This one-day virtual public event explored the challenges, emerging solutions, and research opportunities around how the U.S. addresses innovation in the context of value. The forum showcased multi-stakeholder perspectives on the opportunities and challenges that innovation in biopharmaceutical, digital, diagnostic, and delivery arenas present for the science and practice of value assessment/health technology assessment.
Attendees included patient, family and caregiver organizations; employer-purchaser and payer entities; researchers; value assessors and their supporting analytical research entities; investors; policymakers; and representatives from innovators across health technology.
Learning objectives:
Define areas of consensus about the importance of innovation to stakeholders
Assess the strengths and limitations of existing value assessment methods to support decision-making by patients, clinicians, payers, and purchasers
Highlight areas of consensus among practitioners of value assessment on appropriate approaches and needed actions to support investment in innovation
Identify priorities for research to improve the valuation of “innovativeness” of health technologies
The 2022 IVI Methods Summit was funded by contributions from IVI’s diverse membership and a grant support from PhRMA. This project includes three components: 2022 Methods Summit public form, a one-day invitational expert roundtable, and a call for research papers that will receive IVI funding in 2023.
Video Recordings
- Welcome and Introductions
- Vision for Valuing Innovation
- Perspectives on the Value of Innovation – Part 1
- Perspectives on the Value of Innovation – Part 2
- How Can HTA Methods Align Our Perspectives on Innovation?
- Finding Balance in Valuing Innovation
- Closing Remarks
Agenda and Pre-Read Materials
October 6, 2022
Brief introduction and discussion of the objectives for the Methods Summit and Valuing Innovation Project, presented by IVI Chief Executive Officer, Jason Spangler, MD, MPH, FACPM and IVI Chief Science Officer, Rick Chapman, PhD.
These opening remarks will offer perspectives on the challenges in accounting for and rewarding innovation in value assessment/health technology assessment.
Featured Speakers:
- Jason Spangler, MD, MPH, FACPM – Moderator (Innovation and Value Initiative)
- Mark Trusheim, MS (NEWDIGS, Tufts Medical Center)
Panelists from patient, innovator, and investor sectors will discuss their viewpoints on innovation and the purpose and guardrails needed in value assessment to sustain balance, followed by a Q&A session.
Featured Speakers:
- Mike Graglia, MBA, MA – Moderator (SynGAP Research Fund)
- Leah Howard, JD (National Psoriasis Foundation)
- Michelle McMurry-Heath, MD/PhD (BIO)
- Linette Demers, PhD (DiME Society)
- Walter Kowtoniuk, PhD (Third Rock Ventures)
Panelists from clinical, purchaser, and payer sectors will discuss their viewpoints on innovation and their questions and challenges in decision-making in a rapidly evolving marketplace, followed by a Q&A session.
Featured Speakers:
- Josh Krieger, PhD – Moderator (Harvard Business School)
- Greg Baker, RPh (EmsanaRx)
- Sam Peasah, PhD, MA (UPMC Health Plan)
- Joe Honcz, RPh, MBA (C4i)
- Jen Madsen, MPH (MITRE)
This panel will feature a facilitated discussion with stakeholders who conduct and use research to emphasize areas of work in methods, including issues of rigor, novel methods, and fit-for-purpose in decision-making. Dialogue will consider existing and emerging approaches, research needs, and opportunities for investment and collaboration, and will be followed by a Q&A session.
Featured Speakers:
- Rick Chapman, PhD – Moderator (Innovation and Value Initiative)
- Lou Garrison, PhD (University of Washington)
- David Ridley, PhD (Duke University)
- Jon Campbell, PhD (ICER)
- Randy Burkholder (PhRMA)
A panel offers summary and reaction to the day’s dialogues, identifies challenges for further exploration, and observes opportunities for action.
Featured Speakers:
- Jennifer Bright, MPA – Moderator (Innovation and Value Initiative)
- Tiffany Westrich-Robertson (AiArthritis)
- Jennifer Graff, PharmD (AMCP)
- Harold Carter, PharmD (Express Scripts)
IVI Chief Executive Officer, Jason Spangler, MD, MPH, FACPM, will discuss next steps following the conclusion of the Methods Summit.
