Ronald Bartek is Co-founder/President, Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA). He is a Board Member of the Critical Path Institute; Former Director & Chair, National Organization for Rare Disorders; past President and current member of the Board for the Alliance for a Stronger FDA; co-founder and Chair of the Board of the NCATS Alliance; co-founder and chair of the steering committee, Pediatric Inclusion Alliance; former Board Member, Alliance for Regenerative Medicine; Member of the Institute for Gene Therapy Patient Advocacy Advisory Council; 4-year member NIH/NCATS National Advisory Council; former Co-Chair, NCATS Cures Acceleration Network Review Board; and a 4-year member of the NIH Neurological Institute National Advisory Council. 

He is recognized by the FDA Office of Orphan Product Development as one of “30 Heroes Changing Lives of Rare Disease Patients.” He is a former member, FDA/CTTI Patient Engagement Collaborative and former partner/president of the government affairs firm (Mehl, Griffin & Bartek). He has 20 years in federal executive and legislative branch experience in defense, foreign policy, and intelligence, including six years on House Armed Services Committee staff; four years at the U.S. State Department, one year with the U.S. Delegation to Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty negotiations with the Soviet Union in Geneva; and six years as CIA analyst. After graduation from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, he served four years as an Army officer, including a company commander in Korea and an Infantry and Military Intelligence officer in Vietnam. He received an MA/Russian Area Studies from Georgetown University.

Jeremy Abbate is the Vice President & Publisher of Scientific American and all of its related titles. He founded Scientific American’s biotechnology brand extension, Worldview, as well as many other new programs and collaborative ventures in global health, medicine, planetary sustainability, energy, security, the environment and neuroscience.

Abbate appears frequently at conferences and events to facilitate high-level discussions on healthcare, innovative science and technology, policy, and scientific entrepreneurship. He has spearheaded co-branded partnerships with several international organizations and corporate entities, including The Carter Center, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Johnson & Johnson and Google Health.

His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Psychology Today, and other national publications. Abbate penned the forward to the popular medical travel guide, Patients Beyond Borders. As a trained musician, performer and composer, he is passionate about the links between science and the arts.

He lives outside of New York city with his family and mini cockapoo.

Amy Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D., is cofounder of Highlander Health, an investment firm dedicated to advancing evidence generation and personalized healthcare for a new era of medical innovation. As an oncologist, entrepreneur, and leader in clinical research and health data science, Dr. Abernethy is passionate about breaking down barriers between clinical trials and real-world evidence, seeing both as essential parts of a unified ecosystem that delivers safer, more effective treatments to patients faster. Dr. Abernethy is at the forefront of reimagining clinical research, leveraging her lifelong work with longitudinal multimodal clinical data, artificial intelligence, and novel study designs to shift the healthcare industry towards practical integration of clinical research with everyday patient care to truly serve patients. 

Previously, Dr. Abernethy served as principal deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where she led initiatives to modernize clinical evidence generation and advance personalized healthcare, while also serving as the agency's acting chief information officer. This regulatory experience directly informs Highlander Health’s work in responsible AI and building modern evidence infrastructures.

More recently, Dr. Abernethy served as chief medical officer and president of product development at Verily, Alphabet’s precision health business, overseeing efforts to better connect clinical research and care. Prior to that, she was the first chief medical officer and chief scientific officer at Flatiron Health, and held key academic roles at Duke University, including; professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, director of the Center for Learning Health Care at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, and, director of the Duke Cancer Care Research Program at the Duke Cancer Institute. Trained as a hematologist/oncologist and palliative medicine physician, Dr. Abernethy is also an active scholar with more than 500

Gil Bashe is Chair Global Health & Purpose at FINN Partners and an advocate for placing people at the center of health care. Across decades in communications, policy, innovation and advocacy, he has championed a core belief: better health begins by listening to patients, understanding their lived experience and designing systems around human need.

His commitment to patient-centered leadership includes service with the American Heart Association, Marfan Foundation, American Diabetes Association and Let’s Win Pancreatic Cancer, supporting communities navigating illness. These experiences have reinforced his belief that communication is not simply part of health care. Communication is care.
 
