From MIT PhD to First Chief Innovation Officer at Three Healthcare Giants: Naomi Fried on Building PharmStars, Bridging the Pharma-Startup Gap, and Why Startups Need "an MBA in Pharma"
Naomi Fried, PhD is the founder and CEO of PharmStars, the first and only pharma-focused accelerator for digital health startups, and co-founder of the PharmStars Ventures fund. But her path to launching PharmStars came after an extraordinary track record as a "first" in healthcare innovation leadership across three major organizations.
Naomi was the first VP of Innovation and Advanced Technology at Kaiser Permanente in 2006, where she led efforts to identify and assess emerging healthcare technologies, chaired the board of Kaiser's internal Innovation Fund for Technology, formed the Telehealth Working Group, and served as Managing Director of the Archimedes Project. She then became the first Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children's Hospital in 2010, where she built and led the Innovation Acceleration Program from scratch, overseeing 37 innovation seed grants and developing nine novel clinical software solutions. Next, she was the first VP of Innovation and External Partnerships at Biogen, where she developed the firm's "innovation beyond the molecule" strategy to deliver non-pharmacological value to patients and providers.
It was during her time at Biogen that Naomi recognized an important insight. "When I arrived at Biogen, I struggled to understand how the company was organized, how drugs were developed, and how the different functions within the company worked together," she explains. "That experience gave me a deep appreciation for how opaque the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries can be to outsiders. Pharma has its own language, culture, and way of operating, and without being trained in that system, it's very difficult to navigate or even communicate effectively."
After leaving Biogen, Naomi founded Health Innovation Strategies, a boutique advisory firm helping large pharma companies with digital health strategy. While consulting, she witnessed a complete disconnect between a startup and pharma client she'd brought together. "The startup and the pharma teams were essentially talking past each other. They didn't share a common language or understanding, and nothing ultimately came of the meeting. At the time, I didn't have a name for it, but I realize now that I was witnessing the 'pharma-startup gap' in action."
That persistent challenge inspired Naomi to launch PharmStars in 2021 with a team of experts from pharma, startups, digital health, and innovation backgrounds. PharmStars runs a highly selective 10-week program (PharmaU) twice a year, with hundreds of digital health startups from 37+ countries applying. Approximately ten startups are selected per cohort. The program culminates in a three-day Pharmatech Innovation Summit where startups present to PharmStars' pharma members (such as Alexion, Sanofi, and Takeda), investors, and media. Graduates receive investment from the PharmStars Ventures Fund.
Naomi earned her PhD in Materials Science from MIT and her BS in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been a member of the Governor of Massachusetts' Innovation Council and the Board of the American Telemedicine Association. Her awards include Healthcare IT News' "Health Information Technology (HIT) Men and Women of the Year Award, Innovators," being named "The Emerging Executive of the Year" in 2014 by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, and one of Medical Marketing and Media's 40 "Healthcare Transformers" in 2016.
She has served on boards at Wavely Diagnostics and Head Diagnostics, advised companies like Remepy and ResApp Health, and writes and speaks nationally and internationally on innovation and digital health. When not working, Naomi can be found dancing in Zumba classes or lifting weights.
In this Q&A, Naomi shares her journey from being one of the first chief innovation officers in healthcare to launching an accelerator and venture fund, the biggest mistakes startups make when trying to engage pharma as customers (hint: they don't understand the problem they're solving), and her framework for evaluating whether a digital health startup will actually drive adoption and improve patient outcomes versus just having interesting technology.
From MIT PhD to First VP of Innovation at Kaiser Permanente, Biogen, and Boston Children's Hospital – Building PharmStars as the First Pharma-Focused Digital Health Accelerator
You have an extraordinary track record as a "first" in healthcare innovation leadership: first VP of Innovation and Advanced Technology at Kaiser Permanente, first VP of Innovation and External Partnerships at Biogen (where you developed their "innovation beyond the molecule" strategy), and first Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children's Hospital. You then founded PharmStars, the first and only pharma-focused accelerator for digital health startups, plus co-founded PharmStars Ventures and previously served as General Partner at Ambit Health Ventures. For female founders with deep technical or corporate backgrounds (especially those with advanced STEM degrees like your MIT Materials Science PhD), what made you decide to leave executive roles to launch your own accelerator and venture fund? Walk us through how you identified the gap between digital health startups and pharma partnerships, and what advice would you give women about transitioning from corporate innovation leadership to entrepreneurship?
