The Covid-19 pandemic is reshaping almost every aspect of our society, including our healthcare systems. In this global emergency, in which the coronavirus continues its inexorable spread with a disproportionate impact on communities of color, the urgent search for effective therapeutics and an effective vaccine has led to unprecedented collaborations between healthcare and drug companies, academic researchers, nonprofits and governments. Even so, some stresses to this collaborative approach are evident, such as governments eager to secure first treatments and potential vaccines for their domestic populations.

How will this ongoing crisis continue to shape the evolution of the clinical and research ecosystem to combat future health care challenges? How can we make systemic changes to close the gaps in access to care laid bare by the pandemic?  How are institutional investors, including VC and PE firms, deploying capital to biotech startups? How can we create greater incentives (and reduce the disincentives) to spur research to meet these needs? And looking further ahead, how can executives, researchers and policy makers take the lessons learned from the early days of this crisis to more broadly rethink approaches to health care?