San Francisco and Bay Area Biotech Conferences 2027

San Francisco and Bay Area Biotech Conferences 2027

The San Francisco Bay Area hosts one of the densest life science calendars in the world. The year opens with JPM week, but the rest of 2027 is just as useful for teams selling into oncology, diagnostics and translational research: specialty ASCO cancer symposia at Moscone West, a precision medicine meeting in Santa Clara, biomedical optics in January, AI and synthetic biology in San Jose, and large medical society meetings through to October.

This guide lists the main medical, oncology, genomics, tools and digital health conferences in San Francisco, South San Francisco, the Peninsula, Oakland and San Jose for 2027. Every date was checked on the organizer’s official website or the venue’s official listing on 9 November 2026. Where an organizer has not yet published 2027 details, we say so rather than guess.

Key takeaways

• January is the Bay Area’s busiest month: JPM week (11–14 January), ASCO GI (21–23 January), PMWC in Santa Clara (27–29 January) and SPIE Photonics West (30 January – 4 February) all run within four weeks.
• Oncology teams have two ASCO specialty symposia at Moscone West: Gastrointestinal Cancers in January and Genitourinary Cancers in February.
• For tools, data and AI vendors, the AACR Data Science and AI in Oncology Conference (March), NVIDIA GTC (March, San Jose) and SynBioBeta (May, San Jose) are the most relevant non-clinical meetings.
• Large medical and medtech meetings fill the rest of the year: AAD in March, Heart Rhythm in May, ISSCR in June, and The MedTech Conference and TCT in October.
• San Diego is a short flight away. ImmunoMark Summit San Diego (10–11 February 2027) focuses on immuno-oncology, biomarkers and companion diagnostics.

Bay Area biotech and medical conference calendar 2027

The table below lists confirmed 2027 events in date order. “Who it suits” reflects the typical audience, not an official classification.

JPM week in San Francisco, January 2027

The 45th J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference runs 11–14 January 2027. The main conference is invitation only, so most of the week’s business happens in the meetings around it. Biotech Showcase (11–13 January), BIO Partnering @JPM Week (11–14 January) and RESI JPM (11–12 January, followed by online partnering) all run in San Francisco during the same days, alongside hundreds of company-hosted receptions and hotel suite meetings.

JPM week is mainly about capital and partnering. For a full planning guide, including how to set objectives, book meetings and follow up, see our JPM Healthcare Conference guide. ImmunoMark Summit San Diego follows about four weeks later, which gives teams time to turn January conversations into scientific and commercial follow-up meetings.

Oncology conferences in San Francisco

ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (21–23 January)

Held in person and online at Moscone West, ASCO GI brings together medical, surgical and radiation oncologists with researchers working on GI cancers. It suits teams with assets or assays in colorectal, gastric, pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancers.

ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (11–13 February)

ASCO GU returns to Moscone West, covering prostate, bladder, kidney and other GU cancers. Its exhibit hall opens on the first two days. Diagnostics and imaging companies often find a focused audience here, given the role of molecular imaging, genomic testing and biomarker-guided therapy in prostate and urothelial cancer.

AACR Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Oncology (4–7 March)

This AACR special conference focuses on how data science and AI are applied in cancer research. It is smaller than the AACR Annual Meeting, which is in Orlando in April 2027, and suits computational biology, digital pathology and data platform companies that want detailed scientific discussion rather than a large exhibit hall.

Genomics, precision medicine and tools events

Precision Medicine World Conference (27–29 January, Santa Clara)

PMWC is held at the Santa Clara Convention Center and is co-hosted by Stanford, UCSF and Yale. It covers clinical genomics, diagnostics, data and digital health, and draws a mix of academic clinicians, health systems and industry. For diagnostics and precision medicine companies, it is one of the most directly relevant Bay Area meetings.

SPIE Photonics West and BiOS (30 January – 4 February)

Photonics West is a large optics and photonics event. Its BiOS program and BiOS Expo (30–31 January) cover biomedical optics, which matters for companies building imaging, spatial biology and microscopy instruments. The main exhibition runs 2–4 February.

SNMMI Mid-Winter Meeting (4–6 February)

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging holds its Mid-Winter Meeting in San Francisco in 2027. It is a smaller meeting than the SNMMI Annual Meeting, which is in Washington, DC in June 2027, and is relevant to radiopharmaceutical and theranostics teams.

ISSCR 2027 Annual Meeting (15–18 June)

The International Society for Stem Cell Research meets at Moscone West. It suits reagent, instrument and cell therapy tools suppliers.

AI, synthetic biology and digital health in San Jose

San Jose and Silicon Valley bring a technology audience that overlaps more and more with drug discovery and diagnostics.

• NVIDIA GTC (15–18 March): an AI and accelerated computing conference that includes healthcare and life sciences content. Useful for AI drug discovery, imaging analysis and digital health companies looking for technical partners.
• SynBioBeta (3–6 May): a synthetic biology and AI in biology conference attended by founders, biopharma leaders and investors. It suits tools, biomanufacturing and platform companies.

Neither is a clinical oncology meeting, so plan them around technology partnerships rather than clinician reach.

