About

Bio

Blythe Adamson, PhD, MPH, is a health economist and epidemiologist who assesses the value of new technologies, medicines, and policies. She is the Founder and CEO of Infectious Economics, an advisory firm she launched in 2017 to serve government agencies, life sciences and technology companies, and consumer brands including Disney and Warby Parker. She also serves as SVP of Research at Doctronic, a healthcare AI company.

In 2020, she served in The White House, advising the President on pandemic health and economic strategy and building mathematical models to guide policy. She has trained top military strategists at the Pentagon on pandemic decision models. Her scientific leadership at Flatiron Health helped pioneer AI-powered EHR research across the US, Europe, and Japan.

Blythe is an affiliate professor at the University of Washington’s Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy, and Economics (CHOICE) Institute. Her research on comparative effectiveness has been cited more than 1,000 times and informs how agencies like the FDA and EMA evaluate real-world evidence. Her work has been featured on C-SPAN, CNBC, BBC, and NPR, and in The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone.

The Mission

Health innovation rewards highest willingness-to-pay rather than greatest health impact. I’ve spent my career building the tools to fix that.

The biggest barriers to better health decisions aren’t lack of data, it’s lack of translation into actionable knowledge.

Key Accomplishments

Served in the White House in 2020, building health economic models to re-open America safely
Led research study proving Medicaid expansion eliminated racial disparities in timely cancer treatment, covered in 50+ media outlets
Advised Disney, the NBA, Warby Parker, Broadway theaters and more on safety protocols and RWD systems that enabled the safe return of business
Built and validated AI-powered EHR research platforms in the US, Europe, and Japan
Evaluated competing biomedical strategies for HIV prevention to inform investments at the Gates Foundation and decisions at HVTN
Named one of Business Insider’s 30 Leaders Transforming Healthcare

Professional Experience

Founder, Infectious Economics (2017–present) — Advisory practice serving governments, pharma, AI organizations, and financial services firms on cost-effective health strategies
Head of Outcomes Research & Evidence Generation, Flatiron Health — Led teams pioneering deep learning models for EHR data extraction, generated real-world evidence from millions of cancer patients, created a patented ML-enabled clinical decision-support tool used in oncology clinics, and expanded data operations to the UK, Germany, and Japan
Lead Data Scientist, The White House COVID-19 Response — Advised the President on pandemic strategy including reopening models, ventilator allocation, and testing infrastructure from the West Wing
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Institute for Disease Modeling — Infectious disease modeling and cost-effectiveness analysis for global health interventions
NIAID HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) & Fred Hutch Cancer Center — HIV vaccine trial design and analysis
The Pentagon — Trained military strategists on pandemic modeling and preparedness
Affiliate Professor, University of Washington — CHOICE Institute (Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy and Economics), School of Pharmacy

Where I’m Heading

Currently building the platforms and frameworks that policymakers, AI leaders, and health systems need to direct AI investment toward maximum societal health impact. The VALID Framework for LLMs is my most recent methodological contribution. An annual index measuring where AI creates the most health value for society is in development, alongside a book that synthesizes this body of work into a strategic resource for decision-makers.

Awards & Recognition

ISPOR HEOR Excellence Award in Methodology (2025)
Business Insider 30 Leaders Transforming Healthcare
Davis Wright Tremaine Most Innovative Award — Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, University of Washington

Education & Teaching

PhD in Pharmaceutical Science (Health Economics), MPH in Epidemiology, and BS in Microbiology from the University of Washington. Affiliate Professor at The Comparative Health Outcomes Policy and Economics (CHOICE) Institute at the University of Washington. Lecturing at major universities on cost-effectiveness analysis, health technology assessment, and reproducible real world data analysis. Dr. Adamson remains a leader in the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR).

Work With Me

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