While the desirability of change in the health care system is well accepted, how it is to be achieved is not. One flashpoint has been the involvement of private capital firms in healthcare. In theory, private equity brings capital and discipline to firms in a manner that should be helpful to the healthcare industry. But popular accounts and academic studies have raised troubling questions.

As technology-driven advancements and clinical innovation accelerate the evolution of the life sciences, can PE play a constructive role to enable life sciences firms to better position themselves for success in a competitive and rapidly evolving environment? Or are the temptations to profit at the expense of the customer too great in these settings?
This session will explore the evidence about these important and controversial issues. In particular, this program will focus on two issues:

How advances in information and communication technologies, which have transformed everything from urban transport to payments to navigation, can address the effectiveness of medical delivery, and the role of venture capital in facilitating this transformation.
The role of private capital in financing the “white spaces” in the delivery of medical services: e.g., the areas where consumers are underserved, whether geographic, demographic, or class of care (e.g., primary care).

He is the Chairman of Quadria’s Investment Committee and holds board positions in several portfolio companies where he works closely with management teams. Abrar began his career in international law before transitioning to healthcare investment banking and private equity. This journey has given him a well-rounded perspective that is practical, data-focused, and mission-driven. Based in Singapore, he graduated in law from the University of Cambridge and speaks five languages. Guided by his conviction that global healthcare’s centre of gravity has shifted to Asia, he views building large, trusted institutions as essential to meeting the region’s surging demand.

He also co-founded HealthQuad, India’s largest healthcare venture capital platform with over $350 million in assets under management. HealthQuad supports technology-driven models that make quality care easier to access and more affordable. Today, Abrar is motivated by a straightforward idea: when investors and ambitious operators come together, healthcare systems become more inclusive, innovative, and sustainable. This creates real social impact alongside enduring value for patients, partners, and investors. Beyond work, he supports a range of charitable initiatives, including Future First, a UK charity dedicated to expanding educational opportunities for underprivileged students. Abrar also sponsors an annual prize at The Heathland School, his alma mater, recognising outstanding students who demonstrate ingenuity and self-discipline through an extended project.

Professor Tracey received his B.S. in Chemistry (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Boston College in 1979 and his M.D. from Boston University in 1983. He trained in neurosurgery from 1983 to 1992 at the New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center and was a guest investigator at the Rockefeller University for seven years before moving in 1992 to The Feinstein Institutes. An inventor of over 120 United States patents, and author of more than 450 scientific publications, he cofounded the Global Sepsis Alliance, a non-profit organization supporting the efforts of >1 million sepsis caregivers in more than 70 countries. As an entrepreneur, Dr. Tracey is a co-founder of several biotechnology companies, including SetPoint Medical, the industry leader in bioelectronic medicine, developing vagus nerve stimulation technology to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Much of Josh Lerner's research focuses on the structure and role of venture capital and private equity organizations. (This research is collected in three books, The Venture Capital Cycle, The Money of Invention, and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.) He also examines policies towards innovation, and how they impact firm strategies. (The research is discussed in the books Innovation and Its Discontents, The Comingled Code, and the forthcoming Architecture of Innovation.) He co-directs the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Productivity, Research, and Innovation Program and serves as co-editor of their publication, Innovation Policy and the Economy.

He founded and runs the Private Capital Research Institute, a non-profit devoted to encouraging data access to and research about venture capital and private equity. In the 1993-94 academic year, he introduced an elective course for second-year MBAs on private equity finance. In recent years, “Venture Capital and Private Equity” has consistently been one of the largest elective courses at Harvard Business School. (The course materials are collected in Venture Capital and Private Equity: A Casebook, now in its fifth edition, and the textbook Private Equity, Venture Capital, and the Financing of Entrepreneurship.)