‘We work in partnership with our clients to shape policies that positively impact public health worldwide’ Ana Rita González, CEO of Policy Wisdom

“We create win-win solutions for the public and private sectors and NGOs, as they play important roles in expanding impactful public health policies while still realizing their own visions and missions.”

Policy Wisdom is a virtual public health policy consultancy dedicated to shaping public health policies around the world. The company does this by working with the full spectrum of individuals — from policymakers to those who guide their thinking — from both the corporate world and government. Policy Wisdom offers clients the strategy, resources, and vision necessary to achieve their health policy goals.

Ana Rita González, CEO of Policy Wisdom, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review on how her company is shaping policies the wise way.

Interview Highlights

Q. Where does Policy Wisdom stand at the moment relative to other participants in the industry?

Policy Wisdom was created twelve years ago as a virtual consulting firm focused on public health policy-shaping and continues to be the premier global company solely dedicated to this area.

Q. ‘Policy Wisdom strives to play a role in public health initiatives around the world.’ Could you interpret this a bit more?

Ever since we established Policy Wisdom in 2010, our mission has been to create value for our clients by providing evidence-based solutions that positively impact public health wherever we engage. We feel blessed to have worked with more than sixty organizations that have trusted us to collaborate on their health policy needs. The diversity of the more than 530 projects we have done in the past twelve years has allowed us to work on issues that affect health systems, equity, and access to vaccines, diagnostic products, medicines, and treatments to populations, covering 152 countries that span six continents. Policy Wisdom has proven the importance of selecting adequate channels and stakeholders with the right evidence, messaging, and proposed policies for making policy-shaping successful.

Q. How does Policy Wisdom help its clients achieve their health policy goals?

We help our clients understand and shape policies so that they can positively impact public health in the countries where they operate. We have maintained a consistent partnership approach to address the challenges and maximize the opportunities that our clients face. We strive to develop a relationship of commitment, productivity, flexibility, and transparency. We listen to them, learn about their objectives, needs, and priorities, and identify the best approach to address each specific situation they present to us. Whether their challenge is related to a product or related to the health policy environment, we present a customized approach to address their needs.

Our evidence-based approach expands and adjusts to each client, project, and situation, providing unique solutions. We have created a wide variety of methodologies to support our clients. Our approach, team of professionals, and virtual business model allow us to build long-term partnerships that are the basis of our success.

Since its creation, Policy Wisdom was established under a virtual-by-design business model. Our team of consultants is diverse in education, experience, culture, and language. This provides multiple perspectives to the work we do as well as increased availability, agility, and flexibility across the globe. Our extensive tools and methodologies, matched to the professional and cultural diversity of our team, offer a unique approach and focus that adapts to the changing environment.

Q. That’s not all Policy Wisdom does. What are its other focus areas?

Public health policy is what we do. The depth and breadth of health policy issues across the globe are immense. Our focused approach has proven valuable to our clients and has allowed us to successfully work on more than fifty health policy issues and more than fifty therapeutic areas.

Q. No doubt, Policy Wisdom is charting new territories in this segment. Given how frequently circumstances change, what plans for transformation are you pursuing to remain relevant now and in the future?

We stay informed about issues, trends, and potential challenges health policies may face; we analyze them and develop methodologies and tools to find the optimum solutions for all parties involved. We train our team and make our clients aware of how our methodologies can support their objectives. We also place significant emphasis on cultural nuances and behavioral beliefs that are specific to countries and regions to ensure that our strategic recommendations recognize these and work to improve conditions in general.

Q. How do you plan to counter challenges that you think Policy Wisdom might face in the next five years?

We constantly innovate to stay abreast of the evolution of policy issues, creating new products, services, and approaches to respond to client needs. Through our partnership approach, we promote ongoing communication and alignment with our clients to anticipate and address their health policy challenges.

The Visionary Leader at the Helm of Policy Wisdom

Ana Rita González is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Policy Wisdom. She holds a science doctorate in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins University and has completed graduate studies in health planning and hospital management. She is certified in public health by the National Board of Public Health Examiners.

With over 35 years of experience, she brings global expertise, leadership, and passion to her work. Early in her career, she managed government and private hospitals in Puerto Rico. At PAHO/WHO, she established significant healthcare reforms, focusing on policy, capacity-building, and accountability in Latin America. Subsequently, she created the Global Public Health Policy Group at Fleishman Hillard, enabling strong pharmaceutical industry partnerships in global health.

A seasoned facilitator on public health issues and trends, strategic planning and advocacy, and a lecturer at various universities, she strives for balanced and protective policies around the globe.

“The diversity of the more than 530 projects we have done in the past twelve years has allowed us to work on issues that affect health systems, equity, and access to vaccines, diagnostic products, medicines, and treatments to populations, covering 152 countries that span six continents.”