Bashe is the author of Healing the Sick Care System: Why People Matter, a bestseller exploring how health care can better connect science, innovation and human understanding to improve lives. The book highlights the power of prevention, communication, access, empathy and partnership to create a more connected and responsive health experience. At its heart is a simple belief: when people come first, health care works better.

A former elite-unit combat medic and father of a child living with a rare disease, Bashe brings personal experience and empathy to health leadership, connecting innovation with the lived experiences of patients and families.

As the Head of Patient Engagement, Michaela Dinboeck leads the Novartis global PE strategy and systematic implementation across the enterprise portfolio. Starting at early development stage, through to regulatory and value dossier submissions, patient input and Patient Experience Data (PED) inform key decisions. The team establishes long-term, strategic partnerships with the patient community and develops robust methods for Patient Experience Data (PED) generation. Clinical Representativeness (CR) ensures patients included in clinical trials represent the population new medicines are intended for. PE Governance, Capability building and Impact Measurement form the basis for this structured approach. Michaela’s vision is to make Patient Focused Drug Development a reality by systematically embedding the patient experience in decision making along the lifecycle of medicines.

Prior to her current role, Michaela held Commercial and General Management positions for over 20 years within the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Industry at country, regional and global level. In her roles she worked across multiple disease areas in established and emerging health care systems. Michaela has lectured Business at Universities in Bolivia and Malaysia. In addition to her role as Head of Patient Engagement, she serves on the Board of the German Novartis affiliate, the Nomination Committee of the National Health Council (US) and on the Board of Patient Focused Medicines Development (PFMD). In the recently published book on Patient Involvement in Health Technology Assessment | Springer Nature Michaela co-authored the chapter on patient involvement in industry.

David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, is co-Founder & President of Every Cure and one of the youngest faculty members ever to receive tenure at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

A physician-scientist and patient battling a deadly disease, he discovered and repurposed a treatment that saved his own life—a story he chronicled in his national bestselling memoir, Chasing My Cure, which is being adapted into a film by Forrest Gump producer Wendy Finerman. Dr. Fajgenbaum has since advanced 13 more repurposed treatments for cancers and rare diseases and co-founded Every Cure to unlock more hidden cures from existing medicines. Every Cure has received over $100M from ARPA-H and TED’s Audacious Project. He has been profiled by The New York Times, Good Morning America, TODAY, and Forbes 30 Under 30 and honored with awards including the Atlas Award alongside then-Vice President Joe Biden, Philadelphia Citizen of the Year Award, and named to the 2025 TIME100 Health list of the world’s most influential people in health.

Dr. Fajgenbaum earned a BS from Georgetown University, MSc from the University of Oxford, MD from the University of Pennsylvania, and MBA from Wharton.

In her 25 years of leadership at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), Julie Fleshman has been a global catalyst for change in the fight against pancreatic cancer. Her commitment began after she lost her dad to the disease, just four months after his diagnosis at the age of 52. Fleshman wanted to know why more wasn’t being done – why her dad and thousands of other patients were offered no treatment options and sent home to die.

The pancreatic cancer landscape back then was quite dismal when her dad was diagnosed. Very little was known about the disease, only a handful of researchers were studying it and the five-year survival rate was just 4%.

In 1999, Fleshman was hired as PanCAN’s first employee, became its first Executive Director in 2000 and in 2004, became President and CEO.

Under her leadership, PanCAN has grown from a staff of one with annual revenues of $228,000 to an employee team of over 130, raising more than $37 million annually.

During Fleshman’s tenure, advocacy and grassroots efforts have expanded to nearly 60 affiliates nationwide and yielded a 1185% increase in federal funding for pancreatic cancer research, and the organization has invested over $249 million in research to date.

Fleshman encourages collaboration and convening leading experts and stakeholders in the field – researchers, healthcare professionals, industry and key opinion leaders, patients, volunteers and supporters. This provides the opportunity to build a continually expanding community across the country who are focused on accelerating progress for patients.