Document Links
Speakers
Greg Baker
EmsanaRx
Greg Baker, RPh
As CEO, Greg Baker strategically develops EmsanaRx’s mission for drive better health, predictable costs and a partnership that puts employers in control. Greg has decades of experience in pharmacy as a pharmacist, businessman, and entrepreneur. He leads EmsanaRx in three core areas: 1. Cost Transparency, 2. Data Control and 3. Patient Health Improvement. He is passionate about creating a clinically-focused versus a financially-focused PBM.
At EmsanaRx, Greg leverages his prior experience working as the pharmacy lead for Premise Health, during which time he maintained the highest levels of operational efficiency, clinical excellence and customer service to provide value within the greater pharmacy healthcare ecosystem. Drawing from this experience, as well as time spent as Pharmacy Supervisor for Walgreens and Senior Pharmacy Consultant for Blue & Co., Greg listens to scores of employers across all industries to customize the highest quality clinical care solutions with the lowest costs for EmsanaRx customers. While in a previous role, Greg led a pharmacy organization that won the 2018 PBMI award for innovation and the 2019 APhA Pinnacle Award. He was also the first community pharmacist appointed by the HHS Secretary to the National Advisory Council for the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, where he further advanced the role of pharmacy to improve public health outcomes.
Greg Baker lives by the motto, “By employers, For employers,” in order to make EmsanaRx a nimble company in a large industry determined to do what is right for employers and the millions who work for them.
Jennifer Bright
Innovation and Value Initiative
Jennifer Bright, MPA
Jennifer Bright, Chief Engagement and Strategy Officer for the Innovation and Value Initiative, brings over two decades of health care policy, issue management, patient advocacy, and executive leadership to the role. Bright is also founder and President of Momentum Health Strategies. She formerly served as executive director of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, representing physician, advanced practice nurse, and researcher members. Bright’s prior executive leadership at the National Mental Health Association (now Mental Health America) focused on advancing policy initiatives at the state and local level. She now serves on the Board of Directors for Mental Health America. She has also doe issue analysis and issues management at state-oriented lobbying firms.
Bright earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Trinity College in Washington, and her master’s degree in public administration, with a concentration in policy analysis and program management, from George Washington University.
Randy Burkholder
PhRMA
Randy Burkholder
Randy Burkholder is Vice President of Policy and Research at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Mr. Burkholder leads PhRMA work on policy solutions for supporting continued biopharmaceutical innovation and high-quality, patient-centered health care, including payment and delivery reform, quality measurement, appropriate use and patient adherence, evidence-based medicine and health technology assessment, value of innovation and personalized medicine. Mr. Burkholder represents PhRMA at federal agencies and advisory bodies including the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee, CMS’ Technical Expert Panel on oncology, and the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. He also is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Personalized Medicine Coalition and serves on the Steering Committee of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care and the advisory committee for the Turning the Tide Against Cancer initiative.
Mr. Burkholder has over 20 years of experience in health care policy, advocacy and communications in the medical technology and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to joining PhRMA, Mr. Burkholder was Associate Vice President for Public Affairs at AdvaMed, the leading association of the medical device and diagnostics industries.
Jon Campbell
Institute for Clinical and Economic Review
Jon Campbell, PhD
Jon is a leader in value assessment methods and application. As a member of ICER’s Senior Management Team, Jon directs ICER’s health economics impacts and leads the continued innovation of ICER’s value assessment methodology. Jon is a former faculty member of the University of Colorado and currently holds an affiliate faculty appointment with Tufts University School of Medicine.
Harold Carter
Express Scripts
Harold Carter, PharmD
As Vice President, Strategy & Contracting at Express Scripts, Harold Carter leads the strategic development and management of Express Scripts’ Value Based and Generic Management Solutions. Prior to his current role, Harold was responsible for the development and management of Express Scripts’ Utilization Management Program. Harold earned his doctorate of pharmacy from St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
Rick Chapman
Innovation and Value Initiative
Rick Chapman, PhD
Rick Chapman brings decades of health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) expertise to his role as Chief Science Officer at the Innovation and Value Initiative. Chapman was Director of Health Economics at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review prior to IVI, where he led development of economic evaluations that accompanied rigorous reviews of clinical evidence. Formerly, he was VP of HEOR at Avalere Health. Before that, Chapman was principal in HEOR at IMS Health, and a research analyst at the Center for Risk Analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Chapman holds a PhD in health policy with a concentration in decision science from Harvard University. He also holds an MS in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Linette Demers
Digital Medicine Society
Linette Demers, PhD
Linette leads IMPACT, a DiMe initiative dedicated to advancing high value, evidence-based virtual first care for patients, healthcare providers, and payers. Previously, Linette was responsible for commercialization, entrepreneurship and capital formation programs at Life Science Washington and WINGS Angels. Her 20 year career in healthcare spans strategy, business development, and population health management in oncology care at Fred Hutch, and management consulting at Sg2. Linette holds a PhD in Chemistry and an MS in Health Economics and Outcomes Research.
