Nirosha Mahendraratnam Lederer, Ph.D. is Director of Real-World Evidence Strategy at Aetion. In this role, she leads partnership opportunities with the US federal government and advises clients on real-world evidence trends. Dr. Lederer has over 15 years of research experience using real-world data to support high-value decision-making in the US healthcare system. Before joining Aetion, she led the real-world evidence portfolio at the Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy including developing policies and strategies for increasing the usability and acceptance of RWD and RWE for regulatory and payment decision-making. She previously served as Subject Matter Expert in Patient-Focused Drug Development at the US FDA Oncology Center of Excellence where she supported the use and evaluation of novel drug development tools. Prior to FDA, Dr. Lederer worked at Avalere Health as Manager of Health Economics and Outcomes Research / Evidence-based Medicine Policy. In this capacity, she created global evidence generation programs as well as led policy development and government engagement strategies for Fortune 100 healthcare companies. Earlier, Dr. Lederer served on Capitol Hill with the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health during the passage of the Affordable Care Act. She received her Ph.D. in Health Outcomes and Policy from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She also received her MSPH in Health Policy and Management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and BA in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University.