Maria Florez

Senior Consultant, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, Tufts University School of Medicine

Maria is a Senior Consultant at Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development at Tufts University School of Medicine. Previously, she held advisory and strategy roles at NewYork-Presbyterian of Columbia and Cornell universities, Cleveland Clinic Innovations, and was on the executive team at Shield Biotech (a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company).

Maria studies technology adoption and digital transformation in the biopharmaceutical sector, pharmaceutical regulatory policy, and operational efficiency and effectiveness within the drug development process—from idea to patient. Her work has been published in leading health policy and medical journals, including JAMA Open, Nature Communications, Therapeutic Innovation and Regulatory Science, and Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Maria holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in economics from Stony Brook University. She holds a master’s degree in law and diplomacy (MALD)—with a concentration in international economics—from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.