Dr. Pezalla is a leading innovator in payer strategy for pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, CEO/founder of Enlightenment Bioconsult, LLC, and a member of the EXCITE International Payers' Advisory Committee.
Dr. Pezalla focuses on unlocking the value of innovative pharmaceutical products by developing industry-leading approaches to incorporating payer requirements into development programs, technology assessment plans, and value frameworks. He works with a variety of policy and industry groups on cutting edge coverage policy, innovations in value-based payments, and adaptive regulatory and market entry pathways.
Dr. Pezalla is the former Vice President for Pharmaceutical Policy and Strategy in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer at Aetna. In this position Dr. Pezalla developed and coordinated strategy for pharmaceutical evaluation and coverage across both the medical and pharmacy benefit, created Aetna’s framework for innovative contracts, and developed Aetna’s public policy positions on drug and device coverage.
Dr. Pezalla is active as a payer expert on a number of policy working groups including the New Drug Development Paradigm Project at MIT. From July 2016 to July 2017 He was a Scholar-in-Residence at the Duke-Margolis Health Policy Center in Washington, DC where he worked on policy approaches to stimulating the development of new antimicrobials, evaluation of value frameworks, and other policy projects.
CEO/founder of Enlightenment Bioconsult, LLC.
Dr. Pezalla is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance and the Connecticut Biosciences Innovation Fund. He is currently a member of the Business Advisory Board of Naia Pharmaceuticals, and the Scientific Advisory Boards of Temple Therapeutics and Verastem.
Dr. Pezalla received his BS in Biophysics from Georgetown University College of Arts and Sciences, and his MD Cum Laude from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He holds a Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley and was a health services research fellow and doctoral student in health policy at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Pezalla has co-authored a number of papers on adaptive licensing and other drug development issues and was an invited expert contributing to the report on Accelerating Innovation in Drug Development from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.