Lou Garrison
University of Washington
Lou Garrison, PhD
Lou Garrison, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in The Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy, and Economics Institute in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Washington, where he joined the faculty in 2004. For the first 13 years of his career, he worked in non-profit health policy. Following this, he worked as an economist in the pharmaceutical industry for 12 years. He received a PhD in Economics from Stanford University, and has more than 190 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He was elected as ISPOR President for July 2016 – June 2017, and currently serves as co-chair of ISPOR’s Policy Outlook Committee for the Health Science Policy Council. In September of this year, he was announced as the recipient of the 2022 Avedis Donabedian Outcomes Research Lifetime Achievement Award from ISPOR.
Jennifer Graff
Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy
Jennifer Graff, PharmD
Jen joined AMCP in 2021, after more than 20 years of experience in managed care leadership and policy and research at the National Pharmaceutical Council, MedImmume, and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. She holds a PharmD from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and completed a Health Outcomes and Pharmacoeconomics fellowship at the University of Michigan. An avid horse-back rider, this is also not Jen’s first rodeo with AMCP. She’s a long-time AMCP member, partner, and volunteer and is excited to be on staff with the people who were instrumental throughout her career.
Michael Graglia
SynGAP Research Fund
Michael Graglia, MBA, MA
Michael Graglia’s son Tony was diagnosed with SYNGAP1 in 2018, he was 4. Together with his wife, Ashley Evans, he founded the SynGAP Research Fund, 501(c)(3), to accelerate science around SYNGAP1 in order to make sure there is a therapy developed in a time frame that matters for his son, and children like him. SRF expects to have granted over $3.5M to scientific research by the end of 2022.
In the broader Rare Neuro community, Mike serves on the Executive Board of COMBINEDbrain and is a member of the AES Epilepsy Research Benchmarks Stewards Committee. Mike also represents SRF on the Personalized Medicine Coalition, Global Genes Foundation Alliance, Everylife Foundation Community Congress, Rare Epilepsy Network, and Epilepsy Leadership Council.
Mike comes from a career in public policy, international development and strategy. Previous roles have included establishing a new program at New America, a DC think tank, Budget & Planning at both the Gates Foundation and Emerson Collective, healthcare consulting at BCG, supporting African Universities at the World Bank Group, managing a refugee program for the UNHCR via the ICMC in Zimbabwe, and teaching math in Peace Corps Namibia.
Graglia has an MBA from Columbia where he was a Bronfman Fellow, an MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies where he was a Soros Fellow, and a BS in mathematics from Gonzaga University, S.J.
Graglia lives with his wife Ahsley and two sons in Palo Alto, California.
Joe Honcz
C4i
Joe Honcz, RPh, MBA
For over 20 years, Joe has worked in the insurance, managed care/pharmacy benefit management (PBM) and pharmaceutical consulting industries. Joe brings a wealth of knowledge covering clinical cost of care strategies, product development and innovation arenas. As the Principal at C4i, a healthcare consultancy, he helps clients to demonstrate value, to communicate it powerfully while guiding clients past roadblocks and detours to find the most direct route to commercial success. As a leader in pharmaceutical and health care he harnesses insights from his experience and pairs it with expert analysis to differentiate client’s innovation across the access and reimbursement continuum.
Prior to starting C4i, Joe was the Vice President for Clinical Product Development focused on Care/Utilization Management for Humana. He instituted the Pragmatic development process to drive efficient and speed to market. Preceding Humana, he was the Vice President, Director for the Access Experience Team at Precision for Value, a consulting firm of former payers, academics, health economists, data analysts, and marketing gurus.