Kathy Giusti is a three-time cancer survivor, business leader, and healthcare disrupter. Named as one of Timemagazine's 100 Most Influential People and FortuneMagazine’s World's 50 Greatest Leaders, Giusti is recognized as a pioneer in precision medicine. Most recently, she is the author of Fatal to Fearless: 12 Steps to Beating Cancer in a Broken Medical System published by Harper Collins.

Kathy founded the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) in 1998 and led the organization for decades driving the development of innovative models in tissue banking, genomics, big data, clinical trials, and venture philanthropy. Today, myeloma is on the path to a cure. Kathy serves on the Board of Directors.

Kathy also co-chaired the Harvard Business School (HBS) Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator which she helped found as a senior fellow at HBS. The Accelerator, funded by Robert Kraft, brought together best-in-class leaders from the entire healthcare ecosystem to share best practices in driving toward cures.

Giusti has worked under three U.S. presidents to fight and cure cancer including the National Cancer Advisory Board under President Bush, the Obama Precision Medicine Initiative and the Biden Moonshot. She has been featured in nearly every press outlet including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Good Morning America, CNN, and Bloomberg.

Leslie Eden Harris has been with L’Oréal for 20 years. She currently serves as the Chief Strategy Officer for the Medical Aesthetics Incubator Center within L’Oréal’s Research & Innovation. This group focuses on scouting and launching aesthetic beauty innovations for the company’s physician-dispensed brands. Previously, she held the Chief Strategy Officer position for Advanced Research within L'Oréal's Research & Innovation. She also served as Global General Manager of SkinCeuticals, the #1 medical aesthetic skincare brand worldwide. Prior to SkinCeuticals, Leslie held key marketing and innovation roles at Kiehl's and Garnier.

Her education includes a B.A. in Economics from Wellesley College, an M.A. in Fashion History and Theory from the London College of Fashion, and an M.P.S. in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Beyond her professional life, Leslie is a passionate beauty historian, regularly lecturing and contributing to academic and medical publications.  She also actively volunteers in dog rescue, supporting organizations that care for senior, hospice, and special-needs dogs.

Daphne Koller is CEO and Founder of insitro, a causal AI therapeutics company focused on discovering and advancing novel, transformative medicines.

Daphne was the Rajeev Motwani Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where she served on the faculty for 18 years. She was also the co-CEO and President of Coursera, an online education platform that touched over 150M learners, and the Chief Computing Officer of Calico Labs.

She is the author of over 300 refereed publications with an h-index of over 150. Daphne was recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2012 and 100 most influential people in AI in 2024.

She received the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2004, the ACM Prize in Computing in 2008, the ACM AAAI Allen Newell Award in 2019, and the AnitaB.org Technical Leadership Abie Award Winner in 2022.

Daphne was inducted into the National Academy of Science in 2023, into the National Academy of Engineering in 2011 and elected a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence in 2004, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014, and the International Society of Computational Biology in 2017.

Cheryl Lubbert is a visionary leader and driver of transformation in the healthcare and biopharmaceutical industries. With over 30 years of executive leadership experience at industry giants such as Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Immunex, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, she has consistently spearheaded innovative strategies that reshape market dynamics.

At Abbott, Cheryl led the Immunology Division, advancing key therapies including HUMIRA into important new therapeutic areas. Earlier, at Immunex and Amgen, she played an instrumental role in the commercialization of ENBREL, helping introduce biologic therapies to dermatology and rheumatology at a time when biologics were largely unfamiliar within those specialties. She developed strategies to educate physicians, patients, and other healthcare stakeholders about the value of biologic medicines, helping establish the foundation for their adoption across broader patient populations. Cheryl also successfully navigated complex product supply constraints while supporting the introduction of biologics for rare conditions, contributing to the transformation of biologic therapies from emerging innovations into a new standard of care.

Her breadth of experience in pharma has cultivated a unique perspective—one that is deeply embedded in the Reverba Global approach and technology platforms for patient and scientific engagement. By blending cutting-edge, tech-enabled solutions with real-world insights from patients, physicians, and payors, Cheryl ensures that Reverba Global strategies anticipate the evolving needs of the global healthcare ecosystem.

