John Duffield

Helping Health and Hospitality Brands,United States

Title: AI as a Lifeline: How I lived the future of the patient experience

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Biography

John Duffield is a two-time open-heart surgery survivor, dynamic speaker, and health futurist at Omnicom Health. As an entrepreneur at the intersection of technology and human insight, he is helping to shape the future of healthcare. A trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies—including Novartis, Hilton, and Boeing—John brings together artificial intelligence, creativity, and immersive experiences to drive meaningful transformation across the industry.

During his own high-stakes medical journey, John leveraged AI to decode complex health data, coordinate care across providers, and empower his family with actionable insights. In a particularly moving example, he created Taylor Swift–inspired songs to help his young daughter, a devoted Swiftie, understand his condition—turning a daunting experience into a shared moment of connection and clarity.

John’s story is a powerful testament to the role AI can play in personalizing and humanizing the patient experience. With lived experience and professional expertise, he is a compelling voice for the future of health innovation.

Abstract

What if artificial intelligence didn’t just predict the future of healthcare—but helped you survive it? In this powerful keynote, John Duffield—a 2x open-heart surgery survivor—shares how AI became a lifeline across every stage of his health journey: before, during, and after multiple surgeries. From simplifying complex diagnoses and generating questions for top surgeons to simulating expert advice and crafting a personalized recovery plan, AI played an active role in his survival. Blending heart and technology, his story is a call to action for healthcare leaders, technologists, and caregivers to rethink how empathy, data, and design can radically transform outcomes. John is living proof that AI isn’t the future of the patient experience—it’s already here.