Katherine Szarama

Katherine develops and oversees strategic investments to help lower health care spending, particularly drug costs, as part of the Health Care team. Her work includes identification of investment opportunities to increase transparency in clinical trials and improve the quality of regulatory drug review.

With her experience, Katherine identifies emerging regulatory and reimbursement issues for high-cost drugs, devices, and biologics. Previously, she advanced Coverage with Evidence Development policies as part of writing National Coverage Determinations for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. For this work, Katherine was recognized by both CMS Administrator and FDA Commissioner with awards for outstanding service. To complement this experience, Katherine served as research and venture grants manager for Reed Jobs and the Health Team at Emerson Collective, a social change organization established and led by Laurene Powell Jobs focused on advancing immigration reform, reimagining the future of high school, seeking an end to gun violence in Chicago, championing environmental justice, and accelerating cancer research and treatments. Specifically, Katherine partnered with leading, cutting-edge researchers and innovative entrepreneurs to help transform groundbreaking scientific discoveries into potentially groundbreaking treatments for patients with significant unmet needs.

Katherine completed her fellowship in cancer biology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She earned degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Karolinska Institutet as part of an intramural neuroscience research program with the National Institutes of Health.

An avid runner, Katherine resides in Baltimore, Maryland and is currently chasing her four children.