Northwell Health’s Constellation Forum 2026 Unites Global Leaders to Accelerate Innovation in Women’s Health

Leaders from Anthropic, Google, WHOOP, National Institutes of Health and U.S. House of Representatives joined scientists, clinicians, investors and policymakers in New York City for a two-day summit dedicated to transforming women’s health care

NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Northwell Health’s Constellation Forum 2026 concluded last week, bringing together a powerful coalition of health care leaders, researchers, investors, policymakers and innovators for a two-day summit in New York City focused exclusively on women’s health. The event, part of the Raise Health Thought Leadership series hosted by Northwell Health, examined where women’s health stands today and charted a bold course forward.

Hosted by John D’Angelo, MD, Northwell’s president and CEO, the forum opened with a welcome reception on October 21 with the main program on October 22. “For far too long, women’s health has been underinvested and underrepresented in health care. We have both an opportunity and a responsibility to change that,” said Dr. D’Angelo. “By bringing together leaders across health care, science, policy and innovation, we can turn promising ideas into meaningful progress. I’m incredibly optimistic about what we can accomplish together and the difference we can make for women and families for generations to come.”

The Forum’s opening session set a powerful tone, examining how women’s health has historically been approached, where meaningful gaps remain and how emerging technologies, data insights and innovative care models are shifting the status quo. The panel – featuring Esther Krofah, executive vice president, health, Milken Institute and Carolyn M. Mazure, PhD, founding director, women’s health research, Yale School of Medicine; former chair, White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research – was moderated by Stacey E. Rosen, MD, senior vice president of Northwell’s Katz Institute for Women’s Health and immediate past president of the American Heart Association, a physician who has spent her career championing women’s health equity.

“Historically, women’s health has been treated as a niche – an afterthought in research, in the physician’s office, in policy,” said Dr. Rosen. “What we saw at this Forum was a community that is done accepting that reality. The science, the technology and the new models of health care delivery are converging at this moment. We have an opportunity to reimagine what women’s health looks like for Northwell and beyond.”

During a special dialogue, Anthropic’s Anne Stake, who is part of the AI company’s Beneficial Deployments team focused on Global Health, joined this year’s Forum for a session titled “Where AI and Women's Health Intersect.” Moderated by Chethan Sathya, MD, VP of Strategy at Northwell, the conversation explored how this emerging technology may shape the future of women's health, along with the company’s focus on deploying its technology in meaningful ways to benefit systems, communities and people.

To help close out the day, in one of the Forum’s most moving moments, Northwell patient Fatimah Shepherd shared how her care team’s coordination across nephrology, maternal-fetal medicine and cardiology helped her defy grim odds – delivering a healthy baby and later receiving a life-saving kidney transplant, despite living with lupus and kidney failure.

Ms. Shepherd was hospitalized for nearly five months under close specialist supervision after pregnancy complications threatened her life and her unborn child. On July 5, 2024, she delivered a healthy son, Oakari, via emergency C-section; he never needed the neonatal intensive care. Months later, when she developed postpartum cardiomyopathy, the same integrated care model caught it early; she recovered fully and went on to receive a successful kidney transplant.

Ms. Shepherd’s story illustrates how coordinated, specialist-driven care can transform outcomes for high-risk patients, particularly Black women, who face maternal mortality rates three times higher than white women. Her journey stands as a model for how collaborative medicine can close gaps in women's health and save lives.

Additional speakers from the Forum included:

• Sandra E. Brooks, MD, CEO, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
• Emily Capodilupo, Senior Vice President, Research, Algorithms, and Data, WHOOP
• Janine Austin Clayton, MD, Associate Director for Research on Women’s Health, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Bertha Coombs, Former Senior Health Care Reporter, CNBC
• Ken Gustavsen, Managing Director, Merck Impact Venture Fund
• Karen Ignagni, President and CEO, EmblemHealth
• Arjun Kaushik, Chief Executive Officer, VitalTrace
• Esther Krofah, Executive Vice President, Milken Institute Health
• Holly Maloney, Managing Director, Head of Health Assurance, General Catalyst
• Shweta Maniar, Global Director, Life Sciences Solutions and Strategy, Google Cloud
• Carolyn M. Mazure, PhD, Founding Director, Women’s Health Research, Yale School of Medicine; Former Chair, White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research
• Katie Hunt-Morr, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President, Impact Platforms, ICONIQ Impact
• Lauren Underwood, U.S. Representative, Illinois’s 14th Congressional District; Co-Chair, House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee

Northwell Health, through its Katz Institute for Women's Health, is dedicated to improving the health of women across their lifespan, bridging the gap between wellness and personalized care delivery. The health system provides a complete health care connection and defines the standards of excellence in patient-centered women’s health care. Northwell continues to be a leader and trusted partner for all women. This spans a wide range of efforts: supporting sex- and gender-specific research, providing coordinated clinical care, and addressing solutions that tackle maternal morbidity, particularly Black maternal health, as well as fertility, midlife and menopause care, and other conditions. Efforts also include a strong commitment to education and prevention.

For more information about the program and its speakers and to register your attendance, please visit: www.constellationforum.com.

About Northwell Health

Northwell is the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast, serving residents of New York and Connecticut with 28 hospitals, more than 1,000 outpatient facilities, 22,000 nurses and over 20,000 physicians. Northwell cares for more than three million people annually in the New York metro area, including Long Island, the Hudson Valley, western Connecticut and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Northwell is New York State’s largest private employer with over 108,000 employees – including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners and Nuvance Health Medical Practices – who are working to change health care for the better. Northwell, named a TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2025, is making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Northwell is training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.