The Eleventh International Symposium on Mass Spectrometry in the Health and Life Sciences will be held on August 17-21, 2014 in San Francisco. The International Symposium on Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics is one of the preeminent forums for the discussion of mass spectrometry instrumentation, techniques, and analytical tools and their impact on the life sciences. Recent meetings have have been designed to describe and emphasize how new methods and technologies in mass spectrometry have expanded our current knowledge of the machinery of cells and their epigenetic regulation by covalent modulation. They have also been a forum for the discussion of successes, as well as the challenges and needs facing proteomics and systems biology in the context of human health and disease. The program generally consists of 30 invited plenary and keynote lectures in a single session format together with posters submitted by participants. The topics for the oral sessions are chosen to explore developments in sample preparation and mass spectrometric, computer and automation technologies that are revolutionizing strategies for characterization of macromolecules, their molecular transformations, and their biologically significant interactions. Discussions of these methodological advances are juxtaposed with presentations from biological perspectives that describe their utility in solving challenging problems in protein biology and proteomics. These themes focus attention on the articulation of urgent needs and unsolved problems, as well as on potential strategies for dealing with the emerging global opportunities in proteomics through exploitation of genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics. The intent of the program is to integrate the perspectives of mass spectrometry with the needs of the biomedical and clinical sciences.