Planning a Women’s Health Innovation Conference

By Harvey Castro, MD, MBA, founder of Signal & Stage. This organizer guide is published by the collective and is not an independent speaker ranking. Reviewed November 3, 2026.

A women’s health innovation conference needs a clear audience and a practical scope. An investor meeting, a medtech leadership forum and a clinical education event can share a subject while needing different speakers and outcomes. Start by naming the decisions attendees will make after the event.

Separate the questions your audience needs to examine

• Investment and business decisions. Which needs and markets does the audience want to understand, and what evidence informs those decisions?
• Innovation and access. How will a proposed product or service reach the people it is intended to serve?
• Research and data. Which populations and outcomes are represented in the evidence being discussed?
• Adoption. Who would use, buy, support and evaluate the innovation in practice?

These are planning questions. A broad business keynote should not be presented as specialty clinical training. If the event requires clinical instruction, scientific appraisal or regulatory advice, establish that scope and the necessary expertise separately.

Two complementary starting points

Marissa Fayer brings a medtech operating and investment perspective. Her approved topics include The Growth Strategy Hiding in Plain Sight, Innovation Doesn’t Start Where You Think It Does and What It Takes to Build in a Market the World Keeps Undervaluing. Her profile connects women’s health with company building, access and investment decisions.

Reenita Das brings healthcare futures and industry strategy. Her approved keynote The Algorithm Gap: Why AI Is Failing Women, and How to Fix It examines research and health data gaps and their implications for technology, investment and policy. Her other keynotes cover healthcare megatrends, global markets, pharma strategy and changing patient expectations.

A proposed program could place Marissa’s business perspective alongside Reenita’s examination of data and industry change. Confirm their participation and use their approved session descriptions rather than announce a new joint talk.

Build a coherent sequence

Begin with the audience’s shared question. Follow with a session that examines the business or investment context, then a discussion of evidence and access. Close with moderated questions that connect the perspectives to the audience’s own work. If AI is a substantial part of the event, discuss a separate clinical perspective with Harvey Castro; avoid adding an AI segment solely because the topic is fashionable.

Ask each speaker to identify which part of the question their session addresses. A program about healthcare innovation should leave space to examine limits, implementation requirements and people affected by the proposed change.

Use speaking evidence in context

Marissa’s profile includes a TEDx stage talk and an interview. Reenita’s profile includes her supplied Future of Health 2040 keynote from Global Health Exhibition in Saudi Arabia. Watch enough of the available material to assess explanation and delivery. These samples show past work; confirm the content for your current event.

Marissa’s current profile also records speaking in Oxford and participation in the women’s health debate at Women’s Health Week London in October 2026. Those appearances provide context for her recent activity, without implying an endorsement from either event.

Send a useful brief

• Audience roles, geography and familiarity with women’s health innovation.
• The main decision or discussion the event should support.
• Whether the emphasis is investment, company building, research, access or adoption.
• Requested session format, length, language and interaction.
• Evidence expectations, product relationships and potential conflicts to disclose.
• Recording, streaming and reuse plans.

Speaker expertise should guide the shortlist. Do not treat a speaker’s identity as evidence of expertise in every area of women’s health. Match the approved topic to the audience and confirm the final scope.

Explore six conference topic groups

• Practical healthcare AI
• AI governance, risk and trust
• Health innovation and business growth
• Mental health and human experience
• Enterprise AI and organizational change
• Leadership, resilience and innovation

Plan the next step

Share your audience, event date, location, presentation and Q&A language, preferred format and the decision the session should support. Use the event planning worksheet and comparison scorecard to record your shortlist.

Speaker combinations are proposals. Confirm each person’s participation, session scope, duration, language, recording permissions and commercial terms before announcing a program. An inquiry does not reserve a date.

Discuss your event with Signal & Stage. For Harvey directly, explore his speaking topics and reel.