The accelerator grew out of a series of personal and professional experiences over several years that, taken together, became a clear market need to me that was impossible to ignore. I’ve always been drawn to innovation and building new things. I’m an entrepreneur at heart, and before entering pharma, I held executive roles across healthcare on both the payer and provider sides. When I was recruited to Biogen to lead their “innovation beyond the molecule strategy,” I expected the transition to be relatively straightforward given my background. But I was genuinely surprised by how different the pharmaceutical world was from anything I had experienced before.
When I arrived at Biogen, I struggled to understand how the company was organized, how drugs were developed, and how the different functions within the company worked together. That experience gave me a deep appreciation for how opaque the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries can be to outsiders. Pharma has its own language, culture, and way of operating, and without being trained in that system, it’s very difficult to navigate or even communicate effectively. That realization stayed with me and was formative in starting PharmStars.
While at Biogen, I also came to appreciate the enormous potential for digital health to transform the pharmaceutical industry. There is a significant need for digital innovation across the entire drug development lifecycle — from discovery and development through commercialization. I became passionate about advancing pharma’s digital health transformation.
Another formative experience came after I left Biogen, when I began advising large pharma companies on their digital health strategy. In one case, a client was looking for a very specific type of innovation. After exploring the startup ecosystem, I found a company that seemed to offer exactly what my client needed. I was excited to bring the two groups together and expected the meeting to lead somewhere productive.
Instead, what I witnessed was a complete disconnect. The startup and the pharma teams were essentially talking past each other. They didn’t share a common language or understanding, and nothing ultimately came of the introduction. At the time, I didn’t have a name for it, but I realize now that I was witnessing the “pharma–startup gap” in action.
Over the next few years, while working with life science firms and operating in the space between pharma and digital health startups, I repeatedly saw how difficult it was for these groups to connect and collaborate effectively. That persistent challenge ultimately inspired me to gather a small, dedicated team to launch the PharmStars accelerator — to help bridge that gap and enable more successful engagement between pharma and digital health startups.
My advice for women transitioning from corporate innovation leadership to entrepreneurship is to follow your passion. If, like me, you’re an entrepreneur at heart and energized by new ideas, it’s an amazing path. That said, it’s important to know the differences between corporate environments and startups. Startups typically move much faster, operate with far fewer resources, and require people to wear many hats. In contrast, corporate roles tend to be more clearly defined, decision-making is slower, and resources are generally more abundant. Career risk-taking associated with startups can be very rewarding, but only if you’re prepared for the shift in pace, structure, and culture. My advice is to make sure you’re truly ready for that environment — and if you are, go for it.
Accelerating Digital Health Adoption and Closing the Pharma-Startup Divide – How PharmStars Sources, Develops, and Connects Startups to Pharma
PharmStars runs a highly selective program with hundreds of digital health startups from 37+ countries applying twice a year. You've fine-tuned a standardized process for sourcing, developing, and accelerating the best global digital health startups through mentor advisors (former pharma executives), fireside chats with pharma innovation leaders, and a three-day private event where startups present to pharma members, investors, and media. For female founders building digital health solutions and seeking pharma partnerships, what are the most common mistakes you see startups make when trying to engage pharma as customers? How should founders position their solutions to pharma innovation teams, and what does your accelerator teach startups about navigating the complex pharma ecosystem? What separates startups that successfully close pharma partnerships from those that don't?
The biggest mistake startups make when selling to pharma is not truly understanding pharmas’ problems. Many don’t understand how drugs are developed or where the real pharma pain points are across the drug development lifecycle. As a result, they focus on selling their solution rather than deeply understanding, validating, and solving their client’s problem.
My advice to startups is to put themselves in their customers’ shoes. The goal should not be to lead with the solution, but to clearly identify and corroborate the problem first. Only once a pharma partner recognizes and agrees on the problem will they be open to discussing a potential solution. Too often, startups go into meetings talking only about what their technology does and leave it to the pharma team to figure out how it might be used.
Another common mistake is not speaking the language of pharma. When startups don’t understand drug development, the structure of the industry, or the terminology being used, they lose credibility. In many cases, they also don’t fully understand the questions they’re being asked. We’ve heard of startups that felt pressured to say “yes” to every question simply because they didn’t fully grasp what was being asked — and were afraid to ask clarifying questions for fear of exposing gaps in their knowledge.
