The Mark Mckenna Lecture Endowment recognizes McKenna’s contributions to the development of the field of health sector supply chain. McKenna, in his role as President of Novation (1998-2006), was a 2004 founding member of the Health Sector Supply Chain Research Consortium (HSRC-ASU) and a continuous supporter of bringing academia and industry partners together to solve major problems across the health sector supply chain. McKenna’s career spanned both the supplier and provider sectors in healthcare, including senior management positions with Imed Corp., Baxter Healthcare Corp., VHA Inc. He also served as chairman of the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association (HIGPA) and was elected to the Bellwether League Healthcare Supply Chain Hall of Fame (2010).

The event will feature Dr. Junaid Bajwa’s Keynote presentation entitled Medicine: An Exercise of the Imagination - An Exploration into How Human-centered, Reliable AI can Help Transform Healthcare Delivery, from Diagnosis and Treatment to the Logistics and Supply Chains that Underpin Clinical Operations. Dr. Bajwa is a Senior Partner at Flagship Pioneering, leading the UK division and serving as a Science Partner for Pioneering Intelligence globally. He is also a practicing physician with the UK’s National Health Service. Previously, as Chief Medical Scientist at Microsoft Research, Junaid focused on integrating trusted, reliable, and human-centered AI into medicine, leading strategic partnerships and spearheading Responsible AI initiatives. With extensive experience in primary and secondary care, public health, and roles as a payer and policy maker, Junaid’s work spans healthcare systems across the US, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and Singapore.

Academically, he holds positions as a Clinical Associate Professor at University College London (UCL) and as a Visiting Scientist at both the Harvard School of Public Health and NTU in Singapore.