Tom Rico Pamukcu
Health Wallet

Personal Bio

Tom Rico Pamukcu (né Tom Rico) is the CEO of Health Wallet, a mission-driven company transforming drug development by providing equitable access to clinical trials through a free, personalized matching service. He has worked over a decade in clinical research, including sleep and pain medicine at Stanford University and oncology at Genentech. In addition to authoring numerous academic papers, Pamukcu has pioneered technology solutions to make clinical research more accessible and beneficial for patients and researchers alike. Across academia, pharma, and start-ups, he saw the field’s systemic issues firsthand and the consequences of researchers’ and patients’ interests not always aligning. This inspired Pamukcu to found Health Wallet, to democratize access to the medical resources of clinical trials by providing everyone, everywhere, with easy-to-understand options.

Project Description

To create medicines that are safe and effective for everyone, everyone must be included in clinical research. But too many people are locked out of these medical opportunities because of unfair barriers to access. Today, clinical study populations do not reflect the diversity of all our communities, which hurts everyone. Health Wallet changes this paradigm by providing free and personalized matching to clinical trials for everyone, everywhere. We improve quality of life for all patients, and specifically work to increase access to clinical research for those who have been left behind, especially people of color and people who have lower incomes or are underinsured. We are partnering with Federally Qualified Health Centers to easily connect their patients with neighboring clinical research opportunities.