For the first time in its history, Health Datapalooza will proceed without federal officials on the main stage. This absence was not our choice. We invited a broad range of federal leaders, many of whom had accepted, been announced, and were actively planning their sessions with us. In recent days, however, those officials were withdrawn for reasons we don’t understand, and no alternates were provided. While disappointing, this development makes our mission all the more important: bringing people together across sectors and political lines to examine the evidence, assess the value, and discuss the real-world application of innovative solutions transforming health care.
Federal leaders play a unique role in shaping the health data ecosystem. They help ensure that health innovation serves the public interest and holds the sector accountable to the people. Their presence provides a direct bridge between innovation and implementation, ensures conversations align with national priorities, and signals commitment to transparency and accountability in the use of public data. These leaders oversee the nation’s most consequential health data, and their insights are critical for innovators, researchers, and entrepreneurs seeking to understand how data policy translates into real-world impact. Without their engagement, the perspective of those who set the rules and standards that determine which innovations succeed is missing, and they lose out on engaging with and learning from stakeholders. Without that dialogue, policymakers miss a critical opportunity to understand the real-world consequences of their work and to strengthen trust with the people they serve.
Since its launch in 2010, Health Datapalooza has been the nation’s leading forum for ensuring those connections between federal leadership and the broader health data community are made. What began as a bold experiment by the Obama administration and continued under Trump and Biden to open up government datasets has evolved under AcademyHealth’s stewardship into a vibrant annual gathering where leaders from government, industry, academia, and the civic sector collaborate to shape the future of health.
Nonpartisanship is central to both Health Datapalooza and AcademyHealth. Across all our activities, we create space for rigorous, evidence-based dialogue that bridges divides and serves the public good. That commitment has long been reflected at Health Datapalooza, where senior federal officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations have shared the stage. Past speakers include U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, and CMS Administrator Seema Verma under President Trump, as well as FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and CDC Director Mandy Cohen under President Biden.
Being nonpartisan also requires that AcademyHealth anchor its efforts in evidence, transparency and accountability. When the Biden administration proposed policies that would restrict access to data critical to the field, AcademyHealth advocated vigorously on behalf of the field. When the Trump administration undertook a sweeping removal of public health information from federal websites, we again took action.
Health care innovation and cross-sector collaboration don’t stop because government leaders step back. In fact, it is more critical than ever that innovators, providers, patients, and funders continue to push forward, creating practical, evidence-based, and scalable solutions to meet our toughest challenges. We look forward to welcoming the Health Datapalooza community to Washington to do just that.
Evidence from researchers keeps discussions grounded in real-world outcomes, while global, local, and community perspectives broaden the conversation beyond policy. And often the bold ideas and solutions showcased at Health Datapalooza become the spark for policy shifts and system-wide change proving that the community will keep moving forward. We hope the federal government will come with us, but we cannot afford to wait for them.