A core focus of our accelerator is empowering startups to speak “pharma” fluently. That’s why the program is often described as “an MBA in pharma.” It gives founders the language, context, and confidence they need to engage credibly and productively.
It’s also important for startups to recognize that they are rarely selling to an innovation team alone. Ultimately, they need to deliver value to a business owner. That means positioning their solution around pharma’s unmet needs — whether in drug discovery, clinical trials, or marketing — and clearly articulating how it improves efficacy, saves time, or reduces cost.
We believe startups must understand pharma. The PharmStars accelerator teaches startups how to navigate the complex pharma ecosystem through our PharmaUTM program, which is the core of the accelerator.
PharmStars’ PharmaU has three main components. The first component is our comprehensive curriculum designed to teach startups what they need to know to work effectively with pharma. We cover how drugs are developed, how pharma companies are organized, and how work actually gets done inside pharma. We also address the business and regulatory aspects of the industry. One of the parts of the curriculum founders find most valuable is learning how to engage pharma, structure deals, and navigate due diligence.
The second component of PharmaU is personalized mentoring. Startups in our program work closely with a small group of highly experienced former pharma executives. These mentors help founders refine their pharma value proposition and position their solutions in a way that resonates with pharma decision-makers.
PharmaU’s third component is designed for pharma. We’ve built a program that also helps pharma companies bridge the pharma–startup gap: engaging more effectively with startups and adopting digital innovation. We have a unique program for pharma innovation leaders. Our pharma members meet regularly to build community and to discuss emerging issues and topics in digital innovation for pharma.
PharmStars Ventures Fund and Investing in Digital Health Innovation – Balancing Accelerator Expertise with VC Returns
PharmStars Ventures Fund wraps around your accelerator, strategically investing in graduates and leveraging established pharmaceutical industry connections, rigorous due diligence, and long-term development programs. You've served on boards at Wavely Diagnostics and Head Diagnostics, advised companies like Remepy and ResApp Health, and been named one of Medical Marketing and Media's 40 "Healthcare Transformers" and Healthcare IT News' "Health Information Technology Innovators." For female founders navigating venture capital in the digital health space, how do you evaluate early-stage digital health startups for investment potential? What's your framework for assessing whether a startup's solution will actually drive adoption and improve patient outcomes versus just having interesting technology? And what advice would you give women raising capital from pharma-focused investors or exploring accelerators as a path to funding and partnerships?
The PharmStars Venture Fund is designed to wrap around the PharmStars accelerator. We invest in the startups that graduate from the accelerator, so our investment criteria are closely aligned with how we select companies for the program. Startup selection is driven by themes and needs identified by our pharma members. Within those themes — such as rare disease or data management and insights — we work with pharma companies to understand their unmet needs and pain points. This unique market intelligence directly informs which startups we select for each cohort. To be considered, startups must already have a product or prototype, and we prioritize those with the most innovative and creative solutions that are well-positioned to address real pharma needs.
Technology is certainly part of the solution, but we don’t invest in technology for technology’s sake. We invest where there is a clear market need. I’ve seen startups with outstanding technology fail because the market simply wasn’t ready. Timing matters, and success depends on understanding whether the need is real, significant, and urgent enough to support a viable business.
The pharma market is fundamentally different from the payer or provider markets, and a presentation to a pharma client is very different from an investor pitch. When it comes to engaging pharma, startups need to be highly focused and able to clearly articulate a pharma-specific value proposition. But to articulate the pharma problem effectively, startups must first understand how pharma operates. That’s why I strongly encourage entrepreneurs — especially women founders entering the space — to do their homework and develop a deep understanding of pharma’s needs before meeting with potential clients.
When considering accelerators, startups should be thoughtful and selective. There are many different accelerator models with different strengths. Many accelerators claim to “educate” or provide “mentoring,” but the quality of these activities varies across the industry. I encourage founders to look closely at how a program is structured, what value it claims to deliver, and — most importantly — to speak with graduates. They’re the only ones who can tell you whether the promised value was actually delivered. Unfortunately, not all accelerators live up to their claims. Firsthand experience is the most reliable way to assess that.
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