Health Policy Research Seminar: William Shrank, MD, Venture Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Bio + Health Team

Topic: "Cell and Gene Therapy - the Next Frontier in Value-Based Care."

Bio: Dr. Shrank has been a venture partner to the Bio + Health team of Andreessen Horowitz, a private venture capital firm since January 2023. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer of Humana Inc., a leading care delivery and health plan administration company, from April 2019 to August 2022. In this role, his responsibilities included implementing Humana’s integrated care delivery strategy, with an emphasis on advancing the company’s clinical capabilities and core objective of improving the health outcomes of its members. Prior to joining Humana, Dr. Shrank served as Chief Medical Officer, Insurance Services Division, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) from April 2016 to February 2019. From 2013 to 2016, Dr. Shrank held several positions with CVS Health Corporation, including Senior Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer, and Chief Medical Officer of Provider Innovation. He also previously worked for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), as Director, Research and Rapid-Cycle Evaluation Group. Dr. Shrank began his career as a practicing physician with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass. and as an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Brown University and an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He also holds a M.S. in Health Services from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Abstract: New cell and gene therapy technology offers the potential to cure conditions that can massively transform the lives of eligible patients. And they generally cost millions of dollars each. Our highly fragmented system of paying for care threatens access to innovative therapies that offer extraordinary benefit to patients and value to society. Dr Shrank will describe the challenges we face as a system in affordably providing access to these therapies and outline market solutions to encourage access.