Steven D. Pearson, MD, MSc
Special Advisor
Steven D. Pearson, MD, MSc is the Founder of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), an independent non-profit organization that evaluates the evidence on the value of medical tests, treatments, and delivery system innovations to encourage collaborative efforts to improve patient care and control costs. Dr. Pearson stepped down as President in January 2024, and is now a Special Advisor at ICER. Dr. Pearson is also a Lecturer in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He received his medical degree from UCSF, completed an internal medicine residency and research fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and obtained a Master of Science Degree in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health.
An internist, health services researcher, and ethicist, Dr. Pearson has served in many advisory and leadership roles in academia and government. In 2004 he was awarded an Atlantic Fellowship from the British Government and chose to serve as Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Returning to the United States in 2005 he was asked to serve during the George W. Bush Administration as Special Advisor, Technology and Coverage Policy, at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and also accepted an appointment as Visiting Scientist in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health, a position he maintained from 2005-2019. In other roles, Dr. Pearson has also served as a Board Director of HTAi, the international society of health technology assessment agencies, and as the Vice Chair of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MedCAC).
Dr. Pearson’s ongoing academic and policy work combines efforts in comparative effectiveness research, health policy, and bioethics. His publications include over 150 peer-reviewed articles and commentaries on the role of evidence in the health care system, and the book No Margin, No Mission: Health Care Organizations and the Quest for Ethical Excellence, published by Oxford University Press.
Dr. Pearson grew up sailing, surfing, and playing tennis in California, and through practice, the easy availability of wetsuits, and the wonders of modern medicine, he is still able to enjoy all three.