A graduate of Ecole Normale Supérieure with a PhD in Biochemistry from Université Paris V, Dr. Magali Moreau has dedicated 25 years to translating scientific discovery into impact. Her interdisciplinary journey includes nearly a decade at Cornell University focusing on plant-pathogen interaction, followed by 12 years at L’Oréal specialized in skin health. A pioneer in microbiome research, Dr. Moreau dedicated ten years to this frontier at L'Oréal. During her leadership, she successfully integrated cutting-edge technologies into skincare products—notably for atopic skin with La Roche-Posay—and pioneered the integration of probiotics into the L’Oréal research portfolio.

With expertise in biology, innate immunity, and microbiology, Dr. Moreau has authored numerous publications and established extensive academic collaborations. As AVP of Scientific Direction for North America and Brazil, she now shapes the vision for how scientific breakthroughs inform the next era of beauty and health. She is committed to exploring integrative strategies, including the synergy between topicals and nutritional supplements, to extend skin health and vitality across every life stage.

Julie Russak, MD, FAAD, is a board-certified dermatologist, the founder of Russak Dermatology Clinic and Russak+ Aesthetic Center in New York City, and Assistant Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital. She is best known for her work on the epigenetic and metabolic drivers of skin and hair aging -- specifically, how biological age, hormonal state, and mitochondrial function govern the dermal and follicular environment.

She is a key investigator in a longevity research collaboration with L'Oréal Research and Innovation and serves on L'Oréal's GLP-1 advisory board. At Russak Dermatology Clinic she developed the Regenerative Aesthetics Program, which since 2022 has integrated epigenetic and functional testing -- DNA methylation age clocks, proteomic signatures, hormonal and micronutrient panels -- into treatment planning, sequencing intervention by biological rather than chronological age.

Her recent work examines periods of rapid biological transition, including GLP-1 therapy and the hormonal shifts of perimenopause, and how the resulting changes in metabolism and body composition register in epigenetic markers of aging and in skin integrity, facial structure, and hair density. She presents this work internationally as Epigenetic-Guided Regenerative Aesthetics. Her thesis is that most visible skin and hair aging is metabolic and epigenetic in origin, and that treating the cause recovers more than treating the surface.

Dr. Kate Sasser, PhD, is Chief Scientific Officer at Tempus AI, where she leads scientific and technical teams to deliver precision medicine for patients, physicians, and drug developers. With more than 25 years of experience across academia, biopharma, and healthcare technology, she has led global, cross-functional teams in translational research, precision medicine, diagnostics, clinical development, and health technology. Her focus has always been on leveraging science and the power of great teams to solve healthcare's biggest challenges.

Prior to Tempus, Dr. Sasser held senior R&D and scientific leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine and Genmab. She's built and scaled scientific and technical organizations supporting drug discovery through all stages of discovery, clinical development and approval. In the last 20 years, she's been lucky enough to have contributed to numerous drug approvals, including blockbusters like Imbruvica, Darzalex, Rybrevant, and Epcoritamab. She is also an accomplished scientific author and inventor, with numerous publications, patents, and industry recognition. She received her BS from Oregon State University, and a PhD from Ohio State University.

Sheri Strahl, MPH, MBA, is President and CEO of the ALS Network, one of the largest ALS patient advocacy organizations in the nation. She brings more than two decades of nonprofit leadership experience and is a leading voice in advancing integrated models that connect care, research, and advocacy.

At the ALS Network, Sheri leads efforts to support more than 4,000 people living with ALS each year while driving a global research portfolio and a robust advocacy platform. Her work focuses on strengthening the connection between patient experience, clinical care, and scientific discovery to accelerate the development of new therapies and improve health outcomes.

Sheri is particularly focused on advancing patient-centered innovation at scale, including building community-driven approaches that more directly connect patients, clinicians, and researchers. With a background in public health and business, she brings a systems-level perspective to shaping the next generation of more integrated, patient-centered models of care and research.