Medical society and medtech meetings later in 2027

San Francisco also hosts several large medical meetings that are less about oncology but matter for medtech and diagnostics companies with broader portfolios:

• AAD Annual Meeting (19–23 March): the American Academy of Dermatology’s annual meeting.
• Heart Rhythm 2027 (13–16 May): the Heart Rhythm Society’s meeting at the Moscone Center, with online access.
• The MedTech Conference (3–6 October): AdvaMed’s annual medical technology industry event.
• TCT 2027 (18–21 October): the CardioVascular Research Foundation’s interventional cardiology meeting at the Moscone Center.

Where Bay Area biotech conferences are held

Most large meetings use the Moscone Center complex in the South of Market district, including Moscone West for the ASCO symposia and ISSCR. Investor and partnering events during JPM week use hotels around Union Square, such as the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

The companies themselves are more spread out. South San Francisco, just south of the city and close to San Francisco International Airport, has a large concentration of biotech companies and is a practical base for customer visits. The Peninsula and Silicon Valley, including Palo Alto, Redwood City and Santa Clara, add academic medicine, diagnostics and technology companies, while the East Bay around Oakland, Emeryville and Berkeley hosts research institutions and a growing number of startups. Plan customer visits by area rather than criss-crossing the region.

Combining a Bay Area trip with San Diego

San Francisco and San Diego are a short flight apart, with frequent daily connections from SFO, Oakland and San Jose. Many West Coast teams build a single January to February plan that covers JPM week and the January Bay Area meetings, then moves south for San Diego’s oncology and biomarker events.

Our San Diego biotech events guide lists the city’s 2027 calendar, and the Los Angeles and Orange County conference guide covers Southern California. For a full year view across regions, see the oncology conferences calendar.

How to choose which Bay Area events to attend or exhibit at

With so many meetings in one region, the question is less “which events exist” and more “which ones reach the people who buy from you”. A few practical tests help:

• Match the audience to your buyer. Investor weeks reach executives and BD teams. ASCO symposia reach clinicians and medical affairs. Tools and data meetings reach scientists and technical leads. Pick the event whose attendees sign off on your product.
• Check the meeting format. Large exhibit halls favor brand visibility. Smaller meetings with scheduled one-to-one meetings favor qualified conversations.
• Look at the timing in your sales cycle. January meetings set up the year. Later meetings are better for converting conversations that are already moving.
• Estimate the return before you commit. Work out how many qualified meetings you need to justify the cost of exhibiting, staff time and travel.

Our guide on how to choose biotech conferences to sponsor sets out a fuller scoring method.

For sponsors and exhibitors: ImmunoMark Summit San Diego, 10–11 February 2027

If your buyers sit in immuno-oncology, translational research, biomarkers or companion diagnostics, ImmunoMark Summit San Diego (West Coast Edition) is designed around that audience. The launch edition runs 10–11 February 2027 for 300+ attendees, with two parallel streams: Next-Gen Immuno-Oncology, and Biomarkers & Companion Diagnostics.

Sponsors and exhibitors meet delegates in pre-scheduled 20-minute 1:1 meetings, with the delegate list shared about 10 days before the event and a wishlist feature to request the people you most want to meet. Day 1 closes with a drinks reception. At the London 2026 edition, sponsors held 15–25 meetings each, and 70% of attendees were senior decision-makers.

• Based in the Bay Area? See why Bay Area diagnostics and tools companies sponsor the San Diego edition.
• See packages from Headline to Exhibitor and Exclusive 1:1 meetings on the San Diego sponsorship page.
• Read about the oncology biomarker conference in California and the companion diagnostics conference in San Diego.
• Estimate your return with the sponsorship ROI calculator, or read the case studies.

FAQs

What are the main biotech conferences in San Francisco in 2027?

Key 2027 events include JPM week and its partnering meetings (11–14 January), the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (21–23 January), SPIE Photonics West (30 January to 4 February), the ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (11–13 February), the AACR Data Science and AI in Oncology Conference (4–7 March) and ISSCR 2027 (15–18 June).

When is JPM week 2027?

The 45th J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference runs 11–14 January 2027 in San Francisco. Biotech Showcase, BIO Partnering @JPM Week and RESI JPM run during the same days.

Which medical conferences are in San Francisco in 2027?

Large medical meetings in San Francisco in 2027 include the ASCO GI and GU Cancers Symposia, the SNMMI Mid-Winter Meeting, the AAD Annual Meeting, Heart Rhythm 2027, AdvaMed’s The MedTech Conference and TCT 2027.

Are there precision medicine or diagnostics conferences in the Bay Area?

Yes. The Precision Medicine World Conference runs 27–29 January 2027 at the Santa Clara Convention Center and covers clinical genomics, diagnostics and health data.

How far is San Diego from San Francisco for conference travel?

San Diego is a short flight from SFO, Oakland or San Jose, with frequent daily connections, so many teams combine Bay Area and San Diego events in one West Coast plan.

Which West Coast conference focuses on immuno-oncology and companion diagnostics?

ImmunoMark Summit San Diego, 10–11 February 2027, runs two streams: Next-Gen Immuno-Oncology, and Biomarkers and Companion Diagnostics, with pre-scheduled 20-minute 1:1 meetings for sponsors.