Norma Padrón, PhD

I am a Health Economist and entrepreneur. As the VP of Data & AI at Nayya, a company revolutionizing employee benefits with personalized, data-driven solutions, I lead a team of experts in data analytics, actuarial sciences, data science, and healthcare analytics, developing innovative models to navigate the complexities of employee benefits and enhance decision support and engagement through advanced technology. I also serve as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Yale Ventures, supporting healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship within the Yale community.

My experience over the last decade spans academia, nonprofit, and the private sector. I have served as a faculty member at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and as a Research Scientist at the New York Academy of Medicine. I also served as the National Director of Applied Research & Data Analytics at the American Hospital Association, overseeing large-scale data initiatives to advance quality and safety. At Anthem's Digital Incubator and accelerator programs, I supported the implementation of digitally enabled care to improve the patient care experience.

I founded EmpiricaLab, a company specializing in peer-to-peer training within healthcare organizations, transforming it from an idea into a revenue-generating product within 18 months. EmpiricaLab is backed by Techstars, the AWS Impact fund, the Mount Sinai Incubation program, Elementa Labs.

I hold a Ph.D. in health economics from Yale University, a master's degree in economics from Duke University, a master's degree in public health from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, where I was a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar, and a bachelor's degree in economics and math from the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley.

My journey from McAllen, Texas, to leading data-driven healthcare initiatives is driven by my mission to improve healthcare access and equity.

I am committed to advancing diversity in STEM fields, and I have served on various boards promoting education and technology, including as Chair of the industry advisory board for an NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center in 2018. Currently, I am a board member of Consilium Bots, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to education in Latin America through AI-powered tools.