Dr. Pezalla is a respected leader in health insurance, health policy, and technology assessment, 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 activities for Aetna Pharmacy Management. Before joining Aetna he was VP for Clinical Services for Prescription Solutions, precursor to OptumRx, the PBM arm of United Health Group where he led the development of the first Medicare Part D plan, the most successful product launch in the history of PacifiCare.

Dr. Pezalla is active as a payer expert 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 where he is working on policy approaches to stimulating the development of new antimicrobials, evaluation of value frameworks, and other policy projects. 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 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.