Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD, MBA, PMP
Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer Children’s National Medical Center
In her role as VP and Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Eskandanian oversees the Office of Innovation and Technology Commercialization, the Sheikh Zayed Institute’s operations, and plays a leadership role in the development of the Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus at Walter Reed (2020). She is Principal Investigator of the FDA-funded National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI), focused on accelerating the path to market for pediatric devices. Kolaleh works with a large network of small and large businesses, nonprofits and government agencies---addressing the unmet medical needs of children. Kolaleh’s expertise includes the full spectrum of product development activities, having held management positions at Accenture, a global management consulting firm, where she directed major product launches for clients. Dr. Eskandanian is also the co-PI on the FDA-funded Global Pediatric Clinical Trials Network grant and the CTSI-CN lead of the Orphan Product Accelerator. Dr. Eskandanian’s own innovations are in the market space, used by millions. She is the lead inventor of the first-ever adverse event reporting system, initially deployed in a research academic environment. Prior to joining Children’s National, Dr. Eskandanian held positions with Intelsat, Accenture, and Georgetown University. Her background is in mechanical engineering with a PhD in operations science and an MBA from American University Kogod School of Business.