At Evinova, a separate healthtech company within the AstraZeneca group, we are empowering global life sciences to accelerate better health outcomes with a suite of globally scaled digital health solutions, empowering sites, sponsors and contract research organisations to optimise the entire clinical development lifecycle.

Prior to launching Evinova in November 2023, I led AstraZeneca’s Digital Health function in Research & Development (R&D) across key therapy areas: Oncology; Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism; and Respiratory and Immunology.

I have previously held senior leadership roles across global commercial, in-country commercial, finance and R&D. I led a global transformation in clinical development across R&D functions, focusing on patients’ experiences and outcomes with benefits delivered globally.

Transforming patients’ experiences and outcomes through the use of innovative technologies is what drives our Evinova team. I am proud of our team’s work to accelerate the delivery of new medicines to patients and to redefine clinical trials to be more patient-centric, using digital technologies that improve how clinical trials are planned, delivered and managed.

Before joining AstraZeneca, I was a senior management consultant at Accenture. I led large transformation programmes, including the set up, from scratch, of a new joint venture between two technology companies, which is now a major business for a top retailer, as well as guiding business transformation strategy reviews and implementing global change initiatives for large telecoms.

I am passionate about innovation and increasing enterprise value by inspiring organisations to change for the future. I have spoken about using innovative technologies to transform patients' lives at conferences, including the Digital Health World Congress, HLTH EU, BiotechX EU, and the Financial Times Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference. I am a chartered accountant (CIMA) and have completed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Leading Enterprise Transformation programme.

The opportunity for digital health to radically improve human health and transform patient outcomes is incredibly exciting. We are at the forefront of this healthcare revolution, powered by scientific evidence, digital, longitudinal multiomics health data, and AI.

The opportunity for digital health to radically improve human health and transform patient outcomes is incredibly exciting. We are at the forefront of this healthcare revolution, powered by scientific evidence, digital, longitudinal multiomics health data and AI.

Cristina Durán President, Evinova




CURRENT ROLE

President, Evinova

2023-Present

Empowering global life sciences to accelerate better health outcomes as President of Evinova, AstraZeneca’s healthtech subsidiary.

2019-2023

As Chief Digital Health Officer R&D at AstraZeneca, led development of digital solutions to revolutionise healthcare for patients across AstraZeneca’s portfolio of clinical trials and demonstrating improved patient experience, accelerated timelines and reduced costs. A review of clinical trial protocols across oncology, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases concluded that 74–85% of trial assessments could be successfully collected remotely, reducing the number of clinical visits by up to 40%. Published in Nature Medicine 2023.

2018-2019

Delivered a number of solutions aimed at maximising patient benefits and the value of digital technologies, data and analytics, as Vice President, Transformation, Global R&D for AstraZeneca. These included accelerating studies by median of nine months, reducing the cost of phase III trials by 20%, improving patient experience outcomes through digital therapeutics, and increasing data quality by more than 40%.

 Featured publications

Implementation of digital health technology in clinical trials: the 6R framework

AstraZeneca introduced digital health solutions into clinical trials, demonstrating improved patient experience, accelerated timelines and reduced costs. Durán, C.O., Bonam, M., Björk, E. et al. Implementation of digital health technology in clinical trials: the 6R framework. Nature Medicine 29, 2693–2697 (2023) http://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02489-z

Remote Monitoring and Data Collection for Decentralized Clinical Trials

Assessing adoption of decentralized clinical trial technologies and factors driving or preventing adoption, and highlighting direction for industry to enable more patient-centric trials. Daly, B., Brawley, O., Durán, C.O., et al. Remote Monitoring and Data Collection for Decentralized Clinical Trials. JAMA Network Open, 2024;7(4):e246228. http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2817479