Assessing the US Medical Innovation System
Medical innovation can have a dramatic impact in preventing, treating, curing, or managing health events and illnesses, and the speed of innovation is accelerating with advances in drug discovery and data science. The role of medical innovation in driving better health outcomes is clear from both past and prospective innovations: managing chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol; developing vaccines for new health threats; individualizing therapies for specific cancer presentations; and potentially curing rare diseases through gene editing. The rate and direction of medical innovation, and the value and distribution of its benefits, are shaped by the interaction of a range of policies, institutions, and public- and private-sector actors that together constitute the US medical innovation system.
To address these issues, and with the support of the NIH, the NBER Center for Aging and Health Research will host a conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Friday, February 5, 2026. The conference will be organized by Stacie Dusetzina (Vanderbilt University Medical Center) and Bhaven Sampat (Johns Hopkins University).
The conference aims not only to showcase new work on assessing the medical innovation system, but also to create a network of researchers from economics of science and innovation, management, law, health services research, clinical research, public health and other fields working on these topics. The conference is not limited to NBER affiliates.
The organizers welcome papers or extended abstracts on topics that are broadly related to assessing the medical innovation system. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
- The effects of innovation policies (public funding, patents, exclusivities, procurement, others) on biomedical science, technology, competition, prices, and/or health outcomes.
- Measuring medical innovation, medical progress, and health impact
- Regulation and medical innovation; clinical trial reform
- Pricing, payment, innovation, and access
- Historical studies of medical progress or stagnation in specific fields or disease areas
- Implications of AI for medical innovation policy, access, and prices
- Global dimensions of US medical innovation policy
Submissions can be at various stages of completion, but results must be ready for presentation at the conference. The organizers welcome submissions from researchers who are early in their careers, who are not NBER affiliates, and who are based in economics-adjacent fields that are relevant for innovation.
Please upload papers or extended abstracts for potential presentation no later than 11:59pm ET on Monday, November 2, 2026 via the following link:
Authors chosen to present papers will be notified by early December. The NBER will reimburse hotel and economy-class conference travel for up to two authors per paper. Other co-authors are welcome to attend at their own expense.
Please share this call with others who may be interested in submitting a paper. Logistical questions about this meeting should be directed to confer@nber.org; other questions should be sent to Sarah Holmes Berk at sholmes@nber.org.