Veteran Healthcare Leader Julie Slezak Appointed to Executive Vice President of Clinical Analytics
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – April 4, 2017 – Leading precision medicine company GNS Healthcare (GNS) today announced that nationally regarded epidemiologist and biostatistician Julie Slezak has been named to the newly created position Executive Vice President of Clinical Analytics. Slezak, who previously headed clinical analytics operations at eviCore Healthcare (formerly CareCore National) as Chief Analytics Officer and CVS Caremark as VP, Analytics, is applying her expertise to the robust growing stream of discoveries flowing from the GNS causal machine learning and simulation platform REFS™ (Reverse Engineering and Forward Simulation).
“As a proven leader in both epidemiology and analytics, Julie brings an extraordinary combination of experience and training to GNS. Julie will translate discoveries from our causal machine learning and simulation platform spanning a range of diseases and healthcare system scenarios into high-value clinical practices and ROI across our growing list of product and solution offerings,” said Colin Hill, CEO and co-founder of GNS. “Today’s managed care and biopharmaceutical company leaders understand that causal machine learning and simulation is the only type of artificial intelligence and data analytics capable of answering the ‘holy grail’ questions that are necessary to better match drugs, medical procedures, care management programs and other health interventions to individual patients and of discovering new pathways for intervention.”
“Since REFS uses a hypotheses-free approach, its discoveries can often be applied in unexpected ways,” says Slezak. “GNS has an enormous opportunity to put an epidemiological lens on REFS discoveries, to put these discoveries into clinical context, and ultimately deliver a greater return on investment for GNS customers.”
Slezak brings more than 20 years of healthcare experience spanning managed care, pharmacy benefits, clinical decision support, care coordination, value-based care, quality measurement, consumer health engagement, business consulting and research to her role at GNS. In addition to eviCore and CVS Caremark, Slezak was Vice President, Pharmacy Solutions and Client Value at Silverlink Communications, LLC, a Welltok Company; a Consultant at Hewitt Associates; and a Senior Research Specialist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She earned a Master’s degree in epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Sciences Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.
Slezak joins GNS at a time of tremendous growth. The company recently announced the appointment of former Optum Health Senior Vice President Leslie Hoyt as Chief Operating Officer. In November 2016, GNS announced a REFS licensing arrangement with Celgene Corporation and a follow-on Series C investment from the biopharmaceutical company. Earlier in 2016, GNS announced an expanded strategic partnership and a Series C investment by Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. (New Jersey).
About GNS Healthcare
GNS Healthcare solves healthcare’s matching problem for leading health plans, biopharma companies, and health systems. We transform massive and diverse data streams to precisely match therapeutics, procedures, and care management interventions to individuals, improving health outcomes and saving billions of dollars. Our causal learning and simulation platform, REFS, accelerates the discovery of what works for whom and why.
Media Contact:
Patty Kellicker
VP, Marketing
pkellicker@gnshealthcare.com
###