We're sponsoring Washington Post Live's conference "Advancing Medical Innovation" today at the Ronald Reagan Center in Washington, D.C. Good to be here, Our CEO, John Lechleiter, just set the stage for the day. As he just noted, we're hitting a critical need for more innovation -- Alzheimer's is going to cost us trillions of dollars in a few decades, and in Japan, 1 million people will be 100 years or older by 2050.

New advancements are needed, especially in the areas of Alzheimer's, cancer, and diabetes. We should hear a lot more on this today.

As Mary Jordan, editor of Washington Post Live, just said, "30 years ago, if you had AIDS, you died. Today, you can live a long, productive life." We need more of that -- and people like Francis Collins, director of NIH and today's keynote, will discuss how we get there. But we're going to start with a panel that talks about STEM education -- sort of building the foundation for the next generation of innovators.

Stay tuned for more.