WASHINGTON, January 23, 2018 – Tanisha Carino, Ph.D., the respected senior executive with more than two decades of experience in academia, government, and the private sector, is joining the Milken Institute as executive director of FasterCures, the center devoted to saving lives and improving the medical research system.

Tanisha Carino

Throughout her distinguished career, Dr. Carino has been at the forefront of collaborative efforts to promote policies, research, and business practices that support the fight against disease and improve the lives of patients. She most recently led the U.S. policy function for GlaxoSmithKline, a U.K.-based science-led global healthcare company. Prior to her role at GlaxoSmithKline, she spent more than a decade with Avalere Health, where, among other responsibilities, she founded the Center on Evidence Based Medicine and worked with patients, government, and senior leaders at Fortune 500 companies to maximize opportunities and mitigate challenges related to biomedical research and patient access. Prior to Avalere, Dr. Carino worked in the Medicare program to improve access for its beneficiaries and support the development of real-world evidence.

“Speeding up and improving the medical research system is essential to achieving the social and economic potential we have as a society and as individuals,” said Dr. Carino. “FasterCures has been a leader in bringing all stakeholders together to fulfill this vision of saving lives, by saving time. I am honored to join a devoted group of colleagues and fellows in leading this effort to eliminate roadblocks and spur innovation, collaboration, and patient engagement.”

Dr. Carino earned her Ph.D. in health policy from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and is associate faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also completed a Fulbright fellowship in The Netherlands, where she was based at The Institute for Technology Assessment and Department of Health Policy and Management at Erasmus University. During her fellowship, she studied how global institutions make technology and health care decisions and investments. Her research was published in the volume Health Care Coverage Determinations: An International Comparative Study. Since then, she has been widely published on topics that include patient engagement and paying for cures.  She holds a B.A. in sociology from Emory University in Atlanta.

“New technologies provide science with an extraordinary opportunity for advances against disease, yet that progress often encounters an ecosystem that can stall getting cures to patients," said Richard Ditizio, president of the Milken Institute. "Dr. Carino has worked across the medical research continuum and offers a unique leadership perspective as FasterCures continues its impactful work on behalf of patients everywhere.  We are delighted that she is bringing her energy and expertise to this critical mission.” 

Dr. Carino’s appointment builds on the Milken Institute’s broad-based work to improve health. Other health-related programmatic activities and research initiatives include the Center for Public Health, the Center for the Future of Aging, and the Center for Strategic Philanthropy.

About FasterCures

FasterCures, a Washington, D.C.-based center of the Milken Institute, is driven by a singular goal: to save lives by speeding up and improving the medical research system. It focuses on cutting through the roadblocks that slow medical progress by spurring cross-sector collaboration, cultivating a culture of innovation and engaging patients as partners. FasterCures works across sectors and diseases to accelerate the process by which great advances in science and technology turn into meaningful medical solutions for patients. For more information, visit www.fastercures.org