Prior to consulting he spent two decades within managed care. Joe was the Executive Director in the Network and Clinical Services division at Aetna. In this role he led several teams focused on innovative cost of care management strategies, clinical informatics and the implementation of Lean methodologies to improve operations. Before this role he was a team leader within the Aetna Innovation Labs where he was responsible for developing disruptive healthcare technology/programs. Joe started at Aetna as the Head of Product Development and Clinical Strategy for Aetna Pharmacy where he was charged with delivering market-leading solutions that resulted in better health outcomes for members while generating significant cost of care savings. In this role he led numerous enterprise-wide projects such as the launch of Pharmacy solutions for both ACA Public and Private Healthcare Exchanges.
He has held several senior leadership positions at Health Net and Anthem. A key accomplishment of his while at Anthem includes building and launching Medicare Part D.
Joe’s extensive managed care knowledge is augmented by a diverse work experience that includes opportunities at Pfizer and CVS Health. Joe began his career as a Staff Pharmacist at Walgreens. He received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut. He is a Registered Pharmacist and a member and Diplomat for the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.
Leah McCormick Howard
National Psoriasis Foundation
Leah McCormick Howard, JD
Leah McCormick Howard, J.D., joined the National Psoriasis Foundation in 2012. Howard was appointed to the role of President and CEO, effective June 8, 2022 after stepping into the Interim President and CEO role on January 1, 2022. She previously served as NPF Chief Operating Officer (2017 – 2021) providing the strategic direction, vision and leadership to Foundation mission-related functions of government relations and advocacy, marketing and communications, and patient services (education, volunteer outreach, and the NPF Patient Navigation Center). Prior to this role, Howard directed the Advocacy and Government Relations department (2012 – 2017). Howard has led a number of major initiatives for the NPF including development of the current (FY 2020 – 2024) Strategic Plan, leading the planning for the 2016 FDA Patient Focused Drug Development (PFDD) meeting, engagement with value assessors, and the NPF annual payer roundtable series.
She brings to her role more than 20 years of experience working with national health and disability organizations, local governments, and leading health care and research institutions. Howard has a bachelor of arts degree in government and international relations from the University of Notre Dame and a law degree from George Mason University School of Law. She is based out of the NPF office in Alexandria, VA.
Walter Kowtoniuk
Third Rock Ventures
Walter Kowtoniuk, PhD
Walt is passionate about making a difference for patients. He spends his days focused on areas where genetics and genomics bring new insight into disease biology. Walk works where science meets business and strategy, enabling insights from the lab to become the next generation of medicines that can change lives. He is enthusiastic about launching companies with empathic, truly patient centric cultures that effectively and efficiently execute drug discovery. He places priority on taking the time to listen to the patients whom we endeavor to help, recognizing that the value we aim to create is defined by the difference we can make in their lives. Walt’s greatest accomplishment is that his three children are eager leaners and kind to one another, their family, and their classmates.
Joshua Krieger
Harvard Business School
Joshua Krieger, PhD
Josh Krieger is an assistant professor of business administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. Josh’s research focuses on R&D strategy and the economics of innovation. His work examines project portfolio investments, R&D competition, and how firms and research organizations adjust their R&D efforts in response to new information and resources. He has taught the first year course, The Entrepreneurial Manager, and currently teaches a second year elective course: Tough Tech Ventures, which examines the development, commercialization and financing of cutting-edge science and technology.
Josh has a BA in economics and government at Cornell University. He received his PhD at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to his doctoral studies, he worked in economic and litigation consulting at Cornerstone Research in Boston.
Jen Madsen
MITRE
Jen Madsen, MPH
Jen Madsen, MPH, is an executive and health policy strategist with more than two decades of experience in the nation’s capital. She is a principal in Health Innovation at MITRE, a not-for-profit company that works in the public interest.
Jen’s clients span NIH, FDA and the Centers for Medicaid and Medic are Services (CMS). She currently advises the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for COVID-19 (RADx) “Shark Tank” program, whose impact includes authorization of the first COVID-19 test for use at home without a prescription.
Prior to MITRE, Jen was chief of staff to the CEO at Food Allergy Research and Education, and advocated for people with life-threatening food allergies. Jen led development of the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education and Research (FASTER) Act, enacted in 2021; and raised awareness of a national shortage of epinephrine, which convinced the FDA to recognize the shortage and approve new generics, making headlines in The Washington Post and New York Times.
