BC + AI Life Sciences Meetup #3
We started at a dinner table.
Life Sciences Meet-up #3:
- AI Life Sciences group Founder intro:
What's AI ever done for me?
Mauricio Penteado, PHSA (Providence Health Sedrvices Authority. Director, Informatics.
- Debate: Can AI help resolve local mental health and addiction issues?
Introduction from Gordon Hamilton, with special guests/local experts Guy Felicella and Sarah Blyth (Overdose Prevention Society) providing insight into the local issues in BC.
Your task on Tuesday evening is to use your knowledge to work out how AI can help.
- Programs: update on the AI life sciences group's objectives
Meet-up #1 was a good night. Even Simon's appalling poetry didn't put us off from doing it again.
Meet-up #2 continued the theme, progressing our interest in global access for BC in AI Life Sciences and introducing the Wild Salmon program, coordinating and funding returnees to set up in BC. And Simon's AI blues didn't QUITE kill the vibe.
Meet-up #3 is going to expand the circle, updating the global objectives and digging in to the local theme: how can we apply AI to help with local health issues like addiction and mental health? But watch out: Simon also has a surprise alternative to his creative efforts to share ...
If you work anywhere in the life sciences and AI space in BC: biotech, pharma, clinical research, health informatics, medical devices, health policy, patient advocacy, venture, or academia — this is your gathering.
We won't be pitching products or doing a hackathon. We'll be talking about what BC can do on the two stages that matter to us: global and local. The life sciences meetup is for those who want to take action and those who want to make new connections (and then do something useful with those new relationships).
What to expect
6:00 PM: Doors open, informal mingling, a little wine. The diversity of interest and skills present in the AI Life Sciences Group is outstanding. Your first task of the evening is to find a serendipitous new connection.
6:45 PM: Short framing from Simon and Kris: where we are, what the series is building toward and latest news in Life Sciences AI and ...
6:50 PM: Supper is served!
Beef Casserole c/o SNH
Veggie option upgrade being provided very kindly by Andrew Rezmer
7:15 PM: View from the front line: what AI means to me in life sciences. Founder member Mauricio Penteado, PHSA
7:30 PM: Debate: "Can AI help resolve local mental health and addiction issues?" Introduction from Gordon Hamilton, with special guests/local experts Guy Felicella and Sarah Blyth.
The guests' task: identify and explain the local issues
Your task: work out how we can help, using AI
8:15 PM: Program and progress: Update on Wild Salmon returnees program and aspirations for the FutureProof Festival in October.
8:30 PM: Close of proceedings. Conversations continue as long as the wine holds out.
No pitch session. No shortage of opinions. New connections you never thought of. Casserole. Nuts. Perhaps a little creativity. Bring your honest read on what's actually happening in your corner of the field.
Who this is for
You work at the intersection of AI and life sciences in BC (or you want to) and you would like to make a contribution by taking your place at the table, literally and metaphorically;
You have a burning life-sciences ambition - global or local - and you want AI to help deliver it;
You want to let serendipity do her thing, revealing new and unexpected connections in the sector;
You're willing to say what's actually hard, not just what's exciting.
About the series
The BC + AI Life Sciences community is a special interest group inside the BC + AI ecosystem, co-led by Simon Haworth (CEO, Intellomx; BC-UK-PRC-US entrepreneur and investor) and Kris Krüg (BC + AI). The supper series is building toward a full Life Sciences track at BC + AI FutureProof Festival Week this October — but we're growing the community the right way: one table at a time.
BC + AI is BC's independent AI ecosystem, focused on ethical, community-accountable adoption of AI across sectors. No hype, no boosterism — just the work.