Janet Woodcock recently completed a long career at FDA. She served as Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for over twenty years in several stretches. Most recently she served as Principal Deputy Commissioner and prior to that as Acting FDA Commissioner. She held multiple other senior positions at FDA including at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. She was the therapeutics lead for “Operation Warp Speed” during the COVID pandemic. Her most recent effort was spearheading a major reorganization of FDA’s foods program and the Office of Regulatory Affairs. Dr. Woodcock completed many major regulatory initiatives during her FDA tenure. She was instrumental in getting the biosimilars legislation enacted and worked to ensure adoption in the clinical community.

Additionally, she worked with industry and Congress to bring about the first GDUFA. After passage of the legislation, she oversaw an extensive reorganization of the generic drug review program at CDER, that successfully met the aggressive targets of the legislation and led to eventual reauthorizing, with elimination of backlogs and approval of thousands of generic drugs.

 

Kenneth C. Frazier is the former Chairman and CEO of Merck, following his retirement from more than 30 years with the company, including a decade-long tenure as CEO. Currently, he is chairman of Health Assurance initiatives at the venture capital firm General Catalyst where he advises on investments and partnerships for companies that are well-positioned to help transform the healthcare industry through collaborative and responsible innovation.

Upon his retirement from Merck, Ken has committed himself to organizations dedicated to leading social change and building greater equity for all people. He is the co-founder and co-chair of OneTen, a coalition of leading organizations committed to upskilling, hiring, and promoting people without four-year degrees into family-sustaining jobs.

Ken’s contributions, especially in the legal, business, and humanitarian fields, have been widely recognized. Under his leadership, Merck delivered innovative life-saving medicines and vaccines as well as long-term and sustainable value to its multiple stakeholders. Ken substantially increased Merck’s investment in research, including early research, while refocusing the organization on the launch and growth of key products that provide far-reaching benefits to society. He also led the formation of philanthropic and humanitarian initiatives that built on Merck’s 130-year legacy.

Ken joined Merck in 1992 and held positions of increasing responsibility, including General Counsel, before becoming President and CEO in 2011. Prior to joining Merck, Ken was a Partner with the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath.

Ken serves on the boards of Eikon Therapeutics, Paradigm, and Transcarent, as well as a number of non-profit boards, including Cornerstone Christian Academy in Philadelphia, PA, the Harvard Corporation, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the National Constitution Center. He also is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Bar Association, the American Philosophical Society, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia of which he is a Fellow, the Council of the American Law Institute, and the Legal Services Corporation’s Leaders Council, of which he is co-chair. Ken also serves on the ABA Task Force on American Democracy.

As a strong advocate for social justice and economic inclusion, Ken is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Anti-Defamation League Courage Against Hate Award, the Botwinick Prize in Business Ethics from Columbia Business School, the Legend in Leadership Award from the Yale School of Management, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund National Equal Justice Award, and the National Minority Quality Forum’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2018, Ken received the Harvard Law School Association Award, the highest honor given by the prestigious association, in recognition of his extraordinary service to the legal profession, Harvard Law School, and the public. In that same year, Ken was named one of the World’s Greatest Leaders by Fortune magazine and was also named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People; he again was celebrated by TIME on that list in 2021. In 2019, he became the first recipient of the Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award for Healthcare. In 2021, his peers named Ken Chief Executive magazine’s CEO of the Year. In 2022, he received the highly esteemed Fordham-Stein Prize from Fordham Law School, an honor bestowed for work embodying the highest standards of the legal profession, and in 2023, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Lawyer magazine. Most recently, Ken received the John Minor Wisdom Award from the American Law Institute which is given from time to time for outstanding achievement in the area of civil rights and related fields following in the example of Judge Wisdom.

Ken received his bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Jan Geissler is Founder and CEO of Patvocates, a social consultancy and think-and-do tank in patient engagement across all indications, and Founder and Managing Director of the European Patient Advocacy Institute (EPAI). He is the former Director of the European Patients’ Academy on Therapeutic Innovation (EUPATI).

Being a leukaemia patient since 2001, Jan has been a leading patient advocate and social entrepreneur for more than two decades. He is co-founder and Chair of the Acute Leukaemia Advocates Network, Co-Founder and Steering Committee Member of the CML Advocates Network, Founder and Chair of LeukaNET e.V., Founder and Former Trustee of the Leukaemia Patient Advocates Foundation, and Board Member and Past Chair of WECAN, the Workgroup of European Cancer Patient Advocacy Networks.

