Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author, Oncologist, and Cancer Researcher
"Research and the Future of Medicine"
6:00 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. Dinner
Oklahoma Memorial Union Ballroom
Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, DPhil, is a physician, scientist, author, and entrepreneur at the forefront of applying artificial intelligence to medicine. He is the Co-Founder and CEO (with Reid Hoffman and Ujjwal Singh) of Manas AI, a biotechnology company pioneering the use of advanced AI and machine-learning–driven platforms to dramatically accelerate the discovery and development of new medicines. At Manas AI, Dr. Mukherjee leads efforts to integrate large-scale biological data, computational models, and experimental science to transform how human therapeutics are designed and brought to patients.
Dr. Mukherjee is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (currently on leave). As a medical scholar, he has conducted research that has reshaped modern understanding of cancer biology and enabled the development of novel biological and cellular therapies. He was among the earliest leaders to apply AI-based algorithms to the discovery of human medicines and to translate these computational insights into clinical development. His work has led to a record number of concurrent clinical trials worldwide, spanning innovative treatments for ovarian, breast, and endometrial cancers, as well as leukemias and lymphomas. He is a co-inventor of several life-saving medicines, the founder of multiple biotechnology companies globally, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
In parallel with his scientific and entrepreneurial work, Dr. Mukherjee is an acclaimed author whose writing has shaped public understanding of medicine and science. “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, and “The Gene: An Intimate History” was a #1 New York Times bestseller and one of the most influential books of 2016, as recognized by The Washington Post and The New York Times. Both books were adapted into PBS documentary series by
filmmaker Ken Burns, and “The Emperor of All Maladies” was named among Time magazine’s and The New York Times’ 100 best nonfiction books of the past century.
Dr. Mukherjee writes regularly for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and other leading publications, and has published original scientific research in journals including Nature, Cell, and The New England Journal of Medicine.
A native of India, Dr. Mukherjee earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, was a Rhodes Scholar at Magdalen College, University of Oxford, and received his MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and his hematology-oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Nobel Prize Winner and Bestselling Author
“Power and Progress: How We Can Use AI and Innovation for Everyone's Good”
6:00 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. Dinner
Oklahoma Memorial Union Ballroom
Daron Acemoglu won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his groundbreaking work on the relationship between progress, AI, and the economy. An MIT Institute Professor, Daron is the 3rd most cited economist in the world—as well as the bestselling co-author of Why Nations Fail, the blockbuster book on why strong institutions are the overlooked key element to building strong nations. His latest book, the hotly acclaimed What Happened to Liberal Democracy?, is “a very important work and a must-read” (Thomas Piketty, #1 New York Times bestselling author). As rapid advances in AI change how we work and live, Daron shows us how to make these innovations work for everyone—and proves that AI has the potential to make our democracy and our lives better if we take hold of it today.
If we can tap into AI’s massive potential right now, we can build a world where everyone benefits from the progress that innovation brings us, says Daron Acemoglu.
Daron won the 2024 Nobel Prize for Economics for his groundbreaking work on AI, innovation, and prosperity. He was lauded for his work on the key role strong institutions play in a country’s democracy and wellbeing, encapsulated in his international bestseller Why Nations Fail (co-authored with his frequent collaborator, The University of Chicago’s James Robinson). Drawing on fascinating real-world stories like the town on the U.S./Mexico border that has a dramatic difference in prosperity on either side of the border, Daron reveals how we can leverage our institutions to improve our communities and our world. In a moment where our democracy stands at a crossroads, his work has never been more vital.
One of the most renowned economists on the planet, Daron is a historian who looks at what has happened and tells you what will happen next, with deep expertise in the impacts of technology on democracy, culture, and civilization. His most recent book is What Happened to Liberal Democracy?: Remaking a Politics of Shared Prosperity. In it, he argues that liberal democracy has turned its back on its core promises—and proposes a new way forward, towards a future of shared prosperity, empowered communities, extraordinary progress, and a range of values and views. Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond writes that readers will “treasure his thoughtful proposed solution to the most important question of modern democracy.”
In his book Power and Progress, co-authored with fellow Nobel Prize winner Simon Johnson, he shows us how technology has historically been used to benefit a select few, but we can regain control and turn today’s advances into empowering and democratizing tools. In talks, he gives us the big-picture vision we need to change the way we innovate in order to use our creativity for the good of humanity. The Financial Times named Power and Progress to their Best Technology Books of 2023, recognizing that Daron’s insights into power, institutions, and social progress are vital in an age of ever-evolving AI. Daron is also the editor of Redesigning AI, a look at how new technologies can be put to use in the creation of a more just society.
With James Robinson, Daron co-authored the New York Times bestseller Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty—a major work of historical, political, and cultural heft that comes along only once every few years. Throughout this ambitious, bracing work (shortlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award), Daron answers a question that has confounded leading minds for centuries: why are some nations rich, while others poor? Instead of looking to weather, cultural practices, or geography, we need to look to institutions, he argues—both strong and poor, political and economic—to understand prosperity and success. Called “required reading for politicians and anyone concerned with economic development” by Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs, and Steel), and “a splendid piece of scholarship and a showcase of economic rigor” by The Wall Street Journal, Why Nations Fail offers illuminating solutions to our most fundamental economic problems: how to move billions out of poverty, build robust, sustainable institutions, and empower effective democracy.
Daron and James also wrote The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty: the highly anticipated follow-up to Why Nations Fail. It’s a vital, big-picture assessment of how liberty flourishes in select states, yet devolves into authoritarianism or even anarchy in others—and how liberty can keep thriving, in spite of new, global threats. The Narrow Corridor was named one of both the Financial Times and Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2019. Called “A work of staggering ambition…Smart and timely,” by Newsweek, and “Another outstanding, insightful book by Acemoglu and Robinson,” by Nobel Laureate Peter Diamond, The Narrow Corridor is an essential exploration of liberty for today’s age.
Daron is an MIT Institute Professor (the highest title awarded to faculty members) and a founding co-director of MIT’s Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work. He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, and the Society of Labor Economists. His academic work covers a wide range of areas, including political economy, economic development, economic growth, inequality, labor economics, and economics of networks. He is the author of five books, including Why Nations Fail and The Narrow Corridor. Daron has also written for mainstream magazines such as Esquire and Foreign Policy, is a regular speaker for banks, think tanks, corporations, and other major institutions across the globe, and has received high-profile attention in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist, and many more. He also co-edits academic publications, such as The Journal of Economic Growth.
A professor of Applied Economics at MIT, Daron was twice named one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, as well as the 2019 winner of the Kiel Institute’s Global Economy Prize. He has received the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal for being a top economist under 40, the Nemmers Prize in Economics, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, and an Andrew Carnegie fellowship.
