking reimbursement models, to exploring real-world evidence, and now to facing the promises—and very real risks—of artificial intelligence. Yet no matter the topic, Datapalooza has always been the place to ask the hard questions: not just “What can we do with data?” but “What should we do?”
That distinction matters more than ever.
This year, the focus on AI is timely and urgent. Whether it’s streamlining care, predicting outcomes, or enabling diagnostic precision, AI has arrived in health care. But hype alone won’t earn trust or prove impact. What kind of evidence do payers, regulators, patients, and providers really need before these tools are widely adopted? Who validates the models? What happens when AI-generated decisions go wrong?
Plenaries like “The Evidence Kaleidoscope” and “Bridging the Trust Gap” will take these questions head-on. We’ll hear from health system leaders, investors, patient advocates, and tech entrepreneurs wrestling with the same dilemma: how do we innovate responsibly in a system that doesn’t always reward long-term thinking?
What makes Datapalooza stand out isn’t just the topics—it’s the energy. It’s informal, collaborative, and often unexpectedly fun. This is the kind of place where a government official can debate a startup CEO, a patient’s lived experience can reshape a session on product design, and someone in the audience can completely redirect the conversation with the right question. Openness to exploration—that’s Datapalooza’s secret sauce.
So why do I keep coming back? Because Health Datapalooza isn’t just a mirror of where the field stands today. It’s a compass pointing to where it needs to go next. It brings together the people willing to wrestle with the hard stuff: trust, evidence, human-centered design, and the uncomfortable conversations that real transformation demands. If that sounds like your kind of room, you’ll feel right at home.
So, if you're tired of passive panels and polished talking points, come join the conversation and bring your messy questions, your half-baked ideas, your boldest “what ifs.” Because the real work of health innovation starts when we stop assuming we already have it figured out.
Health Datapalooza is where we figure them out together!
Health Datapalooza provides a collaborative space for cross-sector professionals to engage with pressing issues in the health care sector. This year’s conference will feature plenaries that encourage creativity and solution-oriented discussion on pertinent topics such as the evolving nature of AI and its impact on data, evidence, and human-centered design.
Learn more and register here.