Jan represents patients on various advisory boards and committees, including those of the European Cancer Organisation (ECO), the European Haematology Association (EHA) and the German National Decade Against Cancer (NDK).

In 2026, he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his remarkable work in patient engagement.

Yentli Soto Albrecht, PhD, is an MD-PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania and a C9orf72 repeat expansion carrier, the most common genetic cause of both ALS and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Her father, Frank Albrecht, was diagnosed with C9 ALS in June 2023 and died fourteen months later; she learned she carried the same mutation months before he died. She considers herself a patient: a presymptomatic carrier with pathology in her blood and tissues, no disease yet, and no prevention trial to join despite her approximate 95% chance of developing ALS or FTD in the next 30 years.

Six months after her father's death she redirected her career to C9orf72 disease and has since built a dozen international collaborative research projects, spanning biomarkers, therapeutics, and the first commercial C9orf72 stem cell biorepository, which begins with her father's cells and her own and returns a share of proceeds to the carrier community via End the Legacy, where she serves as community science liaison.

She co-founded the CureC9 Program within EverythingALS, governed by an independent scientific advisory board that is planning the first prevention trial for genetic ALS and FTD. She has raised more than $280,000 for cure research and secured a similar amount in grants for her collaborators including a Longitude Prize on ALS Discovery Award.

She brings the science back to patients through her video series Search for a Self Cure. This year, she shared her story on both the Breakthrough Prize and Nobel Laureate Meeting stages, growing awareness for familial ALS and FTD. Yentli draws on her position as patient, scientist, and physician-in-training to accelerate therapies for ALS and FTD within her lifetime—hopefully in time to save herself, her family, and her patients.

Michael P. Boyle, MD, is president and chief executive officer of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Dr. Boyle served as the Foundation’s senior vice president of therapeutics development from 2015 to 2019. In that role, he led the Foundation’s clinical research, overseeing the development of new treatments and providing strategic leadership to the CF Foundation’s Therapeutics Development Network, a nationwide group of academic research centers that partners with patients and families to advance new CF therapeutics.

Dr. Boyle is internationally recognized for his clinical research and contributions to improving care for adults with cystic fibrosis. He served as an investigator in the clinical study of Kalydeco®, the first treatment to address the underlying cause of CF, and as lead investigator of the first combination therapy that led to Orkambi®.

Dr. Boyle completed his medical training and fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins before joining the faculty in 1999. He founded the Johns Hopkins Adult CF Program, one of the largest in the United States, and directed the center for nearly two decades. Today, he serves as an adjunct professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins and continues to see patients. 

Tara Frenkl is a clinician, scientist and pharmaceutical leader dedicated to translating scientific innovation into better outcomes for patients. Today she leads the Global Medical & Evidence organization at Bayer. , and hHer experience spans clinical practice, drug development, medical affairs and global pharmaceutical leadership, uniquely equipping her to examine how emerging sources of evidence can advance innovation responsibly.

With broad therapeutic experience, Tara is known for leading and building high-performance drug development teams in complex, global, and multi-disciplinary organizations, and she has had repeated success designing and executing creative yet practical strategies leading to drug approvals globally across different therapeutic areas. 

Across her career Tara has built partnerships among industry, academia, healthcare systems and patient communities, with a consistent focus on connecting medical innovation to public health impact. She has also worked with the WHOWorld Health Organization to expand access to life-saving treatments for postpartum hemorrhage in resource-limited settings, underscoring her commitment to ensuring that advances in medicine reach the patients and communities that need them most.

As an industry representative to the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC), Tara brings firsthand insight into the rigor and judgment required in regulatory decision-making. Combined with her work as a pharmacist, surgeon and drug developer, she offers a unique, multifaceted perspective on how AI-enabled insights and real-world evidence can complement established evidence standards, help regulators assess rapidly evolving science and support more efficient pathways to patients.

Her work underscores that realizing the promise of AI and real-world evidence will depend not only on technology and data, but also on trusted collaboration, meaningful patient input and shared accountability across the health ecosystem.