Edmund Pezalla, MD
Formerly National Medical Director for Pharmacy Policy and Strategy
Aetna, Inc.
Edmund Pezalla, MD, MPH, is a respected leader in health policy and insurance coverage focusing on pharmaceuticals, devices, and diagnostics. He consults with manufacturers on a range of compensation and payer issues including health technology assessment, value development, and payer strategy.
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.
Prior to joining the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Pezalla was Chief Medical Officer and head of clinical activity for Aetna Pharmacy Management. Before joining Aetna, he was Vice President for Clinical Services for Prescription Solutions, precursor to OptumRx®, the PBM arm of United Health Group.
Dr. Pezalla is active on a number of policy working groups including the New Drug Development Paradigm Project at MIT. He has recently been named a Scholar-in-Residence at the Duke-Margolis Health Policy Center in Washington, DC. Dr. Pezalla is a member of the Board of Directors of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance and the Connecticut Biosciences Innovation Fund. He is also a member of the Business Advisory Board of Naia Pharmaceuticals and the Scientific Advisory Board of Temple Therapeutics.
Dr. Pezalla received his BS from Georgetown University College of Arts and Sciences in Biophysics 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. He completed his training in Pediatrics at the Bethesda Naval Hospital and is a board certified pediatrician.
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.