Previously, Jen led advocacy efforts on access to genetic testing, as policy advisor at international law firm Arnold & Porter LLP; as senior director, leading a 10-person team at the College of American Pathologists; and as vice president at the American Clinical Laboratory Association, where she led critical negotiations with FDA. She also advised healthcare clients on the ACA as a principal at the Podesta Group, a bipartisan lobbying firm.
From 2003 to 2009, Jen held several roles in a fast-growing startup, including director and member of the leadership team, at consulting firm Avalere Health and advised biopharmaceutical companies and patient advocates to prepare for the Medicare prescription drug benefit.
Jen’s first job in Washington was the Congressional Budget Office of the U.S. Congress. She earned an MPH from Yale University and a bachelor’s in biochemistry from Rice University. As an Atlanta native, she lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband and two dogs.
The author’s affiliation with The MITRE Corporation is provided for identification purposes only, and is not intended to convey or imply MITRE’s concurrence with, or support for, the positions, opinions, or viewpoints expressed by the author.
©2021 The MITRE Corporation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Michelle McMurry-Heath
Biotechnology Innovation Organization
Michelle McMurry-Heath, MD/PhD
Michelle McMurry-Heath is the President and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). A medical doctor and molecular immunologist by training, Dr. McMurry-Heath leads BIO as it advocates for its 1,000 members that discover and deploy innovative scientific breakthroughs to improve human health, environmental stewardship, and food security.
McMurry-Heath is a firm believer that science is limitless if we limit sciences less. At BIO, she has sought to unleash the power of science to solve society’s biggest challenges by uniting and empowering biotech innovators and removing barriers to their work. She has made the organization a “voice of and for science” and redefined BIO’s mission and vision around driving and advancing the bio-revolution to cure patients, protect our climate, and nourish humanity.
A common thread across “Dr. Michelle’s” career in academia, government and industry has been her focus on broadening access to scientific progress so more patients from diverse backgrounds can benefit from cutting-edge innovation. Driven by her experiences at the research bench and with patients attempting to navigate clinical trials and funding uncertainties, McMurry-Heath calls “the distribution of scientific progress the social justice issue of our age.” Upon coming to BIO, she launched the BIOEquality Agenda to harness the potential of biotechnology for underserved communities and champions issues such as greater clinical trial diversity.
McMurry-Heath previously worked at Johnson & Johnson in regulatory and clinical leadership positions. She was also instrumental in bringing J&J’s incubator, JLabs, to Washington, DC. Prior to her time at J&J, Dr. McMurry-Heath was a key science policy leader in government. She served as associate center director for science at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. In that role, she championed clinical trial evolution, the use of real-world evidence in product evaluation, and an embrace of the patient’s voice in health research. She continues to advocate for many of these positions at BIO.
McMurry-Heath was the founding director of the Aspen Institute’s Health, Biomedical Science, and Society Policy Program, where she promoted personalized medicine and bolstered international preparation for pandemic disease threats. She received her early training in science policy from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and later served as Senator Joe Lieberman’s top legislative aide for science and health. In that role, she drafted legislation to protect the country from biological attacks.
McMurry-Heath received her MD/PhD from Duke’s Medical Scientist Training Program, becoming the first African American to graduate from the prestigious program. She spent 12 years working at the research bench before taking policy and leadership roles in government and industry.
McMurry-Heath lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband Sebastian Heath, a veterinarian, and their daughter, Isabella. To relax, she enjoys yoga, snorkeling and attending her daughter’s sporting events.
Samuel Peasah
UPMC Health Plan
Samuel K. Peasah, PhD, MBA, RPh
Sam Peasah is a director of high value health care in the Center for Value-based Pharmacy Initiatives within the UPMC Center for High Value HealthCare. He has been with the UPMC Health Plan since 2019. Sam is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Pittsburgh where he precepts PharmD students and residents in health outcomes research. He supports external collaborative work of the center. He also brings expertise to value-based contract negotiations, implementation, assessment, and reporting, and other quality-of-care outcomes evaluation at the UPMC Health Plan.
Sam is a trained health services researcher (PhD, 2011), business administrator (MBA, 2005) from University of Florida, and has additional training as a prevention effectiveness fellow (health economics research post-doctoral fellowship) at the CDC (2013). He is also a registered pharmacist with a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Kwame Nkrumah University College of Pharmacy (1993). Prior to coming to UPMC, he was faculty and director for the Center for Outcomes Research and Education at Mercer University College of Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. His research interests include health economics, pharmacoepidemiology, value of drugs, and impact of policy changes & interventions on health outcomes.
David Ridley
Duke University
David Ridley, PhD
David Ridley is the Faculty Director for Health Sector Management at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. He studies health care innovation, production, and prices. He is especially interested in how to encourage development of drugs and vaccines for neglected diseases. David was the lead author of the paper proposing the priority review voucher program which became law and created a market of more than a billion dollars to encourage drug development for neglected diseases. His research has been funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. David teaches courses on health care policy and strategy to Duke University graduate students. He received a doctorate in economics from Duke University.
Jason Spangler
Innovation and Value Initiative
Jason Spangler, MD, MPH, FACPM
For nearly two decades, Dr. Spangler, IVI’s Chief Executive Officer, has worked in the professional health policy and public health sector with pharmaceutical and non-profit organizations. Dr. Spangler joins IVI from his most recent role as Executive Medical Director and Director and Head of Global HTA Policy Strategy & Engagement for Amgen, Inc.
Dr. Spangler earned his MD at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in 1998 and his Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2002. His commitment to public health, preventive medicine, and health equity date back to his medical school residency, during which he served as a medical team leader for free clinics in Costa Rica, a resident coordinator for free clinics for homeless around UPMC, and a clinical educator in the International Medical Corps in Kosovo.
After serving one year as Chief Resident, Dr. Spangler joined Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals as a Public Health and Health Policy Consultant. He remained in this role for three years and then moved on to the Partnership for Prevention, where he started as a Managing Senior Fellow and was promoted to Chief Medical Officer until he was recruited to Amgen.
Mark Trusheim
NEWDIGS, Tufts Medical Center
Mark Trusheim, MS
Mark Trusheim is Strategic Director, NEWDIGS at Tufts Medical Center where he also co-leads the Financing and Reimbursement of Cures in the US (FoCUS) Project; and a Visiting Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Through MIT he has also served as a Special Government Employee for the FDA’s Office of the Commissioner.
Mark’s research focuses on the economics of biomedical innovation, especially precision financing for patient access, precision medicine, adaptive pathways, platform trials, biosimilars, and digital health advances.
Mark is also President of Co-Bio Consulting, LLC. His career has spanned big data at Kenan Systems, marketing at Searle Pharmaceuticals, eHealth as Vice President of Monsanto Health Solutions, genomics as President of Cereon Genomics, and policy as the President of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.
He holds degrees in Chemistry from Stanford University and Management from MIT.
Tiffany Westrich-Robertson
AiArthritis
Tiffany Westrich-Robertson
Diagnosed with non-radiographic Axial Spondyloarthropathy and various co-morbidities, Tiffany Westrich-Robertson has served as Chief Executive Officer of the International Foundation for Autoimmune & Autoinflammatory Arthritis (AiArthritis) since 2011. Under her leadership, she has spearheaded innovative, award winning projects, all based on patient-identified issues and patient-infused solutions.
In 2015, she led the Ethics of Step Therapy Investigation and authored the associated white paper, which concluded preferred drug recommendations are biased towards patients who meet general patient population standards. As a result, she advocates for legislation that considers individual needs, with focus on access to personalized and precision medicine, access, and value assessments. Additionally, she speaks regularly to legislators about the importance of biomarker access in non-cancer groups and plans to toggle this work into the new AiArthritis Research Data Bank to gain information to further influence policy.
Tiffany is well-respected in the healthcare community, serving on several committees in both policy and research, including the American College of Rheumatology, OMERACT (Outcome Measures in Rheumatology), Innovation Value Initiative (IVI), and the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) Health Equity and methods revisit committee.
Her previous roles included Vice President of Business Development & Project Management at a top architectural firm and college professor, with concentrations in advanced design, Business Development, and Project Management. She was nominated for Teacher of the Year in 2007 and the winner in 2008 as voted on by the student body. She also holds an advisory board seat on the Missouri State University Design Thinking program, helping other executives execute projects in a systematic, yet creatively innovative, manner.